Adding a Work Unit

Work units are used for defining the office (usually a location) or a department handling matters. The structure is set up when you first start using the LawMaster system. 

For example, a firm might have separate work units for the Sydney, Brisbane and Perth offices; or they might have work units for the Administration Department, the Commercial Department and Non-Commercial Department. 

If you only have one office location, the system is usually set up with a single work unit 'M' for Main office. 

The following information describes how to set up a new work unit, e.g. where a new office location is being opened. 

Note: Areas of Law are managed by using the Work Type parameter

Step-by-step quick guide

Note: The information below does not cover the set up for additional bank accounts, re-mapping of resources, payroll implications or work unit specific forms. 

These steps assume that you have under taken system administrator training and have the security access to parameters.

The main steps to setting up a new work unit are listed below. The details for each step can be found under each heading further down the page. 

1. Add new work units non-accounting parameter(s); 
2. Create new general ledger codes for the work unit - including disbursement recovery account; 
3. Allocate General Ledger accounts to work units – Accounting parameter(s); 
4. Create new disbursement codes so the recovery account is allocated to the correct work unit; 
5. Do a review that all is in order; 
6. Copy the changes from Training to Production.

All parameters are created from the Menubar > Parameters > Set Parameters.

1. Add new Work Unit;
   1. Accounting > Work Units - Non-accounting Parameter. From the context menu, right click and 'Add'
      
      

      Work Unit Code	This is the code for your new work unit. If you are creating a new structure (e.g. New locations AND new departments, you will need to add a codes for the Heading main work unit and the sub-work unit e.g. S – Sydney (New); then for each sub-work unit it would be e.g. SA – Sydney Administration etc
      Description	The Description of your work unit e.g. Sydney
      Header?	Tick if you are creating a hierarchy and this is the main section e.g. for S (Sydney), then you will need to tick this box
      Work Unit Entity	If you have entities set up for your work units, this is the entity id.
      Scanning Directory	The scanning directory for the work unit if set up
      DMS Server Mnemonic	Where DMS Server documents are saved to for this work unit.
      Region	The Region Code if used

      
      Refer to the other parameters for the set up if you require further information.
      
      
   2. Reset your Login settings (File > Reset Login Settings)
2. Create New General Ledger Account Codes for the new Work Unit;
   1. Main Menu > Accounting > General Ledgers > Enquiry > General Ledger Account Enquiry. Right click and from the context menu, select 'Add'
   2. Careful of the number sequencing. Keep it neat and name them so they can be identified easily. This may mean that you have to rename the existing codes as well.
   3. As a minimum, you will need to create the codes that appear in the Work Units - Accounting Parameter, if you wish these to be reported on separately.
   4. You will also need to create a recovery account and a disbursement movement account for the disbursements, if they are being reported on by work unit.
   5. You may wish to create expense accounts so that you can track expenses for each work unit
      
      Note: If you are making a number of edits to the chart of accounts, you may find it easier to export (dump) the existing chart, edit it and re-load it. The steps below describe how to do this:
   6. Dump Chart Data from Main Menu > Accounting > General Ledgers > Maintenance > Dump Chart Data. Select the Chart of Accounts you wish to dump out e.g. 1 to 1zzzzz
      
      
      This will return the data into an Export Data tab in LawMaster, where you can then Export the grid contents into Excel as a CSV file.
      
      
      
      Remember for any P&L accounts, the new work units will need to be assigned to these accounts.
      
      
   7. To Load the chart data go to Main Menu > Accounting > General Ledgers > Maintenance > Load Chart Data. This will open a tab within LawMaster where you can then load your file. Make sure it is in the CSV format.
      
      
      1. Click on the File Name lookup to load your file. On the bottom left of the screen, select Load File.
      2. Click on Column Defaults. 
      3. Click on Validate. If there are any errors, these will be listed. You need to scroll through the whole list to ensure the data has validated correctly. If you need to make changes to the file, you need to Clear it out, make the changes to the CSV file and then reload the file again. 
      4. If the data has validated correctly, you can then Apply or OK your changes. The new chart of accounts will now be loaded into the database
         
3. Allocate General Ledger Accounts to Work Units – Accounting parameter(s);
   1. This parameter is where the general ledger codes are allocated for each work unit once your Chart of Accounts has been created.
      Go to Accounting > Work Units – Accounting. Select the relevant work unit from the look up screen.
      
      
   2. For each work unit, assign the correct general ledger accounts. For quick reference, refer to previous work units that have been created. You can also look up each general ledger account from the lookup screen. These are the control accounts where transactions are allocated to from the matters
   3. When adding new matters, you will need to use the new work units, so costs, fees, debtors etc are allocated correctly.  
4. Create New Disbursement Codes
   1. These will need to be created so the recovery of the non-cash disbursements is recorded against the correct work unit.
   2. Parameters > Matter and Client > Disbursement Codes [DC]. From the context menu > right click >Add
      
      

      
      

      Disbursement Code	PHS
      Description	Photocopying (Sydney)
      Recovery Amount	The new recovery account for non-cash disbursements for the work unit. This should have been added to the Chart of Accounts in Step 2.
      Unit rate (inc. GST)	The cost per unit (if applicable)
      Billing Flag	If the disbursement code is to be summarised on the bill - tick the box
      GST Exempt	If exempt type in EXEMPT; if payex type in PAYEX if GST applicable, leave blank.
      Firm Expense Account	GL Account to use when not being charged to the client
      Work Unit mask	Here you can select the work unit and it will only show this disbursement for that work unit from a matter perspective.

      
      Note: If you are adding a lot of disbursement codes e.g. duplicating the existing work unit list, then you may find it easier to export (dump) and load the codes. The steps below describe how to do this:
   3. Parameters > Matter and Client > Disbursement Codes [DC]. From the context menu >right click > Dump
      
      

      
      
      

      Type	DC
      From / To	A to Z which will dump out all of the DC parameters
      Output File	You can allocate with the file is to be saved to and the name of it

   4. Load the file. Once you have modified the xml file, you can then load it back into the DC parameter here from the context menu > right click > Load.
      
      

      
      
      

      Type	DC
      From / To	A to Z which will dump out all of the DC parameters
      Input File	Locate the file from the relevant location where it was saved.

5. Do a review that all is in order;
   
   Review the data that you have created. 
   Test that the set up behaves as you expect. This may include testing such as adding a matter for the new work unit, recording time, adding disbursements, creating a bill and entering a receipt. 
   You will need to test that the correct control accounts are being used and that the disbursements are being allocated correctly. 
6. Copy information from Training to Production.
   
   

   Journals - Transferring matters between work units The transfer of historical financial data on a matter does not occur automatically when a matter is allocated to a different work unit. This means that a manual journal needs to be done to transfer data from the old wok unit to the new work unit so that the matter information and the general ledger information align. When users need to reassign matters to another work unit they should liaise with Accounts / Admin staff so that a General Ledger (GL) Journal can be processed to transfer the matter control account balances from the previous work unit GL Control Accounts to the new work unit GL Control Accounts. Journals would need to be considered for data such as Fees Income, Work in Progress (WIP), Debtors, Disbursements and Anticipated Disbursements