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RTG Timer BB: Documentation |
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| Purpose |
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RTG Timer BB lets you to enter fee and expense information, to be billed to your clients, using a BlackBerry device.
Your data is stored on an Internet server, so you can also access it from any location that provides Internet access on a computer with a full-size screen.
Clients, matters, timekeepers, and codes can be uploaded from your computer to the RTG server. After you have entered fees and expenses, they can be downloaded to your computer for processing by your billing software.
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| Requirements |
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1. Subscription
RTG Timer BB is offered at no additional charge when you subscribe to RTG Timer Online.
2. BlackBerry with Internet access
RTG Timer BB requires a BlackBerry device with Internet access. If you can access other Internet sites, such as Google and Yahoo, you will be able to enter data using RTG Timer BB. Start the browser on your BlackBerry device and go to this site to sign in:
http://secure.rtgsoftware.com/mobile/bsignin.htm
The browser settings on your BlackBerry device must permit the following features to work:
- JavaScript
JavaScript is a feature that allows our software to work inside your browser. You must turn this option on.
- Cookies
Cookies are small amounts of information stored temporarily on your computer by the software. RTG Timer BB uses a cookie to remember that you have signed in as you move from page to page. The cookie is deleted when you sign out.
3. RTG Bills not required
RTG Timer BB, like RTG Timer Online, was primarily designed for use with RTG's timekeeping and billing software, RTG Bills. Clients, matters, timekeepers, and codes can be exported from RTG Bills in a format that can be uploaded directly to RTG Timer Online. Fees and expenses can be downloaded from RTG Timer Online in a format that can be read directly by RTG Bills.
However, RTG Timer BB and RTG Timer Online do not require the use of RTG Bills. RTG Timer Online allows the Supervisor to enter and edit clients, matters, timekeepers, and codes directly. If the goal is to track time and create reports, without creating bills, there might be no need to download the fees and expenses.
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| Free Trial |
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RTG offers a one-month free trial of RTG Timer BB and RTG Timer Online. During the trial period, one, two, or three users may access the service.
One user is designated the Supervisor. The Supervisor has additional capabilities, including the ability to upload data to the server and download data from the server. In addition, the Supervisor can change other user's passwords and designate other users as Supervisors.
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| Subscriptions |
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RTG Timer Online is offered on a subscription basis. A firm subscribes to the service, indicating how many users will want to access the service. A monthly fee is charged based on the number of users of the service.
Each user has a user name and a password. The user name is supplied to RTG by the firm during the subscription process, subject to the limitation that every user name must be unique in RTG Timer Online. RTG will provide a temporary password, which the user can change after signing in to the service.
In order to use the service, each user must agree to the Subscriber Agreement.
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| Users and Timekeepers |
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A user is a person who has access to RTG Timer BB and RTG Timer Online. A timekeeper is a person whose fees are entered with RTG Timer BB or RTG Timer Online.
Sometimes the user is also the timekeeper, but not always. Even in a small firm, a single timekeeper may enter fees and expenses, while an assistant needs access to that information to edit it and create reports. In that situation, there would be two users, but only one timekeeper.
In some firms, a single person enters the fees and expenses for several timekeepers. In that situation, there is only one user, even though there are several timekeepers.
The fee for subscribing to RTG Timer Online is based on the number of users, not the number of timekeepers.
If the firm is using RTG Bills, it is necessary to have an RTG Timer license for each timekeeper. RTG Bills will only read the fees and expenses for a timekeeper if an RTG Timer key, supplied with each RTG Timer license, has been entered into RTG Bills. There is a small, one-time charge for each RTG Timer license.
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| Access to Timekeepers |
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The Supervisor determines which timekeepers can be accessed by each user.
A user can access the data of one timekeeper at a time. When the user signs in, a list of timekeepers is presented from which one must be chosen, if the user has been given access to more than one timekeeper's data. However, if the user only has access to a single timekeeper's data, there is no choice to make, and the user automatically sees the data for the assigned timekeeper.
