What's New in TABS III Version 9

Partial List of What’s New in TABS III for Windows Version 9

New programs to reprint an updated statement, undo an updated statement and unbill a final statement.
New program to automatically transfer accounts receivable from one matter to another.
New program to reverse write offs.
New Task Based Billing data entry and reporting capabilities.
New Client Manager allows you to customize and launch up to 10 of the most commonly used client-related functions from the same window.
New Statement Templates. Client billing codes have been replaced with Statement Templates in order to simplify the client program. Statement Templates include pre-defined billing formats for draft and final statements.
Additional Statement Notes. Statement templates can include statement notes that print on each matter’s statement, on a cover statement or both.
New Report Suites. Report Suites are groups of user-defined report definitions that allow a series of reports to be run after a specified period of time has elapsed or at a specific time.
New Location field in the client file allows reports and statements to be generated for specific office locations.
New Text Macros. Used to speed up data entry by automatically replacing the macro with user-defined words or sentences.
New Pre-Bill Tracking. Used to track the status of individual draft statements, final statements and/or WIP reports. This feature makes it a snap to track which pre-bills have been finalized, which pre-bills haven’t been returned, and which pre-bills are "on hold". You can quickly print a batch of statements for all clients whose pre-bills are marked as reviewed.
New threshold billing option to prevent clients from being billed unless their work-in-process exceeds a specified amount.
Improved Security. Clients can be designated as secure clients. Users can be assigned to TABS III timekeepers so the user can only access those timekeepers’ clients and transactions.
New Timekeeper Profitability Report.
Write Off Reports were created by adding options to the Client Productivity Report, Client Ledger Report and Client Billing Summary to include write off information only.
New Graphing capabilities. Up to 14 different types of graphs including pie charts, bar graphs and line graphs can be displayed or printed for selected productivity reports. (Note: Graphing capabilities are available only when using Windows 95/98 or Windows NT.)

New text formatting features such as bold, italic and underline attributes can be used in descriptions, statement terminology and client notes.
The Multiple button on the standard Client tab used for reports and statements now allows up to 50 client ranges.
Added an Auto Dialer which also allows a user to automatically dial a client’s phone number, open a fee entry window and start the fee timer. (Note: Auto Dialer capabilities are available only when using Windows 95/98 or Windows NT.)

The Main Task Folder is now customizable for each workstation.
Added Client Funds that can be used to maintain a separate accounting of client funds for retainers, trust funds, escrow funds, etc.
Added an Apply Payment To Multiple Matters button in the Payment program that can be used to apply a single payment to all of a client’s matters with outstanding balances.
TABS III client numbers can be numeric, alpha or alpha-numeric (mixed).
New program that can make a temporary backup of the data files. (There is also a restore option.)

Added several new startup options. A fee window can be opened automatically when TABS III is started. The Data File Integrity Check and Archive File Integrity Check programs can be started automatically when TABS III is started. TABS III can be configured to start at a specified time. The latter options make it possible to set up a batch file that automatically starts TABS III after hours, runs the Data File Integrity Check, runs the Archive File Integrity Check and then proceeds to start a tape backup if no errors are encountered.
Data files are ODBC capable (Open Database Connectivity).
Added shortcut menus throughout the software which are accessed by clicking the right mouse button. The menu that is displayed depends on where you click.
Added Close All and Minimize All menu options to the Window menu to close or minimize all open windows with the exception of the Task Folders window.
Added a toolbar button and Ctrl+T keystroke to display Task Folders.
Changed the functionality of various programs in the multi-user version of TABS III. Most noticeably, the Update Statements, Client Rate Tables, Renumber Clients and Change Client Options programs no longer require exclusive access.
Statements now show letterhead bitmaps or Heading Font when previewing.
Added fax phone, cellular phone and E-mail address fields in Client Information. Added extension fields to the Phone and Other Phone fields. Also added the ability to customize the terminology for all of these fields.
Billing frequencies are now defined on the Bill Freq tab in the Miscellaneous data entry window. Each billing frequency can be assigned an eight-character identifier and a 40-character description. You can specify the character that should be used to represent the billing frequency on reports. You can also specify the billing frequency that should be used as the default for new clients. There is no limit to the number of billing frequencies that can be defined.
Added the ability to view a client’s Trust Account balances via a button on the A/R tab of the Client program and via the Client Manager.
Client Rate Tables and Client Notes are now located in the Client program.
The F5 key can be used in Client Notes to automatically insert the current date, time and User ID.
Added the ability to designate client notes as Billing Instructions. Billing Instructions can be optionally included on work-in-process and accounts receivable reports.
Added the option to list the last 20 clients accessed by the workstation.
The F2 key can be used to duplicate the entire description from the previously saved transaction. (Note: This feature was available in TABS III Version 8 for DOS but was not available in TABS III Version 8 for Windows.)

