One of Smokeball's unique tools is the ability to keep track of every activity being done on a particular matter. Activity Intelligence is similar to having an activity tracker like a Fitbit or pedometer that helps you remember every new matter opening, event, task, document, email, memos, and even matter administration.
Rather than spend extra time trying to remember everything that was completed for a client or to create a spreadsheet or itemised report, do your work in Smokeball and use the activity tab within matters.
How Activity Duration is Tracked
- The Description column describes the Activity type and its trigger condition.
- The Billing Increment Column describes how the Activity is translated into a billable unit, which appears as an invoice item. These units can be set as 1 minute, 6 minutes, 15 minutes, or custom increments.
| Activity Type | Description | Billing Increment |
| Matter Administration | Anytime the matter window is opened, and data entry is performed in any field under Matter details, an activity item is generated. | As selected in Billing units |
| Document |
When creating, editing, or reviewing a Word, Excel, or PDF document, an activity item is generated. 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. |
As selected in Billing units |
| File Preview |
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. |
As selected in Billing units |
|
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. |
As selected in Billing units | |
| Memo |
The activity is tracked whenever a new memo is saved to a matter, viewed, or edited. 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. |
As selected in Billing units |
| Event | Calendar events in Smokeball that occurred in the past are shown as activity items. If the event time and duration change, these will be updated in the activity duration. | Manual Entry - Duration of the Calendar Event |
| Task | When a user marks a task as completed, a task activity is created. This occurs regardless of whether the task is completed from the task list, daily digest, or mobile app. | Manual Entry |
| Activity |
An action to create an item that will operate as a task. |
Manual Entry |
| Messages |
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. |
As selected in Billing units |
| RingCentral or Zoom calls |
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. |
Tracked by RingCentral or Zoom |