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Billing/Payments Importer
Billing/Payments Importer

This article deals with using and troubleshooting the Time & Billing module imports for Filevine.

Tom Copeland avatar
Written by Tom Copeland
Updated over 3 months ago

Requirements for Time & Billing Import

  • T&B Enabled In Your Org: Time & Billing is a feature that must be enabled in your Filevine Org as it is not a default feature added to every Filevine Org. If you attempt an import and it fails, first check to ensure the feature is on using the troubleshoot steps below in this article.

  • API User Must be on Project: There is a special user in all Filevine Orgs commonly called "Filevine Integration". This user must be on every Project you intend to import data into. Without this user on the project, your import attempts will fail.

  • Billing Item/Payment Create Requirements: Project ID is required. For "Time" entries, UserID is required. See below for more information.

  • Billing Item Update/Delete Requirements: Billing Item ID is required. Billing Item ID is returned from Filevine in the Create Billing Item job logs within this importer tool on VineMigrator. You can also retrieve Billing Item ID from Filevine using the "Billing Items" preset report in Report Builder.

  • Payment Item Create/Delete: Project ID is required.

T&B Enablement in Filevine Org

Time and Billing is a feature that must be enabled in your Filevine Org - it is not enabled automatically. First, look for any Project that has a Time & Billing section in the left hand side menu of Project View.

If that doesn't exist, it may need to be added to the Project Type Template from the Customs Editor. The "Billing" Module is a special built-in module on the Template Editor view.

Notice there are two other modules in Advanced Tools in the screenshot: "Billing" and "Billing Setup". Access to these modules is controlled at the user level from Org Setup, as is the Customs Editor and the Advanced Tools itself. You may have access to one, some, or all of these modules.

If you do not see any of these modules or any of these options, you must request for this feature to be on in your Org and/or gain access to these tools. If you are a firm or company administrator on your Filevine Org you can contact your Filevine AE/AM Representative for help, or create a support ticket at support.filevine.com.

Time vs. Expenses Billing Items Import

Every Billing Item creation requires a type to be selected, either "Time" or "Expenses". This is the second column in the Create Billing Items job type CSV export template. Items imported here show up in Filevine differently from each other.

When a created item is Time, a Billing Item required a Billing Item User. This must be the UserID (integer) for the Filevine User you want to associate that billing time to. You can retrieve a list of UserIDs associated to each user by downloading the map on the import page.

If the item is Expenses, you must not have a UserID populated for that row or the job review validation logic will highlight red and the row will not process.

Time/Expenses Validation Logic Check:

  • If Time, required UserID

  • If Expenses, do not assign a UserID

IF CONDITION

ADD

REMOVE

Item = "Time"

UserID

Item = "Expenses"

UserID

Billing Item Create/Update Fields

Billing Item Create fields are described as follows (*indicates a required field):

  • Project ID*: The Project ID you are creating the item in.

  • Billing Type*: Choose either Time or Expenses.

  • Billing Item User: Only *required* when Billing Type is Time. This accepts the User ID of the user you want to associate the time entry to. If there is no user to associate to from your legacy data, you can simply enter the User ID of the Filevine Integration User as a placeholder.

  • Billing Item Description: Open text field for any descriptions of the item.

  • Billing Item Quantity: Quantity is handled in three formats: either as a whole number, a number with one decimal, or a number with two decimals. Which one you can use is controlled at the Filevine Billing Setup page. Go to Advanced->Billing Setup->Choose a "Minimum Time Increment". Whatever you pass through VineMigrator must be validated by this setting in Filevine.

  • Billing Item Rate: A cost per quantity that you set. Integer accepts 0.00 formats (as in dollars - do not use "$").

  • Billing Item Date: A date to associate this item to.

  • Billing Item Is Chargeable: This boolean (yes/no) controls whether the item is eligible to be added to an invoice. If no, the item will never appear on an invoice. If yes, it will.

  • Billing Item is Billable: This boolean (yes/no) controls whether the item is billable on the invoice. If yes, a total cost will appear on the invoice as quantity * rate. If no, the item appears on the invoice but the total cost is $0.00 (often used for courtesy time entries that are discounted.)

  • Billing Item Unit: A string value to describe what constitutes the quantity. Often values are "Per Hour".

Billing Item Create Fields Validation Logic Check:

IF CONDITION

YES

NO

Item Is Chargeable

Eligible to appear on invoice

Doesn't appear on invoice

Item Is Billable

Appears on invoice as a total cost (quantity * rate)

Appears on Invoice as a no cost ($0.00)

Billing Item Update

Billing Item Update fields are described as follows (*indicates a required field):

  • Project ID*: The Project ID the item exists in.

  • Billing Item ID*: The Billing Item ID of the item to be updated.

  • Billing Item Type*: Cannot be changed...Delete and create new instead.

  • All Other Fields: Can be updated and changed.

Billing Item Delete

Billing Item Delete fields are described as follows (*indicates a required field):

  • Billing Item ID*: The only field required and existing. Returned in all job logs from items created in this importer.

Payment Item Create

Creates individual payment items in the Time & Billing module under the "Payments" tab. Fields are described as follows (*indicates a required field).

  • Project ID*: The Project ID for the payment to be associated to.

  • Date: The date associated to the payment item.

  • Total: Total amount of payment. Integer format strips out the inclusion of the currency symbol ("$").

  • Source: A string value for the payment.

  • Reference Number: A string value for for the payment.

Payment Item Delete

Deletes individual payment items in the Time & Billing module under the "Payments" tab. Fields are described as follows (*indicates a required field).

  • Payment ID*: An ID for the payment item. Returned in all job logs for payment created by this importer.

For additional support, please email products@vinetegrate.com. We're always happy to help!

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