You can transfer fees from Amicus Attorney*, a case management program, to RTG Bills. This page describes the procedures to use.

• Set Up Amicus Attorney


• Set Up RTG Bills


• Set Up RTG Bills Import


• Transfer Time Entries


• Limitations

Note: If you have the Organizer Edition of Amicus Attorney V, please see our special How-To Guide, How To Import Time From Amicus Attorney.

First you must tell Amicus Attorney how to export the fees. You only have to do this once.

The exact details of how you perform each step will vary from one version of Amicus Attorney to another. Please consult your documentation for Amicus Attorney to find the exact steps you need to take.

1. Lawyer ID
   You must set the Lawyer ID to be your timekeeper number in RTG Bills. Every fee you enter will be identified by this number. (You will also need an RTG Timer license for this timekeeper.)
   
   
2. Accounting Program
   You must set the accounting program for the exported Time Sheets to be Tabs III*. This choice is compatible with RTG Bills.
   
   For the Posting Location, select the folder where RTG Bills is installed. For a standalone installation of RTG Bills, this is usually C:\Program Files\Rtgbills. This is the location where Amicus Attorney will write a file with the exported fees.
   
   Amicus Attorney may tell you that you need an additional program to read the data. Ignore the message. The only program that you need is RTG Bills Import, which you can download at no charge as an upgrade to RTG Bills.
   
   
3. Activity Codes
   Each time entry must have an activity code. Use the same codes that you use in RTG Bills.
   
   Print a list of the activity codes in Amicus Attorney. In RTG Bills, an activity code must be 2, 3, or 4 characters, so change any codes that are shorter or longer.
   
   For example, if the code for Negotiations is n, change it to ne. Similarly, if the code for Motions is m, change it to mo.

When you click the Post button on the Amicus Attorney Time Sheets window, the time entries will be written into a file named tabs3.asc in the RTG Bills folder.

Create a time entry now. Click the Time Sheets button or choose Amicus, Time Sheets from the menu. At the Time Sheets window, click New and choose a matter. Choose an activity code from the list, enter a description in the Activity box, and enter a time. Click OK to save the time entry. You should see this new entry in the list. Click the Post button. You may print the time entry or not, as you wish.

Confirm that you now have a file named tabs3.asc and that it is in the same location as RTG Bills. If you don't see the file, use the Windows Start > Search command (or Start > Find command) to search for it.

1. Clients and Matters
   The client and matter numbers in RTG Bills and Amicus Attorney must be the same.
   
   
2. Activity Codes
   Amicus Attorney has a single list of activity codes. You must create an activity code table in RTG Bills and make sure that every code in Amicus Attorney is also in RTG Bills. Furthermore, each matter for which you will transfer fees to RTG Bills must be set to use this activity code table.
   
   
3. Hourly Rates
   As you will see in the next section, you can either use the hourly rates set in Amicus Attorney, or you can ignore them and use the RTG Bills rates. However, if you use the Amicus Attorney rates, you will see a warning message in RTG Bills every time you edit a transaction, if the rate in RTG Bills differs from the rate set by Amicus Attorney.
   
   
4. Timekeeper Keys
   The RTG Bills Import program (discussed below) requires an RTG Timer license for each timekeeper whose fees it imports. When you purchase an RTG Timer license, you get a Timekeeper Key that you can enter into RTG Bills. If a timekeeper does not have a license, you cannot import fees for that timekeeper.
   
   Start RTG Bills and choose Edit > Timekeepers from the RTG Bills menu. Select a timekeeper and click Edit. At the Edit A Timekeeper window, you will see the box to enter the Timekeeper Key. RTG Bills comes with one Timekeeper Key. To use it, click the Free Key button. Click Save to save this change.
   
   You can purchase additional Timekeeper Keys at any time.

Now we will configure RTG Bills Import to read the fees from Amicus Attorney. You only have to do this once.

1. Download and install the latest version of RTG Bills Import, the program that reads fees from other programs into RTG Bills. Start RTG Bills and choose File > Upgrade > Yes. Click Check The Internet For Upgrades. Find RTG Bills Import on the list of upgrades. Check that item and install it.
   
   
2. Start the import program by choosing File > Tools from the RTG Bills menu. Find Import Fees and Expenses on the list. Select that item and click OK to start RTG Bills Import.
   
   
3. Near the box labeled Import From This File, click the Browse button. Locate the file tabs3.asc, which should be in the RTG Bills folder, and click Open. This is the file that Amicus Attorney wrote. The box should now show the full path to the file, which will be something like this:

   C:\Program Files\Rtgbills\tabs3.asc

   assuming RTG Bills is installed in the folder C:\Program Files\Rtgbills.
   
   
4. Click the button labeled 1. Configure. You will see the Configure Record Import window. We need eight entries in the right-hand column. To create an entry, choose a field from the left-hand column, then click the Add > button. Add these fields, in the order given:
   
   
   • Timekeeper number
   • Matter number
   • Activity code
   • Description 1
   • Date
   • Hours to bill
   • Hourly rate
   • IGNORE
   
   
   In the Field Delimiter box, choose Comma (CSV).
   
   The checkbox Ignore First Line should be checked.
   
   The checkbox Ignore Rates should be checked if you want to use the rate tables in RTG Bills. The rates you set in Amicus Attorney will be ignored. However, if you want RTG Bills to use the rates you set in Amicus Attorney, uncheck this box.
   
   Click Save to save this configuration.
   
   
5. To test that everything is set up properly, click the 2. Test button. RTG Bills Import will read the time entry that you previously created with Amicus Attorney. First you should see a message telling you that no formatting errors were found. It also displays a record count (how many time entries are in the file created by Amicus Attorney).
   
   When you click OK, you will see the first time entry. Click OK and you will see the second time entry or a message that there was only one entry. Click OK.
   
   

If the time entry was correct, you are ready to transfer fees from Amicus Attorney to RTG Bills.

Whenever you "post" time entries in Amicus Attorney, they will be added to a file in the RTG Bills folder. You can either import them immediately, or you can wait until more entries are "posted" and import them all at once.

When you are ready to read the time entries into RTG Bills:

1. Start the import program by choosing File > Tools from the RTG Bills menu. Find Import Fees and Expenses on the list. Select that item and click OK to start RTG Bills Import.
   
   
2. Click the 3. Import button. You are asked to confirm that you want to import the time entries. Click Yes.
   
   
3. When a message says the import is complete, click OK. Click Close to exit the program.

The transfer of fees from Amicus Attorney to RTG Bills is subject to these limitations:

1. Activity Code
   Each time entry in Amicus Attorney must have an activity code. Amicus Attorney will not allow you to "post" time entries that show None instead of an activity code.
   
   
2. Non-Billable Time
   RTG Bills does not have "non-billable" fee entries. Therefore, the Category entered into Amicus Attorney is ignored by RTG Bills.
   
   If you want to keep track of non-billable time in RTG Bills, create a matter for non-billable time entries and set the billing rate to zero.
   
   
3. Matter ID
   When it is set up as described previously, Amicus Attorney will let you enter a Client ID and a Matter ID for each fee entry. You can enter the RTG Bills client number as the Client ID and the RTG Bills matter number as the Matter ID.
   
   However, the length of the Matter ID may be limited to 12 characters, whereas RTG Bills allows 13 characters (6-digit client + hyphen + 6-digit case).