Transaction lookup windows now display transactions in reverse order (i.e., the most recent transactions are shown first).
The default timekeeper is the timekeeper on the last fee transaction added in Fee Entry. The default timekeeper for fees is saved in each workstation’s STI.INI file.
A warning is displayed in Fee Entry whenever: 1) the Hours for a fee transaction exceeds the Budget Hours; 2) the Amount for a fee or cost transaction exceeds the Budget Amount; or 3) the Amount for a fee or cost transaction exceeds the task based billing budget amounts.
The Recap of Hours now includes a View button with drill-down capabilities. Clicking this button (or double-clicking a date) displays the fees for the selected timekeeper and date including both work-in-process transactions and transactions from the archive files. Double-clicking a work-in-process transaction will select the transaction and display it in the Fee Entry window allowing you to edit the transaction.
When printing reminder statements, you can now specify whether you want a detail or summary format. The detail reminder statement includes the statement date, statement number, billed amount and due amount for each statement with an amount due. Statements with no amount due will not be included. A total balance due for all statements will also print. The summary format shows only the total balance due (like Version 8).
Added the ability to reuse the original statement number when rerunning final statements.
Added a new "Previous Balance Before Adjustments" line on the statement that shows the previous balance before write offs and payment adjustments. This line is then followed by the optional "Description Only" transactions created by the Payment Adjustment and Reverse Write Off programs. The Amount field on these transactions show the adjustment amount and cannot be edited. After these transactions print, the regular "Previous Balance" line prints.
Added the ability to export client label information as a Microsoft Word mail merge file.
Added the ability to use wildcards and phonetic searching in the Conflict of Interest Program.
Increased the number of client ranges allowed via the Multiple button from 10 to 50 throughout the system.
Added the ability to specify a third sort order in addition to the primary and secondary sort orders in the Transaction File List.
Added the ability to export the Transaction File List in the following file formats: fixed field, comma delimited, tab delimited and pipe delimited.
Added an index to the archive file for the transaction date field thus reducing processing time substantially for many reports.
The entire balance due can now be written off for a specific timekeeper. After a timekeeper is selected, the billed and due amounts shown include only the amounts for the specified timekeeper.
When writing off a specific statement, the default write off amounts are now $0.00. Previously, the default write off amount was the entire amount due for the statement.
The Change WIP Transactions program can be used to change the Status, Date, Sales Tax, Bill Code, Category and Rate fields for a range of work-in-process transactions. It can also be used to change a range of Phase/Task, Activity and Expense fields for task based billing clients. Additionally, this program can be used to convert non-task based billing transactions to task based billing transactions.
The Payment Adjustment program replaces the Reverse a Payment program found in Version 8. In addition to reversing the entire amount of a payment, you can now refund a portion of an unapplied payment.
Added the ability to transfer fees, costs, payments and accounts receivable all at once in the Transfer Transactions program. Previously, different transaction types had to be transferred individually.
If the rate specified on a fee transaction is the client’s default rate, then the rate will be changed to the new client’s default rate when the transaction is transferred. Additionally, the amount will be changed to reflect the new rate. Otherwise, if the rate specified on a fee transaction is not the client’s default rate, then the rate will not be changed when it is transferred.
New Customization options have been added so that firms can define labels for all four Phone Number fields and the new E-Mail field.
Added the ability to left justify or center the global heading and ending message.
Added an option to combine all totals on a statement. When this option is selected, the total amount due for the current work, client funds and trust accounts are totaled on the statement.