Lesson #118
Setup – Billing Rates function
Billing rates are the amounts you charge for services. These rates are organized into tables, so you can charge different clients different amounts for the same service items by applying different billing rate tables instead of having to enter rates each time you bill someone. You might charge different billing rates for the same service items based on negotiations with clients, networking rates with other agencies, or rates requested by an insurance company. Your multiple billing rate tables can contain the prices for all of your service items, so you can easily apply the correct prices when invoicing specific firms by selecting the appropriate table.
Set up Billing Rate Groups first
Before you start creating billing rate tables, set up Billing Rate Groups in the Lists function. Billing Rate Groups are groups of similar tables, so when billing you can search through a subset of your billing rate tables instead of the whole long list of tables each time you invoice a client. Set up basic categories (groups), such as Standard, Preferred, and for specific cases. You can also designate which Billing Rate Group is your default group that will appear when setting up new billing rate tables, new firms, new contacts, etc.
After setting up groups, use the Billing Rates function to add your billing rate tables within the groups. You can set up as many billing rate tables as you need in each group.
Add as many billing rates as you need
You can set up billing rate tables in 2 ways: From scratch or from an existing table. Copying and updating an existing table is a quicker way to create a new table because the existing table’s rates and details are duplicated in the new table for you to update.
Another way to save time is to set default billing/pay rates and options for service items in the Service Item Master, then change them for specific situations by creating different rate tables with custom rates for the service items. Every billing rate table you create in RB will automatically inherit all service items set up in the Service Item Master, including all default rates and options for each item as well. So if you set up defaults in the Service Item Master, then you only have to update them as needed in individual rate tables.
Give each billing rate table you create a clearly specific name so your billing staff can easily understand when it should be used. Some examples would be Standard Rates, Preferred Rates, Medical-Technical, and Rates for ABC Law Firm. You can further segment your market by state and/or city if you charge different rates by location.
Add as many billing rates as you need
In each billing rate table, you can customize the billing rate for each item. If there are service items that do not pertain to this billing rate, leave their billing rate at $0 and RB won’t bill for them when this billing rate table is used.
In addition to each service item’s billing rate, you can also customize:
- The minimum invoice amount for the service item.
- The pay rate for resources, the minimum amount you pay resources for this item, and whether you pay your resources for the service item using a flat rate ($) scale or percentage (%). If you have service items that resources do not get paid on, leave them set at $0, and RB will not calculate pay for them. (You do not have to include pay rate information in your billing rate tables. You can use the Pay Rates function to set up separate pay rate tables, which you can select when billing.)
- If the billing amount and pay amount for this service item will have the Expedite (Rush) amount added to it.
- Whether the item is court taxable and/or sales taxable.
- If you offer discounts on this particular service item. The percentage of discount that a client will receive on the service item is entered in their Firms setup.
- If you use the Reward Points System, and the service item should be included in the revenue calculation to accumulate points.
- If you pay commissions on the service item to resources that bring in clients (Client Of) and/or account managers (Sales Reps).
- If you want the service item name and billing amount to appear on invoices. (If you set a firm to always print details on invoices in their Firm setup, then their invoices will be fully itemized, displaying all service items and billing amounts overriding whatever is specified here.)
- If you have the RB Connect plug-in, you can allow clients to request the service item when submitting an online job request and/or allow resources to select this service item during turn-in.
- If the service item needs your production department’s involvement, you can have it appear on Production Sheets, which show them on a job-by-job basis, who’s ordering and what they’re ordering that needs to be produced.
- LEDES codes required by clients for e-billing.
In addition to customizing the billing rates, you can also make adjustments to each Rush Type in the table if needed. All Rush Types are automatically inherited from the Rush Type Master. You can also include any relevant notes or comments in a rate table.
Manage billing rates
You can update any information in a billing rate table at any time, except its Billing Rate Group. You can delete any billing rate table that hasn’t been used. If you can’t delete a table, you can de-activate it so it does not appear in lists. And you can update rates in multiple billing rate tables at once in the Service Item Master.
To find a billing rate table to copy, update, delete, or de-activate, you can search your entire set of billing rate tables, or narrow your search to a specific Billing Rate Group, state, city, and/or billing rate table name. You can also choose to search all tables or only active tables. RB lists the results by Billing Rate Group, and includes each table’s name, its state and/or city (if applicable), and its Active status.
You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order). Export your search results as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications. You can also sort and export the service item and rush type lists in each billing rate table.
Attach billing rates to entities
After setting up Billing Rate Groups and billing rate tables, attach entities to the rate tables. You connect billing rates to firms, contacts, and parties to a case/job. You can do this when you set them up or at any time afterwards. Contacts inherit billing rate tables from their firms, but you can select different tables for contacts from their firm’s. Parties will default to the billing rate tables in their contact profile. You can override the default when adding parties to cases/jobs or when turning in jobs.
Apply billing rates
When creating an invoice in Turn In, RB will select the billing rate table connected to the designated Bill To contact. You can select a different rate table for this invoice, and you can override any charge on individual invoices.
TL;DR: Set up multiple billing rate tables so you can automatically charge different amounts to different clients for the same service items based on prices you negotiate with clients.
RB concepts in this lesson
Billing Rate Groups: Umbrella structures aimed at categorizing your billing rates. Instead of one long list of billing rates, Billing Rate Groups create a series of shorter lists to search through.
Bill To Contact: The contact responsible for paying the invoice for a job.
Client Of: Resource that receives a commission for jobs their clients scheduled or that are part of a case the resource was designated as the Client Of resource. You can also give reporters right of first refusal on their clients/cases’ jobs by displaying unassigned jobs from their clients/cases in Resource-side online calendars in RB Connect.
Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with, such as attorneys.
Firm: Company you do business with. They schedule depositions with you, e.g., a law firm, or they are a third party that pays you, e.g., an insurance company.
Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >
RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >
Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters.
