Q: How can I set up RTG Bills and RTG Timer to automatically enter the per page charge for faxes and photocopies?

A: You need to create an activity code table and enter separate codes for faxes and photocopies. Then you need to set the default activity code table so that you can enter a code with your "unit cost" transactions. All of this is done in RTG Bills. Once it is set up, it works in both programs. Details follow.

Start RTG Bills. Choose Edit > Code Tables. If you already have a code table, select it and click Edit.

If you do not have any code tables, click New and click OK to accept 1 for the code table number. Then select the new code table and click Edit.

You should see the Select A Code window. If there is no FAX code already, click New to create a new code. Type FAX and click OK.  If a FAX code already exists, select it and click Edit.

You should see the Edit A Code window. In the Description box, enter the text you want to see on the bill, such as "Fax charges". Check Insert this text so that RTG Bills and RTG Timer will insert this description for you. For the Type, choose Unit Cost (not Expense). Leave Summarize on bills unchecked. For the Amount, enter the per page charge, say 0.5 for 50 cents per page. Leave the Tax Code as Use standard tax code. Click Save.

At the Select A Code window, you can enter another code. Click New and enter COPY for photocopies. Click OK. Once again, enter a description ("Photocopies"), check the checkbox, set the Type to Unit Cost, and enter the per page charge, say 0.2 for 20 cents per page. Click Save.

Press Esc to leave the Select A Code window. Press Esc again to leave the Select A Code Table window.

Now you have to tell RTG Bills to use this code table for every matter. Choose Setup > Other > Standards. Under Standard Code Tables, put the number 1 in the Activity box. Leave the 0 in the Task box. Click Save.

From this point on, when you enter a fee or expense transaction, you will see a box for the Activity. The box starts out blank, and you should leave it that way except when you want to enter fax or photocopy charges.

To enter a fax charge, type FAX in the box and press Tab. (Actually, you don't need to capitalize "fax" because the program will do that for you.) As soon as you press Tab, the Description will say "Fax charges" (or whatever you entered for that code), the Type will be set to Unit Cost, and the Unit Cost will be set to the dollar amount you chose. All you need to do is enter the Quantity Reported (in other words, how many pages were faxed).

Notice that the transaction Type is grayed out. You can't change the type of the transaction because the activity code "FAX" always specifies a Unit Cost. If you made a mistake, just delete the activity code and press Tab. Then you can change the transaction Type again.

It should be easy to remember "FAX" for fax charges and "COPY" for photocopies. If you have many more codes, you can choose the code from a list. Just click the List button near the Activity box and you can pick the code you want.

Suppose you have different rates for different clients. Maybe some clients pay 20 cents per page for copies and others pay 10 cents. The best way to handle that is to create a separate Activity Code Table for each rate. Set the Standard Activity Code Table (under Setup > Other > Standards) to the code table which covers most of your matters. Then, for the exceptions, you can specify a different code table for each matter.

Suppose you have created code table 2 for the 10 cents per page rate you use for certain matters. Choose Edit > Matters and select a client and a matter. At the Edit A Matter window, click the Codes tab. In the Activity Table box, enter 2 for code table 2. Now this matter will use code table 2 instead of the standard code table.  Click Save.

When you enter a transaction, you don't need to remember which matters use which rate. If you enter COPY as the activity code, RTG Bills (or RTG Timer) will determine which code table to use for the current matter, look up COPY in that code table, and insert the correct "per page" rate.