Disbursement List View or Disbursement Report

Customised disbursements list views allow you go choose what information you want to see about your disbursements.

Similar to your time entry list views, you can create customised lists of the Disbursements that you have created in Actionstep. See details of the Disbursement, how it has been billed and records it is linked to as well as being able to change the layout and order of the items in the list.

To create your Task List view go to - Admin - Custom List Views - and click on "Disbursement List Views" or the "Manage button" to the right of custom list views. 

Then click on the green "Create New List" button

We then need to set-up our list. 

We need to enter the following information:-

List Name - A name for the list we are creating 

Description - A description of what information is held in the list - it is good practice to detail here exactly what your list contains, for example "A list of all disbursements that have not been billed". 

Sort Oder - Where you would like to list to appear in a Menu group name, for example if you are creating three lists that you want to appear under a group heading called "Disbursements" you can give them sort orders of 10, 20 and 30 this means that the list with sort order 10 will appear first and the one with 30 will appear. If you do not specify any order they will appear in alphabetical order. 

Menu Group Name - The name of the menu where you would like the report to be inserted this will appear under the Timesheet heading in the main menu. Examples, of Group Names are shown below. You can have multiple list views in one Menu so you can keep them organised (remember this is case sensitive, and optional). If you do not insert a menu group name the list will appear individually under the Timesheet heading in the main menu. 

Next we choose what system roles can "see" our custom list view - you tick the box next to the system role you want to be able to see the list view you are creating (please note that if you do not tick any) no one will be able to view your list. 

Next we choose whether we want the custom list view you are creating to be a default view. The default view is the list we see when we click on Matters and then Matter list. By default, this list contains all matters that are assigned to ourselves however this can be changed to any list view that we want. If you are creating a list view that you want to be a default for a specific system role then you can use the tick boxes below to enable this. 

Next we choose our filters. If we leave the box empty then all the options will be shown in the list view. For example, If we leave the matter status box empty all the tasks (regardless of their status) will be shown in the list view. If we choose "Inactive" then only the inactive matters will be displayed in the list. 

We click on save when we have made all our selections. 

A new list is automatically populated with some of the most common columns/task elements to save you the effort of setting these up each time. If you don't want any of these columns simply remove them in the column editor by using the checkboxes and selecting the   button.

You will notice that the columns are automatically created with default positions spaced 100 positions apart. This allows you to insert columns between these columns by selecting position numbers in the gaps.

Adding Columns

To add a new column select the  button at the top right of the screen. The column editor will open and you can enter a name and default position for your new column. You will also need to select a "Data Source" for the column as shown below.

Data Sources

"Data Sources" are used to group fields from the same area of the ActionStep database to make them easier to find. New data sources and fields are added from time to time so the screenshot above might be slightly different in your system. The data sources shown below have the following meanings:

Data Source	Contains	Examples
Disbursement	Information in relation to the disbursement	Disbursement ID, Description, Entered by, quantity, price
Action	Information in relation to the matter	Matter ID, Matter Name, File Reference, Matter Type Name
Billing	Information in relation to billing information on the matter	Invoice ID, Billing status, billed amount

Previewing and Setting Column Widths, Sort Order, and Filters

Once you have completed your list you can click on  to view your list with live data. You can then extend column widths, sort the order by a particular column by clicking on it, move columns around and add a filter. By clicking on the filter with a drop down arrow you can choose what you want to see (for example, below we only want to see tasks assigned to a certain person). You can save your choices by clicking on Admin - Save as default layout and filters. 

  

Business Use Cases

Why/How is this useful to my business? 

Examples of how businesses use these reports in a practical sense are:-

* Comparing monthly invoices to entered disbursements to make sure costs have been passed on to clients - for example, couriers or property searches to compare against a monthly invoice to make sure you are recouping all your disbursements

* Tracking costs from a certain source - keeping track of how much is being spent on couriers, property searches, etc. 

* A list of disbursements that unbilled so you can keep track of reasons why you are not recouping any disbursement costs. For example, property search fees when conveyancing matters do not proceed. 

Head Up Rules

An amazing feature of Actionstep is the heads up rule this means that any report you create can be emailed directly to you or another user of your system (the Director, the Practice Manager) on any frequency required (for e.g. once a week, once a month). That way you have the information automatically when it is required. For more information about heads up rule, please go to the following link: Heads Up - User Guide Article 

Here is a link to a video giving a demonstration on how to create one of the reports above:-

Disbursement List View - Video

Here is also a link to our webinar on custom list views:-

Custom List View - Webinar

Related Articles

Time Entry List View or Custom Time Entry Report

Task List Custom View or Report

Contact Custom List View or Contact Report

Appointment/Calendar Custom List View or Appointment Report

Custom List Views - Filters and Copy

Matter List View or Custom Matter Report