Activity types and conditions

Anytime the matter window is opened, and data entry is performed in any field under Matter details, an activity item is generated.

This Activity is always tracked; however, you can choose not to include it in AutoTime. It will be recorded as Matter Review in Smokeball. 

When creating, editing, or reviewing a Word, Excel, or PDF document, an activity item is generated. It will be logged as <<Document Title>> created>><<Document Title>> created, then edited, <<Document Title>> reviewed, or <<Document Title>> edited in Smokeball.

The timer starts when you open a document from Smokeball.  As long as it is the active window and you are clicking, scrolling, typing or moving your mouse over the document, the timer is going. 

If you pause one of those activities for more than the duration of your firm's default billing units (1 minute, 6 minutes, 15 minutes, or custom), the timer will pause.  Upon resuming the activity, the timer will resume. Closing the active window or saving and closing the document will stop the timer immediately.

Note: As it’s not legal for firms to charge for time spent on invoicing, PDFs opened from the Billing > Invoice folder in Documents on a matter will not be billed.

If you review a file in File Preview for more than 30 seconds, it will be recorded as a document activity. The timer will continue as long as the preview is open and you are interacting with the document by clicking, scrolling, typing, or moving your mouse.

If you pause for more than the duration of your firm's default billing units (1 minute, 6 minutes, 15 minutes, or custom), the timer will pause.  Upon resuming the activity, the timer will resume.  Closing the preview or changing to another document for review will stop the timer immediately.

Email activity is grouped daily per person per matter as emails are sent or received.

In order to be recorded, a matter needs to be tagged to the email. Time will not be logged if the email is not associated with a matter prior to closing. 

The timer begins as soon as you open an email or hover your cursor over it in the preview pane. It will continue as long as the email remains the active window and you interact with it by clicking, scrolling, typing, or moving your mouse over it.

If you pause one of those activities for more than the duration of your firm's default billing units (1 minute, 6 minutes, 15 minutes, or custom), the timer will pause.  Upon resuming the activity, the timer will resume.  Closing the active window will stop the timer immediately.

Emails reviewed for a minimum of 10 seconds are recorded as activity. If an email is reviewed again within a 10-minute window, the accumulated time will be applied.

The activity is tracked whenever a new memo is saved to a matter, viewed, or edited. This will be logged as Memo edited – <<Memo Title>> or Memo created – <<Memo Title>> in Smokeball.

If you pause one of those activities for more than the duration of your firm's default billing units (1 minute, 6 minutes, 15 minutes, or custom), the timer will pause.  Upon resuming the activity, the timer will resume.  Closing the active window or saving and closing the memo will stop the timer immediately.

Activity is measured whenever reviewing or working (entering responses or using internally) in an intake form.

Calendar events in Smokeball that occurred in the past are shown as activity items. This will be logged as <<Event Name>> attended in Smokeball.

If the event time and duration change, these will be updated in the activity duration.

When a user marks a task as completed, a task activity is created. This will be logged as <<Name of Task>> in Smokeball.

This occurs regardless of whether the task is completed from the task list, daily digest, or mobile app.

An action to create an item that will operate as a task. This will be logged as <<Name of Activity>> in Smokeball.

Activity in the Client Portal is recorded when a user spends at least 30 seconds sending a message or previewing a file. Reading messages for at least 10 seconds is also recorded.

The timer starts when you click on the message.  As long as it is the active window and you are clicking, scrolling, typing or moving your mouse over the message, the timer is going. 

If you pause one of those activities for more than the duration of your firm's default billing units (1 minute, 6 minutes, 15 minutes, or custom), the timer will pause.  Upon resuming the activity, the timer will resume.  Closing the active window or message will stop the timer immediately. 

If the client opens the file during review, entries will be created for both the Messages and Document review time portions.

Communicate activity is also tracked from the Mobile app.

Incoming and outgoing RingCentral or Zoom calls will be logged as completed tasks in Activity.

If a phone number is associated with a contact and matter, this task will automatically be added to the matter.

If the phone number is not associated, the call will still be logged. Users can assign the activity to a matter based on the caller ID information.

Activity recorded when working under the Matter Archie tab in the Smokeball desktop app.

For Activity purposes, user interactions with Archie include moving the mouse into the Archie UI (the chat panel, not the history panel) and clicks, scrolls, or typing while the Archie UI has focus. 

Activity will continue to record until the Archie tab is closed or the matter window is closed. However, idle time will begin if no activity in the Archie tab is detected.

In addition, all full length activities under 30 seconds will be discarded.