The matter register, views and dashboard

The register

Matters lists every matter you may see, a page at a time. Open Filters to narrow it by status, office, department, practice area, responsible partner, fee earner, whether it is a court matter, the dates it opened, how the work arrived, who referred it, stage, how long it has sat in its stage, and Deadlines at risk: overdue, due today, due this week, a date awaiting confirmation, a reminder not acknowledged, a deadline needing cover, or any of them. The responsible partner and fee earner filters search the firm's people as you type, so anyone can be found however large the firm. Sort by any column that offers it.

The tabs above the register read it other ways: My matters shows the ones you are on, and Budgets, Referrals, Undertakings and Conveyancing each have their own guide.

Saved views

Every register has Views beside its actions, the matter register among them. Set the filters, search, sort and page size you use every week, open Views and choose Save this view under a name. Choosing a view puts all of it back in force; Stop using it returns the register to how it opens.

Once you change the filters with a view in force, Update it with what is on screen keeps the new reading under the same name. Rename it changes only the name, and Delete it takes the view away (it can be restored from the deleted records).

Sharing a view with the firm

A partner can switch on Share with the firm when saving, or choose Share it with the firm on a view already saved. The view then appears to everybody who reads that register under Shared with the firm, and each person still sees only the rows they may read. Only the person who shared it, or a firm administrator, can rename, change, stop sharing or delete it. Who may share is set on the roles, as view.share and view.shared.manage.

Stale matters and time in stage

• Stale lists live matters nobody has touched for the firm's number of days, 30 unless the firm changes Stale after (days) under Settings, General, Practice. A closed file is not a neglected one, so only live matters count.
• Time in stage shows how long each matter has sat in its current stage, and which have sat too long.

The budget report

Budgets lists each matter's budget against what has been spent on it, a page at a time, so a partner sees which files are running over. For each matter it shows the Budget, what has been Spent, the Variance and how much of the budget is Used.

1. Open Matters, then Budgets.
2. Search by matter number or name, or open Filters to narrow by practice area, responsible partner or status.
3. The report opens on the matters that have a budget. Switch off Only matters with a budget to see every matter, with those that have none marked No budget.
4. Choose a row to open that matter's Budget tab, where the budget is set and revised.

The report exports like any other register. A matter whose spend nothing yet records shows no figure rather than a nought.

The dashboard

Open a matter and its Overview tab reads it on one screen: its details, referral, billing arrangement, standing and what it is about; At a glance, the counts of what it holds; What comes next, with the case, the next deadline and hearing and the open tasks; Money on the matter; Recent activity; the firm's own fields; and the newest notes.

The activity timeline

The Activity tab lists everything that happened on the matter, from status changes and notes to budget revisions and conflict checks, newest first, read from the audit trail. Beside it, Notes holds the file's notes, History its changes, and Linked records what else names the matter.