Time Matters synchronizes with a variety of PDA applications - Palm, Windows Mobile, and Blackberry. As one of the first Legal Practice Management Systems to provide this type of synchronization, Time Matters has done this well for a long time. That having been said, there are a number of shortcomings and limitations in the Time Matters synchronization capabilities, especially in today's environment of being able to access your data in real time, all the time.

"I love getting all my phone messages in real time on my iPhone. That by itself is worth it to me. Add in my ToDos which I can't get from Outlook and no more synching and it's a no-brainer for me! ~ Tom Scannell, Chicago

• Additional expenses for real-time access - to get the data in real-time, it may require additional software like Exchange Server, Blackberry Enterprise Server, and/or PDA VPNs.
  
  
• No iPhone synchronization - more and more attorneys want to use the iPhone for business, only to be told by their IT department that it isn't supported, or to find out that Time Matters doesn't support it without the use of an Exchange Server and all the costs associated with setting that up.
  
  
• Each synchronization works differently, and requires a variety of different methodologies - this means that unless a firm wants to provide support for a number of devices (expensive, time consuming and technically difficult) a firm has to standardize on a single SmartPhone/PDA platform which means that some people will be happy and others won't when their device isn't the one the firm settles on.
  
  
• Each device syncs different Time Matters data types - while the Palm and Blackberry sync Events, ToDo's, Contacts, Matters, Notes, and Billing records, Windows Mobile only handles ToDo's, Events, and Contacts. That leaves a lot of data in Time Matters that you can't get to.
  
  
• Limited related record support - one of the great things about Time Matters is the ability to pull up a Matter or Contact and see the records like Events, ToDo's and Phone Calls that relate to the Matter or Contact. Although some devices sync Note or Billing records, none shows you all the records releated to a Contact or Matter. This capability is very limited with the native TM syncs.

In response to the sync limitations in Time Matters, Data Equity LLC, the leading developer of Time Matters add-on applications, has developed MobileTM, a SmartPhone Portal to your Time Matters data. No more applications to install on your SmartPhone, and no more data syncs. Just real-time access to your data, wherever you are.

Primary features of MobileTM

• iPhone
• Blackberry
• Palm
• Windows Mobile
• Symbian

You can select from 16 record types (including User-Defined Records new in v.9, excluding Custom and Outline) to display in customizable list layouts. Default layouts can be customized as follows:

• List Field Selection
• View Only Form Field Selection
• Default Filters
• Default Sort Order

Searching

• Quick Search (of the currently sorted field)
• Full-text search in all displayed fields (List and Form Fields)

Misc Features

• All phone numbers can be dialed with one click
• Full access to related records for Matters and Cases
• Access control based on the Time Matters User Login
• Hands-free server-side administrative service
• Server component is easily installed on any Windows computer capable of accessing your Time Matters database and the Internet 
• Access to data will be read-only in the first iteration of MobileTM
  

From your SmartPhone web browser:

1. Browse to mtmtest.com.
2. Login using one of the following user names: iphone, bb, bbs, treo, or netbook - customized settings are available for the iPhone, BlackBerrys, BlackBerry Storm, Treo or for any of the Netbook computers.*
3. Password is mtmtest.

* Setting up the the customization for different devices is an ongoing process.

Once you get it up and running, follow this script to see the full functionality (you are logged in as user LKF).

Agenda

- Click on Agenda.

- By default, you see today's events when the Agenda is first selected.

- Click on tomorrow to see tomorrow's events.

- Clicking on week will show the rest of the current weeks' events. Click on the << symbol to the left of the today link, and you are taken to the beginnging of the current week.

- Clicking on month will show the rest of the current month. Click on the << symbol to the left of the today link, and you are taken to the beginnging of the current month.

- The chevrons - the << and >> symbols - move you forward or backward. If you have selected today or tomorrow, you move one day. If you have selected week, you move one week. If you have selected month, you move one month.

- Press goto to display a Go to: field into which you can enter any date you want to jump to.

- At any point clicking on the event record will take you to the event form where you can see additional information.

Contacts

- Click on Contacts from the Main Menu.

- Note that they are ordered by the name column, and that pressing the LastFirst reverses the sort order.

- Click/select the phone number and it will be prepared to dial.

- Open the Able Barry record.

- Selecting a Phone Number or Email address dials the phone or sends an email.

- Pressing show location at the top of the record will pop-up Google maps if you have the application installed.