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| Fees and Expenses |
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RTG Timer BB is similar in features to RTG Timer, which RTG supplies with each copy of RTG Bills.
Four types of transactions may be entered:
- Hourly rate: A time transaction, where the amount to be billed is based on the number of hours and a billing rate. The billing rate is determined by the rate table assigned to the matter. Each rate table contains the rate for every timekeeper.
- Fixed fee: A fee transaction, where the amount to be billed is entered directly and does not depend on the time spent.
- Unit cost: An expense transaction, where the amount is determined by a quantity and a unit cost. A typical example would be photocopies, charged by the page.
- Expense: An expense transaction, where the amount to be billed is entered directly.
When the fees and expenses are ready to be billed, they are released. This process marks the transactions as released and removes them from RTG Timer BB. It also writes a copy of the transactions into a file on the server, so the Supervisor can later download the released transactions.
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| Hours |
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RTG Timer keeps track of time to the nearest hundredth of an hour. When you enter the Hours Reported for an hourly rate transaction, you may enter either decimal hours (1.25) or hours and minutes (1:15). Hours and minutes are converted to decimal hours.
RTG Bills and RTG Timer Online include an option to round time up to the next tenth of an hour. In RTG Timer BB, this rounding occurs when you release transactions for billing.
Another option specifies a minimum time for specific activities. For example, if you spend 0.1 hours on an activity and the minimum time is 0.25 hours, RTG Timer Online will show the Hours Reported as 0.1 and the Hours To Bill as 0.25.
In RTG Timer BB, if you enter 0.1 hours and an activity code with a minimum time of 0.25 hours, you will only see 0.1 hours on the screen. However, when you release the transaction for billing, the Hours To Bill will be set to 0.25 hours.
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| Matters |
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Every fee or expense transaction must be assigned to a matter before it can be billed. However, you can enter a transaction and leave the matter unassigned, then go back later to choose the proper matter number.
RTG Timer BB makes it easy to find the correct matter. A dropdown list shows the most-recently chosen matters. You can also choose List to see a numeric or alphabetical list of clients, or Search to search for a client or matter name.
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| Stopwatch |
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A stopwatch is provided for people who wish to time their work. You will see the stopwatch when you enter an hourly rate transaction.
As soon as the stopwatch is started, it shows the elapsed time. If you click Stop, the elapsed time is rounded to the nearest hundredth of an hour and added to any time already entered for the current transaction. When you start the stopwatch again, it begins timing from zero once more.
If you click Reset, the stopwatch is stopped and the elapsed time is ignored. First, however, you are asked if this is what you meant to do, to prevent you from accidentally discarding the time.
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| Hourly Rate |
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RTG Timer BB obtains the hourly billing rate from a rate table. Rate tables are created in RTG Bills or in RTG Timer Online. Each rate table contains a billing rate for every timekeeper.
You may have many different rate tables for different matters or different activities. Usually the rate table used for a transaction is determined by the matter. However, an activity code may override this choice and specify a different rate table.
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| Limitations |
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- For an hourly rate transaction, RTG Timer BB lets you enter the Hours Reported but it assumes the Hours To Bill is the same. In other words, you cannot write up or write down a transaction. If necessary, you can change the Hours To Bill in RTG Bills, or in RTG Timer Online.
- Similarly, for a unit cost transaction, you enter the Quantity Reported and RTG Timer BB assumes the Quantity To Bill is the same.
- Similarly, for a fixed fee or an expense, you enter the Amount Reported and RTG Timer BB assumes the Amount To Bill is the same.
- You cannot enter a non-standard hourly rate.
- You cannot unrelease transactions. This can be done by the Supervisor in RTG Timer Online, if needed.
- The BlackBerry Web browser does not properly support SSL (secure) Web sites. You must use the standard (http://) address, not the secure (https://) address, for RTG Timer BB.
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| Links |
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RTG Timer BB
RTG Timer Online
RTG Bills
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Copyright © 2007 RTG Data Systems
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