Split Billing - Dividing Time Between Two or More Matters

Orion gives you the ability to handle this scenario through the Split Billing Program. The Split Billing Program, accessed through Bill Preparation, assumes all Fee transactions and Expense transactions are recorded to one master (Source) Client-Matter Number.  Any or all of these transactions can be split among 20 different Matters (preferably set up under the same Client Number as the Source Matter).  The full description will be copied to each Matter. To maintain the integrity of billable hours and dollars, the original recorded hours and dollars will be maintained under the source Client-Matter.  This must be done to prevent problems which would undoubtedly occur if every transaction were split up to 20 ways.  For example, there is no way .2 can be split 10 ways.  To track accounts receivable balances by the Matters to which the invoices are addressed and billed, Billed Values are transferred to the individual (Target) Matters.  The invoice generated for each Target Matter will, however, print the bill value and hours of the transactions before the split, show the amounts being paid by other parties and net the portion due by the invoiced party.        

NOTE: Because of the way Split Billing is handled in the system, it is imperative you make all write ups/downs and other adjustments prior to performing the split.  Also, do not be alarmed if you look at the fees in Bill Preparation under the Target Matters after performing the split.  Many will show $0.00 Bill Amount and some funny descriptions.  This is a result of the split and the custom invoice style knows how to handle this.  
    
To perform Split Billing, call up the Source Client-Matter in Bill Preparation, make all necessary changes and then choose TOOLS, Split Billing and the following window will appear.

You can perform split billing on all transactions or a selected group of transactions.  This means you can split certain Fees and/or Expenses differently or even transfer individual transactions to one Target Matter (without splitting).  

You must first select which Fee transactions to split.  You may choose None, All or Selected. Next, choose which Client Advances/Expenses to split.  You may choose None, All or Selected.

NOTE: The option “Selected” refers to those transactions in the list that are highlighted and not to the Billing Status. 

Once you have chosen which transactions to include in the split, enter the Invoice Date to use on the Source transactions after they have been split.  Once split, Source transactions are flagged as Invoiced and the Invoice Date you enter will be stamped on these transactions. You must then specify the Target Matters to which to split the transactions.  We recommend transactions be split only to Matters within the same Client or you will never have an accurate picture of billing realization for any of the involved Clients.  In addition, if the Source Client-Matter is set up for Task Billing, the Target Client-Matter(s) must also be set up for Task Billing and be using the same Task Codes.

Enter the Client-Matter Number that you want to receive a portion of the split (you cannot split to the Source Matter) and then enter the percentage of the split the specified Client-Matter should receive.  Any positive percentage can be used but the total of all distributions must equal 100%.  To delete an erroneous line, highlight it and click the REMOVE MATTER Button. Once the split is fully distributed, click the SPLIT BILL Button to proceed.

Once you have performed the split, you are ready to generate invoices for the Target Matters.  You must have a special invoice style set up to be used with these Matters.  The invoice will show “Total Fees” representing the total bill amount of the transactions prior to the split.  It will then display a discount line that corresponds to the amount billed to the other Target Matters.  The Net Fees Due amount corresponds to the amount actually split to the Matter you are invoicing.

All accounts receivable are tracked under the Target Client-Matter Numbers.  Billing realization on the Source Client-Matter will be 0%, but the Target Client-Matters will reflect a write up of the amount invoiced by that Matter.  The realization for the overall Client will give you the best picture.

Reversing a Split

If you need to reverse a split, you may do so by accessing Bill Preparation and entering a Client-Matter Number.  Once you have entered the Client-Matter Number, choose TOOLS, Reverse Split Billing and the following screen will appear:

Enter the Client-Matter Number of the Source Matter - the Matter from which the transactions were split, then choose the number of months to look back.  All “splits” that took place within the time frame specified will be listed.  Not all listed will be eligible for reversing.  In order for a split to be reversed, all transactions involved in the split must still be in WIP on all Target Matters.  Highlight the “Split” to reverse and click the REVERSE SPLIT Button.  The program deletes the transactions from the Target Matters and resets the original transactions under the Source Matter to work in process at their original value.  Any write ups/downs that were performed on the transactions prior to the original split will be lost as all transactions are set back to their original values.