Internal matters are used to coordinate and track administrative work that is not related to billable matters. An internal matter can be either an ongoing administrative or marketing matter, or a one-off project that needs to be coordinated through activities and for which you want to track the amount of work performed.

When opening a matter, you can designate it as internal from the start. It is not possible to record billable transactions on an internal matter, nor can it later be changed into a billable matter. 

To utilize internal matters, your office must also be created as a customer in the software, the necessary internal matters must be opened for it, and internal transaction types must be added to enable entries. After this, you can add activities to internal matters, assign responsibility for them to other users, and record internal transactions for the work performed. 

Opening an Internal Matter

1. Add your office to the software as a corporate customer. By default, the office is created only as a business unit.
2. Plan the necessary internal matters in advance and open them as follows:
   • Go to the Workspace area, Matters folder.

   • From the New button on the ribbon, select the arrow and then the Internal option.

     

   • The software opens a window for creating an internal matter, with the Internal field already checked.
     
     
3. Complete at least the required information for the internal matter:
   • Select your own office as the principal and, for example, “Administrative Work” as the subject.
   • If you are a power user, you can add a new internal matter type by selecting the green plus at the end of the Matter Type field and in the window that it opens, and entering for it a new value, e.g., “Internal – Administration.”
   • The receiving date, opening date, business unit, language, and responsibility details are filled in automatically but can be edited.
   • Repeat the same steps to add other internal matters (e.g., a marketing matter) as needed. 

Adding Internal Transaction Types

To record work on internal matters, at least one internal transaction type is needed. If you want to use them for reporting purposes as well, the power user can create specific types for different kinds of administrative work in the settings:

1. Go to Settings > Common Settings > Transaction Types and create a new type.
2. Name the transaction type as you wish, select “Internal” as the Category, and save.
3. Create any other necessary internal transaction types.

Recording and Tracking Internal Transactions

Internal matters can be found in the Matters folder of the Workspace area by selecting the Internal Matters view. You can record transactions for internal matters just as you would for billable matters. The software only offers transaction types defined as internal for these entries. In the transaction window, you can add a description and the number of hours worked.

Although the transaction window for internal matters has the same functions as for billable transactions, a transaction recorded on an internal matter cannot be invoiced, nor can its status be changed to billable. If you accidentally opened a matter as internal and later want to invoice the work recorded on it, you must create a new billable matter, move or copy the internal transactions to it, and make the necessary transaction type and pricing adjustments. 

For tracking administrative work, the software provides pivot reports such as “Tracking Billable and Administrative Hours” and “Manager Report – Billable and Administrative Hours and Invoicing.” If your office uses dashboards, suitable options for tracking administrative work can also be found in dashboard charts.