- At the bottom of the record you will see a list of Related Information (these are the related records you see in Time Matters). Hold off on viewing them ... even though you can do that here, we'll have you do it in the Matter/Case List instead.

Matters

- Select Matters from the Main Menu to see a list of your Matters, Cases or Projects - you can easily customize the program to show the label that fits your use.

- Select the Able, Barry and Marta case.

- Note the fields that provide the information about the case. These can be fully selected and customized by you.

- The phone number and email fields are live should you press them.

- Focus on the Related Information at the bottom of the case form. These are the equivalent of the sub-lists available in Time Matters case form.

- Press the Contact link to see the Contacts relatead to this case.

- The phone numbers are live, and you can click on the LastFirst name to drill down into the Contact record.

- Press the back button in the upper left hand corner until you return to the Contact sub-list, and then again to get back to the Case form.

- Click the PhoNotes to see the Case's phone/note records.

- Note that they are mostly called Diary Entry, which doesn't help you locate what you are looking for.

- Because you want to see a Phone/Note about payment issues, enter - *payment - in the Find box, and check the checkbox to the right of the Find box. When you press Find, the notes wherein "payment" is discussed are listed.

- Open them to see the details, pressing back to get back to your results.

- This capability means that not only can you see a Case's related records, you also have full search capabilities to find the exact related record you are looking for.

- Click on the other Related Information records to see how fully the Case's information is available to you in real-time.

ToDo | PhonNotes | Docs

- Work through these record types to see what information you can view.

TMMsg

- The Time Matters' Messenger is one of the most powerful features in the incredibly powerful program. Using MobileTM you can now view your messages and use email to reply.

- Click on TMMsg.

- You see the date and the message on the list.

- Click to open it and to view the date and time it was sent, as well as all the people to whom it was sent.

- To reply, select the reply via email link located accross the top of the message form.

Press the images below to see videos of MobileTM on the iPhone, Treo Palm and Treo Windows:

MobileTM is priced as follows:

• $300 for the server and administrator component, per year.
• $100 per User, per year.

For example, if your firm has 3 people who want to use SmartPhones to access their Time Matters data, the yearly fee is $600.

The yearly fee covers all updates to the server/administrator component, and technical support. Because MobileTM uses a browser on the PDA, there is no software on the PDA to be upgraded. Update the server, and the next time a PDA accesses MobileTM, the changes will be reflected. 

Your MobileTM licenses DO NOT have to match your Time Matters user licenses - if you have a 10 user Time Matters license, but only 3 people in your office have SmartPhones and want to access their data, you only need 3 MobileTM licenses.

Click on the downloadble order form to the right and fax it to us ... you'll be accessing your Time Matters data in real-time in short order.

When looking at ROI for MobileTM, consider:

• For any lawyer billing at any rate, if access to your data lets you accomplish a single billable task in a year that you would otherwise not be able to accomplish, the cost is covered.
  
  
• It would be hard to believe that access to your data in real-time wouldn't enable an attorney to do a least one thing that they otherwise wouldn't be able to do in the period of a year. Bill that one action and the cost is covered.
  
  
• Keeps the firm from having to purchase Exchange Server or Blackberry Enterprise Server, as well as the accompanying costs of installing and maintaining these systems.
  
  
• Reduced friction/increased staff morale within firms who no longer have to standardize on a single SmartPhone model.
  
  
• Full access to your Time Matters data for what you pay for two months of mobile Internet access for a laptop.
  
  
• Faster access to your database than booting up a laptop.

From the SmartPhone side, there is no installation. You simply go to a website URL and your data is available to you in real-time.

From the server side, the web server is self-deployable and runs as a Windows service. The server can be run on your server, but can also be run on any Windows computer that has access to you Time Matters database and the Internet.

While the server is self-deployable in most circumstances, it might be wise to budget for a few hours of consulting time by OTB or a MobileTM-certified CIC, to make sure there are no firewall and proxy issues, and to help you understand how to make the User-based configurations.

From the Client side:

A SmartPhone/PDA that is browser capable, with Internet connectivity including:

• iPhone
• Palm
• Blackberry
• Windows Mobile 
• Symbian

From the Server side:

• A Windows server or workstation with access to the Internet and your Time Matters database.
• Ports open on your firewall.
• MS SQL Server 2000 or greater or Express editions of SQL Server.
• A static IP Address (a free dynDNS alias will work)

For Time Matters:

• Enterprise Versions 7, 8 or 9

Download the MobileTM Administrative Summary for more details.