Whats New in PracticeMaster Version 10.6

What’s New in PracticeMaster Version 10.6

Highlights

Case Master’s name has been changed to PracticeMaster.
New Web Browser lets you access the Internet directly from PracticeMaster.
New Research records in the Journal file.
The Timer window lets you time Research tasks and also provides access to the Web Browser window.
Improved Calendar display.
Added an option to display linked multi-user records as a single group record on the Calendar.
Enhanced Daily Report capabilities.
Integration with iManage document management software.
Two-way integration with Microsoft Outlook.
Enhanced integration with QuickBooks supports two methods of integration.
Ability to customize the Client Editor window by specifying which pages (i.e., tabs) are displayed. Also added the ability to configure separate pages for individual journal types.
Added a new "Continuing Education" Area of Practice Template that can be used to manage Continuing Legal Education (CLE) or Continuing Professional Education (CPE) requirements.

Web Browser

Added a Web Browser feature that opens a Microsoft Internet Explorer window with special PracticeMaster toolbar buttons including:
The ability to create a Research record.
The ability to save entire Web pages for offline viewing at a later time.
The ability to paste actual research contents from the Web page into a Research record.
The ability to update URL locations in a research record.
A Web Browser window can be opened from the Main Task Folder, from the File | Web Browser menu, by pressing Ctrl+W or by clicking the Web field button from a Research record or any other record with a Web field.

Research Records

Added a new Journal record type for Research records.
Easily convert a research record to a fee entry.

Timer Window

Added a new button in the Timer window to create a Research record allowing you to time Internet research sessions just like you would time a phone task or timer task.
Modified Timer Preferences to allow the ability to specify whether a timer will be started and/or whether a Journal Editor window will be opened when a research journal record is created.

Journal File

New OEM default form layouts now show description fields at the top of the form.
Journal file now includes research records in addition to phone, timer, e-mail, client notes, and billing notes records.

Process Timer Records

Research records are included in the list of Journal records thus allowing you to easily create fee records for billing purposes.

Editor Window

Changed the Web field type button to open the specified Web page in the STI Web Browser window instead of the default browser.
Added the ability to configure the Client Editor window to display or exclude various pages (i.e., tabs). Additionally added the ability to include pages for individual journal types in the Client Editor window thus making it easier to access specific journal types without having to filter. It also simplifies the number of steps required to add a new journal record. For example, you can keep your Client Editor window the same as it is but add a new page for Client Notes only. Configurable pages include: Fee, Cost, Document Management, Calendar, Client Related, and Journal. New pages that can be configured include Client Notes, E-Mail, Phone, Timer, Research and TABS III Billing Notes.

Daily Report

Added the ability to categorize entries by date thus allowing reminders to print for the date on which they fall. Added the ability to start each date on a new page.
Added the ability to exclude overdue task records.
Added the ability to append any or all of the following fields to the Description field on the report: Calendar Comments, Client Name, and Client Work Description.

QuickDate Calculator

Added a new QuickDate Calculator feature that allows you to calculate a past or future date based on a specified date. These settings can optionally be saved as QuickDates and then used for subsequent date adjustments. Final Adjustments can be made to a QuickDate allowing you to adjust a date to a previous, next or closest workday if it lands on a holiday or weekend as well as adjust for mail days. The QuickDate Calculator feature replaces Date Math.
The QuickDate Calculator can be accessed by pressing the "Q" key or right-clicking in any date field. Also, a QuickDate Calculator button was added to the standard date selection window allowing easy access to the QuickDate Calculator.
QuickDates can be categorized into folders allowing you to easily locate a QuickDate.
Saved QuickDates can be accessed in all STI programs.
The Date Selector area of the Calendar now bolds dates that have events or tasks for the users/groups being displayed. Holidays are now shown in light red and holidays with events or tasks are shown in bold red.

Report Writer

Added the ability to select a Related Party field from a lookup window at runtime. This gives you the ability to select a beginning and ending Related Party field from a lookup window when you run the report. Previously, you had to type in alpha characters as opposed to selecting records from a lookup window for Related Party user defined fields with a Runtime Prompt.

Calendar

The Date Selector area of the Calendar now bolds dates that have events or tasks for the users/groups being displayed. Holidays are now shown in light red and holidays with events or tasks are shown in bold red.
When viewing the Calendar for multiple users, calendar records linked to multiple users/groups can be displayed as a single group record instead of multiple individual records.

Calendar Properties

Added the ability to bold dates with activity in the Date Selector area. Disabling this feature eliminates the processing time required to bold the dates for systems with large data sets.
Added the ability to optionally combine a multi-user record into one group record.

