Tip #82 - The Settlement Forecast Report

Do you need a projection or forecast of your upcoming settlements? Do you know what the firm’s cash flow will be for the next six months, twelve months or beyond?  Use the ‘Expected Resolution’ and ‘Estimated Value’ features in SmartAdvocate to give you a report. Go to Reports > Financial Reports > Settlement Forecast Report to generate a report of forecasted settlements for the period you want.

The Expected Resolution date and Estimated Value (Range and Min. Settlement Value) are entered from the Summary Screen and must be entered for each case individually. Also, please note that Minimum Settlement Value is required for the case to show up on the Settlement Forecast Report.

Click the Edit button on the right side of the Summary Screen and then enter the Expected Resolution date. The Estimated Value is entered on this same page. The Estimated Value is entered as a Range and Min. Settlement amount. The ranges available would have been set in Pick list Maintenance by the firm’s SmartAdvocate Administrator.

There are several columns available on the report itself. They include Case Name, Case Status, Open Date, Case Group, Case Type, Attorney, Case Minimum Value, Expected Resolution Date, Disbursement Amount, Projected Total Fee, Projected Referral Fee, Projected Net Fee, Last Demand and Last Offer. Select the column(s) you wish to appear by selecting the appropriate box for the respective column.

The filters available for the report are:

• Date Range

• Office

• Expected Resolution From Date and Expected Resolution To Date

• Days From and Days To

• Case Group

• Case Type

• Staff

• Columns (as mentioned above)

 
The Date Range is used in conjunction with ‘Expected Resolution From’ and ‘Expected Resolution To’ and ’Days From’ and ‘Days To’. If ‘Days’ is used in the Date Range filter, you must use the ‘Days From’ and ‘Days To’ filters (Days From and Days To are generally used when the subscription option is used for this report). Please note that even though dates are required to be entered in the Expexted Resolution From and To fields, those dates are ignored when the ‘Days’ option is selected in Date Range and numbers (days) are entered in the Days From and Days To fields.
 
The other filters (Case Group, Case Type, Staff and Columns) are pretty straightforward. For each you can select All or multiselect individual items.
 
The Settlement Forecast Report itself groups Expected Resolution(s) by month and gives a total for the Case Minimum Value and Projected Total Fee for each month included in the report and a grand total for those items at the end of the report.