Software: time matters

A collection of every Time Matters resource we have.

Time Matters Indexer Issues

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The Time Matters indexer, on occasion can get corrupted. This abstract explains how to purge and restart the indexer. The text is courtesy of Matt Stone.

TRASH AND RECREATE THE LNDATA INDEX

  1. Log Everyone out of Time Matters
  2. Find the Index Folder and Rename LNDATA
  3. P:TMW9DataIndexLNDATA
  4. There may be a locked open file. You need to make sure it gets unlocked before you move the file.
  5. Log into Time Matters and leave it open to allow LNDATA to be recreated.
  6. Check for the Icon in the system tray.

OPTIONAL STEP: ACTIVATE SYNCHRONIZATION

  1. File -> Setup -> Program Level
  2. Synchronization -> Activate Time Matters Synchronization
  3. Give it a name: MAIN OFFICE
  4. Log out of Time Matters

OPTIONAL STEP: REINDEX DATABASE

Now Go to the Time Matter Utilities

  1. Select the Database
  2. Check box to Reindex Main Database

EPMS: A Tool for Estate Planners and Elder Lawyers

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I have generally kept this blog free of product promotions and endorsements (not to mention split infinitives).  Basha Systems LLC has recently added a treasure trove of information to its main website (www.bashasys.com) and a new subdomain (http://estateplanning.bashasys.com) and added products to the web store (http://store.bashasys.com).  I encourage you to look at those sites for your edification and our possible remuneration.  But I should let you know that Basha Systems LLC is in the process of transformation from focusing predominantly on technology consulting to a product development company.  Don’t worry … we will continue to provide consulting services. It pays the bills; its fun; and it gives us ideas for product development.

In the past several years, we have helped launch Interactive Legal Systems LLC’s “Lifetime Estate Planning System,” also known as Wealth Transfer Planning (“WTP”).  We have designed and built a commercially available probate system in conjunction with the Nebraska State Bar Association, which is used in over 120 law firms.  We have served as advisor to the Minnesota State Bar Association in the development of a suite of forms that will soon be made available as a member benefit. We built a “Record Room Management System” and “Litigation File Management System” add-ons for Time Matters.  We are currently developing under contract to ILS a comprehensive elder law planning system for elder lawyers.

And yesterday, we officially launched a new product in conjunction with Interactive Legal Systems.  The Basha Systems “Estate Planning Management System” for the software formerly known as Time Matters® is a complete system for estate planners and soon for elder law attorneys that builds on the best features of Time Matters® and HotDocs®.  The original conception was to turn Time Matters into a data source to feed the client interview in WTP.  Based on discussions with numerous attorneys, the client and spouse contact form styles evolved into a complete estate planning management system built as a feature package on top of the software now known as LexisNexis Front Office powered by Time Matters. If this area is of interest to you (or your clients), please take a look at our new subdomain, and in particular (http://estateplanning.bashasys.com/timematters).

The EPMS system represents hundreds of hours of work for three programmers with specialties in HotDocs®, Time Matters® and Javascript/HTML. And yet, the system can be installed in under 30 minutes, with a live web-based training class to follow immediately.  Basha Systems has taken its own Kool-Aid® and invested substantial “non-billable” hours to produce a high-quality product.  Take a look and let us know what you think.  Or contact us, to arrange a live-demo.

The Day Time Matters Died

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The old saw goes: “You don’t appreciate me.  All you do is gripe and complain … But you’ll miss me when I am gone.  That will be my revenge.” During a recent server rebuild, combined with fresh rebuilds of several PC’s that saw came true.  You see, once with got Windows Small Business Server and Windows XP Pro up on the machines, the fun began… Nothing would be complete until “Time Matters” or LNFOPBTM was back up.

For you see … without Time Matters, there was no business, no ability to get at my rolodex, my old emails, my client notes and files.  All work came to a crashing halt.  The fact that is was the weekend before Christmas eve helped in that client demands were low.  But it also didn’t help that LN support was on holiday.

We got the server back up … but did not discover, until Ken Kennedy remoted into our server on Christmas Eve (well … really the morning of Christmas Eve).  If you are reading this, Ken Kennedy, thank you.  Ken discovered we had forgotten to open the TCPIP port 1433 on our SQL Server when we reinstalled it, so that the other machine could see the server.  We also needed to run an orphan user script, not one for the faint of heart.  But this blog is not just a thank you to Ken Kennedy … but rather a humorous look at life without Time Matters.

And so… Monday morning rolled around … No Time Matters.  The funny thing, we needed to reload Time Matters on the Server to get at the SQL utilities to do some testing.  However, the Product ID for our Time Matters was stored …. you guessed it, on the

Why does my email inbox take so long to load

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When you open your Inbox it may appear to take up to several minutes to load. Time Matters will seem like it is not responding.  Time Matters inbox is “personal” to each user. The inbox contains both Internet Email and Time Matters emails, as well as attachments. The mailbox can quick get overloaded, even when you appear to have been keeping the list of items in your inbox to a manageable roar. In fact, your mailbox is most likely overloaded. There could be hundreds of emails in the Deleted Items folder. There could be emails in subfolders. All take time to load.

The solution lies in regular dilligence on managing your inbox.

  • Keep the number of items in your inbox folder to under 50
  • Set your mailbox settings to show on email list (not inbox) any records that have been associated with a Contact or Matter
  • Create a folder for List-Server mail and set a rule to automatically move the incoming email to that folder
  • Empty the deleted items folder (right-click on folder and choose empy bin)

Why do my autoentry forms include the wrong task links

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Auto entry forms are a hybrid between chains and notes. They allow you to structure your tasks and events, much like a chain. And they also allow you to take notes on your tasks. However, if you convert an outline to an Auto entry form, the tasks associated with the underlying record (not the new record) are link to the outline topics.  It is simple to save an outline as an auto entry form. However, before you do that you should make a copy of the form and then remove the links to any associated records.

  • Make a copy of the outline
  • Remove all links to client and matter
  • Make a generic version of the description
  • Right-click on any outline elements that are linked to a task or event records and disassociate the link
  • Standardize and clean up the language
  • Click on the Save As Auto entry Form

You are now ready to go.

TMSave Toolbar in Word after an Upgrade to TMW6

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When upgrading from Time Matters 5 to Time Matters 6, many users will take a wait and see attitude. They will install Time Matters 6, but NOT install Time Matters 5. This is generally not a problem with the database, since Time Matters creates a separate database during the upgrade. However, it is a problem with the TMSave Toolbar in Word which will often continue to point to the old database. The TMSave toolbar and the menu items are inserted into Word via a Startup Template. This template is loaded when Word is loads. There is a TMW5 templates and a TMW6 template. When you uninstall Time Matters 5, it removes the TMW5 template. If you keep both active, you will have a toolbar with links to both databases. Both toolbars will look identical. Depending on which you click first, you will have links to the TMW5 or the TMW6 database.

The solution is to uninstall Time Matters 5. Go into Control Panel and choose add-remove programs. Find Time Matters 5 and click on Remove. This should remove the TMW5 template. Then restart Word. There is no requirement to reinstall Time Matters. In some circumstances, the TMW6 startup template may not have been installed in the first place. In this case you have two options. One is to reinstall Time Matters, but this time choose only Word-Processor links. The other option, is to go into Workstation Setup and click on Word Processor Links or Additional Product links.