Application Settings - AutoTime (Matter Activity Recording)

Application Settings - AutoTime (Matter Activity Recording) - Time Entry Settings

15/09/2025
Knowledge

How To

New Time Entry Settings offers precise and customisable AutoTime entries, allowing firms to:

Modify activity grouping on time entries (where relevant);
Allocate activity codes to groups;
Automate billing descriptions with the use of Smart Fields
Configure activity type-specific settings (e.g. minimum charge for documents, maximum hours for all day appointments)

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Every firm will have a few default Activity Codes when LEAP is initially installed and with AutoTime, the default billing unit is set to 1 minute per billing unit. The Time Entry Settings allows you to further customise your AutoTime entries to suit your firm's needs.

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Desktop: Click the LEAP Menu > Settings > Application Settings.

The LEAP Application Settings will open in a new window.

Time Entry Settings

From the LEAP Application Settings window:

Click Accounting > AutoTime > Time Entry Settings.

The Time Entry Settings window will open.

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Toggle Set Zero Unit Time Entries to Not Billable in the top right corner on or off to select whether time entries with No Billable Activities should be set to Not Billable or Billable.

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Each Activity Type can be edited to your firm's preference.

Click the Activity Type you would like to edit.

The Edit window for the selected Activity Type will open.

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Certain Activity Types such as Documents and Emails will have further options to customise groupings. Please see Time Entry Groupings for more information.

Set the Activity Code of the Activity Type by selecting a code from the dropdown.

For more information on creating Activity Codes, click here.

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By selecting an Activity Code, you will be prompted to update the Billing Description to match the selected activity code.

Select Yes if you would like to use the Activity Code's existing billing description or No to continue with entering your own billing description.

Enter your Billing Description.

Click on any of the Smart Fields on available on the right pane to insert into the Billing Description.

Relevant data from the matter will populate into the billing description upon time entry creation. Hover over any of the Smart Fields to view detailed descriptions for each field.

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The list of available Smart Fields may vary depending on the selected Activity Type.

Set the Minutes per Billing Unit by selecting the unit from the dropdown.
Enter the Minimum Units to Charge for this activity and use the up and down arrows to make adjustments if needed.

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The Minimum Units to Charge must be at least 1.

Enter the Maximum Duration per Day to spend on this activity.

This field requires manual input in the 'hh' (hour) format and sets the maximum time that can be recorded for this activity each day.
Click Save.

Time Entry Groupings

Time Entry Groupings allows you to have a different set of settings for certain Activity Types.

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For more information on the Grouping of Activities, please see this article.

Documents

You are able to edit the Time Entry Settings for documents based on certain groupings, whether it is for:

All activity
Separate reviewing and drafting

Click the Time Entry Grouping dropdown to select the relevant grouping you would like to edit.

All Activity

All actions including preparing, amending and reviewing documents will have the same Time Entry Settings.

You are able to set the following:

Activity Code
Billing Description
Minutes per Billing Unit
Minimum Unit to Charge
Maximum Duration per Day

Edit Document groupings all.png

Click Save to save your changes.

Separate Reviewing and Drafting

The Time Entry Settings are separated into Reviewing Settings and Drafting Settings.

Reviewing actions refers to the opening and reading of documents without any revisions, while Drafting actions refer to creation of new documents and opening and editing of documents.

You can edit the settings by clicking the Edit button on the relevant grouping you would like to use.

You are able to set the following:

Activity Code
Billing Description
Minutes per Billing Unit
Minimum Unit to Charge
Maximum Duration per Day

Click Undo to cancel any changes.

Edit Document groupings separate.png

Click Save to save your changes.

Emails

You are able to edit the Time Entry Settings for emails based on certain groupings, whether it is for:

All emails in a conversation
Separate outgoing and incoming emails
Separate individual emails

Click the Time Entry Grouping dropdown to select the relevant grouping you would like to edit.

All Emails in a Conversation

The Time Entry Settings set here will apply to all emails within a conversation/email chain.

All email activities (regardless whether sent or received) in the same conversation will be grouped into one Time Entry per staff, per day.

You are able to set the following:

Activity Code
Billing Description
Minutes per Billing Unit
Minimum Unit to Charge
Maximum Duration per Day

Edit Emails groupings all.png

Click Save to save your changes.

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Auto Routing for emails must be enabled in order for this feature to function properly. To learn more about the LEAP Automation Options for Outlook, navigate to this article.

Separate Outgoing and Incoming Emails

The Time Entry Settings are separated into Outgoing Settings and Incoming Settings.

All email activities for either Incoming or Outgoing Activities within the same email chain will be grouped into one Time Entry per staff, per day for their respective action.

Click on the Edit button on the relevant section you would like to customise.

You are able to set the following for both outgoing and incoming emails:

Activity Code
Billing Description
Minutes per Billing Unit
Minimum Unit to Charge
Maximum Duration per Day

Click Undo to cancel any changes.

Edit Emails groupings separate.png

Click Save to save your changes.

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Auto Routing for emails must be enabled in order for this feature to function properly. To learn more about the LEAP Automation Options for Outlook, navigate to this article.

Separate Individual Emails

Each individual email sent or received will create their activity on their own Time Entry.

The Time Entry Settings are separated into Outgoing Settings and Incoming Settings.

You can edit the settings for outgoing emails and incoming emails by clicking the Edit button on the relevant grouping.

You are able to set the following:

Activity Code
Billing Description
Minutes per Billing Unit
Minimum Unit to Charge
Maximum Duration per Day

Edit Emails groupings individual.png

Click Undo to cancel any changes.

Time Entry Settings Applied

The example below is the Time Entry Settings for editing documents.

The settings below have been applied for all activities relating to documents as per the Time Entry Grouping setting selected.

Edit Document groupings all.png

Within the created AutoTime entry, the Activity Code 'ltr' and Billing Description format has been applied.

Document Time Entry Example labelled 1.png

Under the Activities tab of the AutoTime entry, we can see the units recorded was 3 units, however as the Minimum Unit to Charge was set to 5 units, this has been automatically applied with an alert in the bottom left corner.

Document Time Entry Example labelled 2.png

Last Modified Date

15/09/2025 6:03 pm

Title

Application Settings - AutoTime (Matter Activity Recording) - Time Entry Settings

URL Name

Matter-Activity-Recording-Time-Entry-Settings-NZ

Resolution