Outlook Two-Way Integration

New and improved integration with Microsoft Outlook now provides two-way integration. Previously, PracticeMaster only wrote calendar records to Outlook.
Integration is configured in STI System Configuration for each user using the Outlook Configuration window. In this window, you specify whether you are using One-Way or Two-Way Integration. One-Way Integration consists of PracticeMaster automatically writing calendar records to Outlook when they are saved in PracticeMaster. Two-Way Integration consists of One-Way Integration plus the addition of a full two-way Synchronization program that is periodically run in PracticeMaster. You can synchronize for all calendar entries, a date range, for specified users, tasks/events/both. When synchronizing tasks, you can exclude completed tasks and or tasks with no due date. You can configure synchronization so that PracticeMaster entries are not deleted.
An optional Outlook Synchronization Confirmation window lets you see exactly which calendar entries will be added, changed or deleted in PracticeMaster and Outlook before completing the synchronization.
When using Microsoft Exchange Server, integration capabilities are expanded such that you can synchronize other users’ Outlook calendar records to PracticeMaster and vice versa at the same time.

iManage Integration

Word Document Assembly triggers an iManage document profile when the Word document is saved.
When integrating with iManage, you can optionally search the contents of iManage documents in a PracticeMaster Conflict of Interest Search. You can drill down to the document or iManage document profile directly from the Conflict of Interest report.
You can access iManage’s powerful Search feature from PracticeMaster allowing you to search indexed documents from multiple iManage databases as well as document profiles. An Import feature makes it easy to create PracticeMaster document management records from iManage document profiles.
An Action menu option in the client file allows you to easily view a list of iManage documents for a specific client and drill down to the document or iManage document profile from the list.

WORLDOX Integration

Added the ability to map any field in a Profile Group to the Client ID. Previously, fields in WORLDOX Profile Groups required specific labels.

Windows Menu

Replaced the Tile menu option with Tile Vertically and Tile Horizontally menu options.

Help Menu

Added menu options for STI Knowledge Base, STI Web Site, and STI Newsletter that provide instant access to these online resources on the Internet.

STI Newsletter

Added a newsletter reminder that will be displayed once a month the first time each user starts an STI software program. STI publishes its STI Connection newsletter monthly on the Internet for maintenance users.

Terminology Changes

Case Master is now called PracticeMaster.
“Case” terminology is now “Client”.
“Case ID” is now “Client ID”.
“Matter” terminology is now “File”.
The “Matter Length” field is now called the “Decimal Places” field.

About PracticeMaster

The About PracticeMaster window now shows a Profession Code (L=Legal, A=Accounting) which is specified when the software is installed.

Miscellaneous

Requires Internet Explorer Version 4 or later. However, when saving Web pages to a file, some file formats require Internet Explorer Version 5 or later (i.e., *.mht and complete *.htm or *.html).
If integrating with Outlook, requires Outlook 98 or greater.

QuickBooks Two-Way Integration

Improved integration capabilities with Intuit’s QuickBooks accounting software. PracticeMaster now supports two types of integration with QuickBooks:
- IIF - IIF Integration is the integration that was introduced in Version 10.5. This integration allows posting detailed journal entries to a QuickBooks import file whenever a cost transaction is added to PracticeMaster. This file is then periodically used by QuickBooks to import the journal entry information from PracticeMaster into QuickBooks.
- QBXML - QBXML integration is the new method of QuickBooks integration that was introduced in Version 10.6. QBXML represents Intuit’s QuickBooks eXtensible Markup Language which was developed by Intuit to provide tighter integration between QuickBooks and third party programs. This integration type is more sophisticated and requires QuickBooks Pro 2002, QuickBooks Premier 2002, or QuickBooks Premier 2002: Accountant Edition. The QBXML format provides a dynamic method of integration that supports two-way integration for clients, fee and costs as well as one-way automatic integration for journal entries. When using this method of integration, PracticeMaster posts information directly to QuickBooks data files whenever a client, fee or cost is added. Additionally, after adding a cost record in PracticeMaster, the QuickBooks General Journal Entry window is displayed allowing detailed journal entries to be posted directly to QuickBooks. Conversely, running the “Merge QuickBooks Data with PM” program in PracticeMaster will transfer all new client, fee and cost entries in QuickBooks to PracticeMaster. (Note: If integrating with TABS III, the QBXML integration is configured in TABS III where the integration consists of direct posting of detailed journal entries to QuickBooks. When using PracticeMaster with TABS III, only journal entries are integrated with QuickBooks—client, fee, or cost information is not integrated with QuickBooks.)

Customization

Added a QuickBooks Integration area that lets you specify the QuickBooks integration type. If using the QBXML method, you can also specify which QuickBooks Company File with which you will be integrating.

Area of Practice Templates

Added a new "Continuing Education" Area of Practice Template that can be used to manage Continuing Legal Education (CLE) or Continuing Professional Education (CPE) requirements. This Area of Practice is designed to track credit and seminar information for professionals in your firm. It provides the ability to track detailed information on various seminars, workshops and classes that employees have attended or will attend for Continuing Education credits including location, date, fees, expenses, credits, sponsor information, and more. A comprehensive report can be printed for all employees including required credits, completed credits and remaining credits for each state in which the employee is licensed. You can easily modify the template to track additional information unique to your practice. Complete instructions for implementing the Continuing Education Area of Practice can be found in the following PDF file on the STI CD-ROM:
\APPS\TEMPLATE\AOP_INST.pdf

File Maintenance

Increased the maximum number of fields that can be defined in a file from 192 to 220.

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