First Look: TimeSolv Time Tracking And Billing Software

TimeSolv is cloud-based time tracking and billing software designed for lawyers.¹ For a firm of any size, TimeSolv can ease the pain and tedium of time and expense tracking. That said, for solos, the depth and breadth of what TimeSolv offers is likely overkill. The real value of TimeSolv comes from its ability to manage lots of moving parts. It handles ABA billing codes, a variety of different billing schemes and rates, high-volume invoicing, and has a wide range of reports to track firm performance. Firms with five or more attorneys will appreciate what TimeSolv has to offer.

TimeSolv is web-based but has a desktop app for time entry when you’re offline. TimeSolv also has apps for iOS and Android.

Dashboard and Reporting

If you are used to the range of information found in the dashboards of case management software, TimeSolv’s dashboard overview will feel a bit thin. That’s not a bad thing, however.

On the dashboard, you can see your target billable hours tracked against your total actual hours and your actual billable hours. You can also see your target billable amount tracked against your actual billables and the amount you’ve collected.

Finally, you can see your target billing rate versus your actual billing rate. The spartan dashboard works because it isn’t meant to give you a comprehensive overview of how the firm across multiple metrics–it’s just there to tell you if you’re hitting your targets before you shift into using the program.

It’s best to think of TimeSolv as serving two distinct purposes. First, for any firm member, it makes it quick and easy to enter time and expenses, even if your billing rate changes a lot or you’re away from your main computer quite a bit. For firm administrators—managing partners, office managers, the billing department—TimeSolv allows you to see the performance of specific individuals, the profitability of certain tasks or business lines, overall firm financial health, and more. It does this via a robust reporting system. Reports fall into seven categories:

• Time and Expense
• Accounting
• Invoices, Payments, and Trusts
• Realization
• Performance
• Matter Management
• Firm Management

Being able to run reports such as aged invoices allows you to see overall financial metrics at a glance.

You can also run reports like Client Rankings, to see which client is the most profitable.

Invoices

Many practice management applications will generate invoices, and the limited information that is typically contained on those will probably be fine for a solo practitioner. For larger firms, TimeSolv goes above and beyond what practice management software offers do by providing deep customization. The program comes loaded with typical invoice types, such as fixed fees for time and expenses. You can set up as many invoice templates as you’d like and you can adjust everything from the cover page to what should occur on the statement of account and remittance pages to what level of detail to include in each timekeeping entry.

The high degree of flexibility in invoicing is crucial for firms that handle multiple lines of business, bill out at varying rates, and have a large number of expenses attached to matters.

Integrations

TimeSolv doesn’t integrate with any practice management software, and that may be its biggest shortcoming. You can import data via an Excel spreadsheet to get your matters and clients into Timesolv, but that won’t automatically update or keep things in sync. Additionally, the import tool is less than intuitive, particularly for individuals who don’t understand how to export data from their existing software.

You can export your data to an Excel spreadsheet or have TimeSolv automatically back up in a CSV format for $19.95 per month.

TimeSolv syncs with two types of accounting software: Quickbooks and AccountEdge (formerly MYOB). TimeSolv also integrates with the lawyer-specific credit card processor LawPay if you want to set up a client portal so that clients can pay with a credit card online.

Pricing

TimeSolv has three types of billing plans for three types of services, all of which are based on how many users you have. First, there’s pricing for TimeSolv Legal, which is the version solosmall attorneys are most likely to use. TimeSolv Legal costs $34.95 per month per user, or $31.46 per month per user billed annually. TimeSolv Legal includes trust accounting for multiple trust accounts, ABA task and activity codes, and conflict management. TimeSolv Pro is for contractors and freelancers in other professions. That costs $19.95 per month per user, or $17.95 per month per user billed annually. While significantly cheaper, it’s not terribly useful for lawyers, as it lacks all the lawyer-specific features.

You can also entirely outsource your legal billing to TimeSolv at anywhere from $89 to $179 per month per person, depending on configuration.

Final Thoughts

TimeSolv is a well-designed program, and for firms of five and up, would likely significantly decrease the amount of time people in the firm have to spend tracking time and doing billing. However, TimeSolv doesn’t replace practice management software, so firms would probably be paying for a case management solution, accounting software, and TimeSolv. For a bigger firm, that expense is likely to be well worth it. For a solo practitioner, it’s likely cost-prohibitive and unnecessary.

If you’d like to see if TimeSolv will work for your firm, there is a free 30-day trial, and you do not need a credit card to sign up. However, you do need to give TimeSolv your email and your phone number, and they will contact you immediately. In the first few hours after signing up, I received three emails and two phone calls, which is a bit much. But if you can cope with a minor bit of old-school sales techniques, the free trial is a good opportunity to check TimeSolv out.

1. That statement isn’t strictly true in that there are versions of TimeSolv for other professionals, but TimeSolv Legal is entirely tailored to lawyers. ↩

First Look: TimeSolv Time Tracking And Billing Software was originally published on Lawyerist.com.