This document provides technical information about how to set up Tabs3 in order to facilitate the export of information to the format required by LitigationAdvisor/Farmers Insurance. Please review this document carefully before attempting to export data for Farmers Insurance matters.
Task Based Billing
The Task Based Billing Client check box must be selected in Tabs3 for all Farmers Insurance matters. This option is found on the Setup tab in the client data entry program in Tabs3. Selecting this option will force you to enter task codes instead of transaction codes when entering Work-in-Process for Farmers Insurance matters.
Costs Note: When entering costs in Tabs3, you are required to enter both the Phase/Task code and the Expense code. However, the TASKBILL program exports the Expense code only.
Firm Information
The firm name and city/state/zip must be set up in the System Configuration program. The city/state/zip line must use the 2-character state postal abbreviation and there must be at least one space between the city, state and zip code.
Note: The city/state/zip may be entered on any of the 3 address lines as long as it is the last address line used.
Division Name and Division Office Location
The Division Name and Division Office Location must be configured for all Farmers Insurance matters. However, the information does not need to be stored in the same location for each matter. The Division Name and Division Office Location information can be stored in the Tabs3 client file in one of three areas: the Custom Fields, the Client Bill To Address, or the Client Address. Taskbill will look for this information in the Custom Fields first. If the Custom Fields are not defined, then Taskbill will use the Bill To Address. If the Bill To Address is not defined, then Taskbill will use the Client Address.
Custom Fields - Taskbill checks the Custom Fields first for the information. If you opt to use Custom Fields to store the division information, you must configure two Custom Fields in Tabs3. The Custom Fields must have label names of Division_Name and Division_Office_Loc along with the actual text for the name and office location. You have the choice of selecting any of the 50 available Custom Fields to store this information. The label names themselves may be composed of any mixture of upper and lower case letters as long as they are spelled exactly as shown. If either of the Custom Fields are found (whether they contain any associated text or not), then information in both the Bill To Address and the Client Address fields will be ignored.
Tip: If you want to enter the Division Name and Division Office Location information into the Client Bill To Address, but you don’t want the Client Bill To Address information to print on statements, perform the following steps:
- Select the appropriate client in the Tabs3 client data entry program.
- On the Billing Preferences tab, change the Bill To Address option from "None" to "Yes".
- Enter the Division Name into the "Bill To Name". Enter the Division Office Location into the "Bill To City" (and "Bill To State" if necessary). Save the changes.
- Then, with the Billing Preferences tab still displayed, go to the Bill To Address option, and change it from "Yes" back to "None" and save the change.
- Note that the information you entered in the "Bill To Address" is still present but is "dimmed". Taskbill will be able to read the information; however, the information will not be included on a Tabs3 statement.
Matter Name
The Matter Name must be entered into the Tabs3 Work Description.
Special Fields
There are several fields required for Farmers Insurance that are not in Tabs3. The fields are the Claim Number, Claim Representative, Invoice Sequence, Matter ID Number, and Policy Holder Name. During configuration, you are given the choice of where to store these fields in the Tabs3 client file. The following table includes a list of available locations. You will have to make sure to set up all of your Farmers Insurance matters the same way so none of the fields are missing in the electronic data file for any individual matters.
Note: Although you can use any of the following locations to store the special fields, we recommend you use Custom Fields for all of the special fields. However, if you configured clients prior to Version 11 (when Custom Fields were not available), it is not necessary to change all of the matters to use Custom Fields to store the information.
| Field Location | Client File Location |
| Custom Fields Lines 1-50 | Custom Fields tab |
| Miscellaneous Lines 1-3 | Custom Fields tab |
| Contact Name (for Claim Representative only) | Address tab |
| Beginning Statement Notes Lines 1-4 | Statement Options tab |
| Ending Statement Notes Lines 1-4 | Statement Options tab |
| Client Notes Lines 1-150 | Client Notes tab |
| Billing Notes and Instructions Lines 1-150 | Billing Preferences tab |
Note: The Invoice Sequence field should contain one of the following text descriptions: INITIAL (for the first invoice), INTERIM (for subsequent invoices), FINAL (for the last invoice), FIRST/FINAL (if this will be the only invoice), or SUPPLEMENTAL (used when a previous invoice was marked FINAL or FIRST/FINAL).
Note: The Matter ID Number contains a unique number assigned by the LitigationAdvisor system for each matter name that is submitted. It must be blank or contain the text "N/A" for initial invoices, since it is assigned only after the first invoice has been submitted.
Share Percentage
One of the fields in the header section is the Share Percentage. If you use split fee billing in Tabs3 for any Farmers Insurance matters, the split fee percentage will be exported as the Share Percentage. All non-split fee matters will have the text "N/A" exported for the Share Percentage.
Photocopies
LitigationAdvisor requires that the number of copies be present on photocopy transactions. The copy count is determined by the Units field in the cost file.
Note: Task Code E101 is the Expense Task Code used for photocopy transactions. You need to make sure that your Tabs3 photocopy transaction code has been mapped to Expense Task code E101. To do this, select the Task Code program in Tabs3 (File|Open|Miscellaneous|Task Code). Retrieve the E101 task code. Enter your Tabs3 photocopy transaction code in the Transaction Code field.
Photocopy Descriptions
LitigationAdvisor requires that the number of copies and the rate per copy be present in photocopy transaction descriptions. There are two methods to accomplish this requirement.
Method 1: There is an option on the "Task Billing Export" window to Reformat Photocopy Descriptions. Selecting this option causes TASKBILL to ignore the current description stored in Tabs3. Instead, a custom description is generated with the following text: "Photocopy expense N copies @ N.NN each". Refer to the Photocopies section above for more information about how the number of copies and the rate per copy are determined by TASKBILL. Also, note that only cost transactions with Expense Task Code E101 would be affected by this description reformatting.
Method 2: You would have to enter the correct photocopy descriptions into Tabs3 manually. As you enter photocopies into Tabs3 with Expense Task Code E101, make sure the description includes the text "N copies @ N.NN each" at the end.
Note: If you merge transactions into Tabs3 via a data capture device program, you would have to manually edit the photocopy descriptions after the merge to make sure the correct descriptions are present.
2004/06