Budget collaboration enables the sending of budget requests for specific matters to the vendors (outside counsel) responsible for those matters, then receiving estimated budget amounts from those vendors, all through Collaborati. The end result of this process, presuming the budget request is approved, is the transfer of allocation funds from a parent Account record to a child Account record associated with a matter.
Clicking the Budgets link in the left navigation pane within CSM Settings brings up the Budget Settings page. These settings control budget collaboration. From this page you may do the following:
•Verify that budget collaboration has been activated.
•Specify a parent account category that should be used for budgeting.
•Identify which matter categories are eligible to participate in automatic budget requests.
•Search and view existing budget requests.
•Manually create a new budget request.
•Specify the default number of days after the request date that the budget request is due. This default applies to all budget requests.
Budget Collaboration and Sharing
The Budget Collaboration field indicates whether CSM sends manual and automatically-generated budget requests to your vendors. The Budget Collaboration field displays On if Collaborati vendors receive budget requests. If it displays Off and you wish to activate the feature, contact Mitratech Support.
The Budget Sharing field indicates whether CSM sends Actuals and Remaining amounts from the Budgets page of a matter to Collaborati. The Budget Sharing field displays On if Collaborati receives this information. If it displays Off and you wish to activate budget sharing, contact Mitratech Support.
Notes on Budget Collaboration and Sharing
If a TeamConnect client makes adjustments to a budget (with Budget Collaboration On and Sharing Off), the client must then submit a Budget Request to the vendor and sync for the changes to be reflected in Collaborati. In short, syncing after making changes to a budget in TeamConnect, with only Collaboration on, will not reflect unless a budget request is sent after the changes are made and before the sync.
Collaborati vendors may see discrepancies between the values listed on their budget and the values reported in TeamConnect. Collaborati automatically records changes that may appear as 'fixed,' when they are in fact pending. Changes in various workflow phases in TeamConnect before final approval are typically not reflected in the TeamConnect budget. TeamConnect values should always be considered the most accurate when there is an inconsistency between TeamConnect and Collaborati budgets.
Budget Settings
The Budget Settings section asks you to select a parent category for budgeting accounts. Only accounts that belong to this category or its child categories will participate in budget requests. For example, if you use TeamConnect Matter Management, you might choose the "Allocated" category as the parent category for budget requests. Avoid choosing a category that is intended to track actual expenses.
In addition to the category restriction, budget requests will only be generated for accounts that meet these additional criteria:
•The account has an active parent.
•The account has no child accounts.
•The account is active.
•The e-billing matter and the vendor are set in the posting criteria for the account.
The Budget Settings section also presents a hierarchical list of Matter and project categories under the Select the Matter categories to automatically send Budget Requests for section. In this list, you may select the check-boxes next to the categories that are eligible for generation of automatic budget requests.
Note: If you intend to edit Budget Settings, based on the current status of the CSM-Collaborati synchronization, a warning message may appear to remind you that you must wait until synchronization is stopped before making any changes. Click the Stop synchronization now link on the warning message to stop synchronization. While synchronization is stopping, all fields are unavailable to edit. When synchronization is stopped, all of the fields become available to edit and you can continue.
