Project/Matter inquiry performance improvements

Introduction

The client and project inquiries report the status of a client/matter, including the current financial situation eg the WIP and billed amounts. Some of the financial figures require significant processing before they can be displayed. This has a noticeable impact on performance. Being able to choose which values are visible in advance allows system administrators to improve performance by not automatically updating some of the components. Therefore, we have introduced parameters that enable this control to be managed. By hiding the fields, the calculations will not be run and so performance will noticeably improve. By default, the parameters are all turned off, maximising performance.

PMA parameters

A new tab “Inquiry” will be added to the PMA parameters screen. The following parameters will be present in the new tab

• Enable item statistics (currently present in PMA parameters > General > Matter inquiry)
• Enable advances and deductions
• Enable write-off statistics
• Show anticipated time
• Show anticipated disbursements

Selecting or deselecting the fields available on this tab controls the display of the fields on the client/matter inquiry form. Disabling these fields improves performance by hiding the fields and not pre-calculating their value.

Parameters

Project management and accounting > Setup > Project management and accounting parameters > Inquiry

By default, all the parameters will be turned off, resulting in them being hidden on the Inquiry screens. Enabling any of these fields will result in it being displayed on the Inquiry form, calculated as the screen opens.