Ayora helps you monitor matter billing schedules and milestones, and make sure you never miss an opportunity to issue a bill. After all, in business, “cash is king”!
Set up a matter billing schedule
Ayora uses billing schedules to time its billing alerts. The system automatically detects billing schedules on your matters using AI. The AI assesses the history of the matter at hand, as well as other matters associated with the same client and the same practice group.
You can change the AI-generated billing schedules by clicking on the relevant cell in the Billing Schedule column.
Every time you change the schedule, ayora will ask you for the expected next billing schedule as well - the system needs that information to anchor the schedule in time.
Types of schedules supported
Ayora currently supports the following billing schedules:
- Completion-based (matter billable on completion)
- Monthly
- Bi-monthly
- Quarterly
- Custom (enter a custom milestone, e.g. exchange, or a custom interval for regular bills, e.g. 6 months)
Planning the next bill
You can use ayora to plan your next bill - ayora will use that information to remind you if the planned bill ends up slipping through the cracks. To do that:
- specify the expected bill date (either in the billing schedule or via the Est. Billing Date column), and
- enter the expected bill amount in the Next Bill Amount column
Encoding planned bills is also a good way to make sure your relevant colleagues across the firm know what to expect.
Make sure the relevant columns are turned on - head here to learn how to do that.
Understanding billing alerts
Ayora looks for common pitfalls slowing down matter billing velocity. Currently supported triggers include:
Regular billing schedules
Concerns matters that are to be billed on a regular basis (e.g. monthly / quarterly). Ayora’s algorithms rely on the billing schedule (see above) to trigger an alert.
Matters ready for billing
Concerns matters that are likely ready to be billed. Ayora’s algorithms search for signals that a matter is concluded (completed / aborted) and should therefore be billed. Signals include:
- a long period of inactivity (60+ days) on an open matter, and
- time narratives and time addition patterns suggesting a matter has completed (as identified by ayora AI).
Interim billing opportunities
Concerns matters that by default are likely to be billed on matter conclusion. In certain circumstances, especially where a matter takes significantly longer than expected, an interim bill is likely to be accepted by the firm’s client. Ayora’s algorithms search for such opportunities based on historic evidence of successful interim billing in similar circumstantial clusters.
Unpaid debtors that require attention
Ayora’s algorithms search for bills that are (i) overdue, and (ii) where credit control have not been able to establish a clear path to recovery.
Where available, the system can draw on credit control notes and other debt status data to establish whether there is a clear path to recovery.
Ayora’s algorithms also search for instances where time is being accrued on matters linked to clients with bills that are overdue.