Software - Rules-based Calendar

The LSSe64 Calendar component allows law firms to efficiently schedule and manage law firm tasks, deadlines and appointments. With an optional subscription to CalendarRules.com, LSSe64 can automatically create an entire series of deadlines based on court defined rules – all from a single entry form. LSSe64 Calendar also integrates with Microsoft Outlook and Office 365 or Exchange, so events created in LSS will also appear in each respective timekeeper’s Outlook calendar.

Customizable Outlook integration

For those firms using Microsoft Outlook with Office 365 or Exchange, any events that get saved in the LSSe64 Calendar system also automatically appear in the Outlook calendar for each respective attorney. Outlook integration can be enabled or disabled for individual users. Additionally, each user has the ability to customize how events appear in their own Outlook calendar.

For example, the subject line of a calendar event can be configured to include or exclude things like client/matter number, client name, matter description, activity, location, event description, etc. Custom event mapping allows different types of LSSe64 events to appear as Outlook appointments, all-day events or tasks. The system also allows custom Outlook reminder definitions by event type.

CalendarRules.com integration

LSSe64 seamlessly integrates with your subscription at CalendarRules.com – the industry leader in cloud-based calendar rules. Date calculations are performed in the background through the web service at CalendarRules.com, ensuring that the most recent rule definitions are always being used.

If a court rule changes at CalendarRules.com, and that rule change affects an event already scheduled in LSSe64, the system can send an email notification to the firm’s system administrators. With just a few clicks of the mouse, users can easily reschedule the effected deadlines based on the updated rule. LSSe64 and CalendarRules.com provide the most reliable and easy to use rules-based calendaring system available.

CalendareRules.com is a separate subscription service available for an additional charge.

Case assignments

Case assignments provide the ability to define a list of default timekeepers to be included on all events scheduled for a given matter. When entering a new calendar event, and a matter is selected that has case assignments defined, there is no need to enter the timekeeper codes. The system will automatically schedule the new event for all timekeepers in that matter’s case assignment list.

When entering a calendar event, users can override the automatic case assignments or supplement the list by entering individual timekeeper codes whenever needed. And if case assignments for a matter change, the system includes a utility that will globally update existing events for that matter with the new list of timekeeper codes.

Multiple views

From the LSSe64 Calendar dashboard, users can choose between monthly, weekly, daily and list views that display up to 50,000 scheduled events at once. The list option provides the most comprehensive view, with additional data columns that are sizeable, movable and can be used to sort the results in ascending or descending order by any data column in the list view. Events displayed in the LSSe64 Calendar dashboard can also be exported directly to Microsoft Excel.

Flexible calendar reports

Flexible reporting options allow users to generate master calendars for the entire firm, individual calendars for each attorney, calendars for specific jurisdictions, activity codes, clients, matters and more. Formatting options allow users to include or exclude completed events, reminders as well as extended rule descriptions and properties. Selection options allow users to include or exclude appointments, deadlines or tasks, or limit the report to any desired date range. Report content can also be exported to Microsoft Excel.

The system also includes a detailed calendar audit report, so users can easily generate an audit log showing activity within the LSSe64 calendar component. The audit report shows calendar events that were created, modified or deleted - by user, date and time. The report can be limited to activity within a specific date range, a specific user or a specific client/matter number.

Sharing and security options

Calendar permissions can be assigned by client and/or matter. For any given client or matter, you can provide “full control” access to all users (the default), or you can lock down events as “read-only” or “no access”. Regardless of the general security setting for a client or matter, the system provides the ability to create exceptions for the client/matter by user name. For example, you could create a matter with security set to “no access”, but then give full control access to just you and your assistant. Or you could create a matter with the default “full control” access, but then deny access to certain individuals.

Calendar permissions can also be assigned at the timekeeper level. For any given user, you can provide “full control” access to all users, or you can lock down calendars as “read-only” or “no access”. Similar to client/matter permissions, timekeeper-level permissions also provide the ability to define exceptions.

Individual events can be marked as Private, so that the only people who can see the event are those timekeepers associated with the event. When private events from LSSe64 are created in Outlook, the resulting Outlook event is also automatically marked as Private.

File attachments

When creating calendar events in LSSe64, the system provides the ability to attach electronic files to those events. Attachments can include Word documents, PDF documents, Excel spreadsheets, video clips, etc. Attachments can originate from a file folder in Windows Explorer, or through a document search in the LSSe64 Document Management system. There is no practical limit to the number of attachments associated with any single calendar event. When LSSe64 creates the event in Outlook, the resulting Outlook event will also appear with the same attachments.

User preferences

Similar to other components in LSS, the LSSe64 Calendar component offers many customizable user preferences that allow people to adjust settings so that the system operates in a way that best suits their particular needs. Examples include:

      - Default entry method (single event, single calculated date, rules-based or recurring)
      - Default entry type (appointment, deadline or task)
      - Whether or not to automatically open a new entry form after creating a new event
      - Whether or not to send an email notification when a new event is created, modified or deleted
      - Whether or not to auto-populate new events with a default department code
      - Whether or not to auto-populate new events with my timekeeper code
      - Customize personal text expansion (shortcut) codes for calendar event descriptions
      - Customize sharing and security
      - Customize integration with Outlook
      - and more…

Status and completion tracking

Events can be assigned a completion status which includes description, percent completed and a completion date. A customizable Outlook integration setting provides the ability for users to leave completed items in Outlook, or have completed events automatically removed from Outlook. Search and reporting options in LSSe64 provide the ability to filter results by completion status – by either included or excluding completed events.

Comprehensive search options

The LSSe64 Calendar dashboard allows users to search for events by any combination of date range, timekeeper code, client, matter, event type, jurisdiction, activity, location, court and more. Or perform full-text searches to locate events based on the text contained within the description field. Nearly instantly, LSS displays all events matching your search criteria.

To further maximize efficiency, users can save common search requests as “favorites”. After entering various search criteria, just click the Add Favorite button and give it a name. For example, if a user is often working one particular matter, the user could set up a search request containing the client/matter number and then save that request as a favorite. Then in the future, they can simply pick the search request from their “favorites” dropdown rather than having to retype the client/matter number and other search criteria.