TIME KEEP LEGAL BILLING SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION

Transcription

1 TIME KEEP LEGAL BILLING SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS SPECIFICATION 1. Introduction: This document defines the Software Requirements Specification (SRS) for the Time Keep Legal Billing software application. This application is to provide a solution to tracking billable legal resources and provide accurate billing statements to clients Goals and objectives The Time Keep Legal Billing software provides small to mid-sized legal offices a software package capable of maintaining a database of billable hours for legal personnel and fees that a client incurs. The objective is to provide the law office with a system that accurately accrues billable items for each individual client and legal case, generates account statements for clients, and provides reporting to the law office of client account history and accounts receivable Statement of scope The Time Keep Legal Billing application shall operate on Windows XP or Windows Server operating systems. The application shall be installed on a user s computer allowing a single user to input information and generate reports and statements. The applications database may reside on the same single user computer, or be installed on a server providing multiple user access. The applications input for client, attorney, and billable hours are received from the Windows application user interface. Outputs are viewed using the applications report generation Software context Small and mid-sized legal offices succeed or fail based on the amount of hours they are able to charge clients. Therefore, the ability to accurately track time spent on a specific client matter is of the utmost importance. In addition, clients provided with clear and accurate billing statements are more likely to pay bills on time and without question.

2 Although providing accurate billing information is important to legal offices, it is often difficult for the small office to manage time data accurately as they do not have the resources for expensive software solutions or personnel dedicated to time keeping activities. An inexpensive, easy to use software package that provides automation of the billing process is essential to the small legal office Major constraints Time Keep shall be designed to run on a 32 bit version of the Microsoft Windows XP operating system. The minimum requirements of the computer shall be 512 MB of RAM, and 2 GB of free hard drive space. The source code for the display shall be written in Visual Basic 6.0. The data output shall be stored in an Access 2003 database using the ADO database connection library. The output reports shall be saved as crystal report files. 1.5 Assumptions and Dependencies The Time Keep application assumes that, or depends upon, the following environmental characteristics being present for full functionality: 1. The General Constraints listed in section 1.4 of the SRS are met. 2. The customer shall have permissions to install the Time Keep application on the required workstation(s). 3. The user of the application shall have full read/write/execute access rights for all files and folders related to the application. 2. User profiles 2.1. All users of the Time Keep Legal Billing system will be employees or contractors of the legal office. The users can be defined by three categories Office Administrator The Office Administrator is the person responsible for maintaining the Time Keep Legal Billing software. This person is responsible for adding new clients and legal case data into the system. In addition, this person enters information about those office assistance and legal personnel who enter time and service charges into the system. This user is also responsible to configuring the system Office Assistant The office assistant user is one who will enter billable charges such as court filing fees, courier services, etc. The office assistant may also enter time on behalf of the lawyer or paralegal. The office assistant may also generate reports for particular clients, or group of clients. However, the office assistant cannot generate a client bill Lawyer / Paralegal The lawyer / paralegal user enters time spent on a specific client matter. The lawyer / paralegal may generate reports for a specific client, but is not allowed to generate a client bill Use-cases Use cases for the Time Keep Legal Billing system are defined below: Use case: Log In

3 Purpose: Authenticate user to enter system Overview: An employee logs into the system with assigned username and chosen password. 1. This use case begins when an employee logs into the system. 2. Authenticates username and password and displays main menu. Use case: Create New Employee Entry Purpose: Adds a new Employee into database Overview: Admin creates a new entry for a new Employee. 1. Admin chooses to create a new Employee 3. Admin fills in required fields and saves entry. 2. Displays new Employee entry screen with prepopulated auto number employee ID #. 4. Employee table is updated and confirmation of activity is communicated to User. Use case: Create New Client Entry Purpose: Adds a new Client into database Overview: Admin creates a new entry for a new Client. 1. Admin chooses to create a new Client. 3. Admin fills in required fields and saves entry. 2. Displays new Client entry screen with prepopulated auto number client ID #. 4. Client table is updated and confirmation of activity is communicated to User. Use case: Prepare Invoice Purpose: Create invoice for customer. Overview: Employee pulls up a client's information then proceeds to print and or send via Employee searches for Invoice by invoice ID, project name, and/or by client name 2. Displays specific invoice information.

4 3. Employee views invoice and has ability to print and or send. 4. If Employee prints invoice. 5. Sends invoice to printer. 6. If Employee sends invoice. 7. Pulls address from client table and sends invoice via Outlook. Use case: View Contact Info Purpose: Views contact information for clients and employees. Overview: Employee can view one or more contacts. 1. Employee searches for contact 2. Displays specific contact information. information by ID and or Name 3. Employee views contact(s) and has ability to print and or send. 4. If Employee prints contact(s). 5. Sends invoice to printer. 6. If Employee sends contact info. 7. Sends contact(s) info via Outlook. Use case: Update Client Charges Purpose: Updates charges to client account. Overview: Employee updates billable hours and other charges throughout the duration of the project. Cross References: Use Cases: Employee must have completed the Log In and Create New Client Entry use cases. 1. Employee searches for Project by 2. Displays specific project information. project ID, project name, and/or by client name 3. Employee chooses project. 4. Displays all charges for a specific project 5. Employee updates and saves changes. 6. Charge table is updated and confirmation of activity is communicated to User. 6. If Employee sends contact info. 7. Sends contact(s) info via Outlook. 3. Data Model and Description This section describes information domain for the software 3.1. Data Description Data objects that will be managed/manipulated by the software are described in this section Entity Relationship Diagram

5 Data dictionary Person Table A client, worker, or corporation. Client Table A client or corporation. Worker Table

6 An Employee. Rate Table Charge rate assigned to each individual client. Project Table Associates an Employee to a Matter. Matter Table Specific case of a client. Invoice Table Itemized bill of services and supplies provided for a Matter. Charge Table Specific item charged to a matter. (Ex:. Supplies, research fees, etc..)

7 4. Data Flow Diagram 5.