Client and Matter Exception Rates

Client and matter exception rates are one of the more difficult areas to manage in Enterprise. This can be complicated by the fact in versions prior to 3.10, there is no end date on the records. In order to end an exception, you had to enter a new line with a zero percent or dollar deviation. Thankfully this has been corrected in 3.10. For those still on prior versions, this bit of code gives you a full view of exceptions for clients and matters. In an effort to make the data a bit more manageable, there is a department variable that limits the results of the query to a single department.

This is probably as good a time as any to point out the merits (and limitations) of common table expressions (CTE) as opposed to sub-queries. You can see in the top portion of the query below that there is a "WITH" expression. Using a WITH expression creates a common table expression from a query and gives it a name, in this case maxmex. You can then call this CTE later in your query as if it were a table. However, note in the client section that I've used subqueries instead of a CTE. WITH expressions can only be used at the beginning of a query, and a previous query/statement must be ended with a semicolon before a WITH expression can be used. Since the UNION ALL is a continuation of the query, we can't use a WITH at that point. However, in my opinion, CTEs are much easier to read and understand than sub-queries, so I highly recommend their use.

DECLARE @Dept VARCHAR(2);
SET @Dept = '15';


WITH maxmex AS
 (
 SELECT mrmatter
 ,mrtk
 ,mrtitle
 ,MAX(mreffdate) as 'maxdate'
 FROM mexrate
 WHERE mrccode ='!'
 GROUP BY mrmatter,mrtk,mrtitle
 ),
rates AS
 (
 SELECT b.tkinit AS tkrinit
 ,b.tkeffdate AS tkrdate1
 ,MIN(CASE WHEN e.tkeffdate IS NULL THEN '1/1/2026' ELSE e.tkeffdate END)-1 AS tkrdate2
 ,b.tkrt01 AS tkrt01
 ,b.tkrtcur AS tkrtcur
 FROM timerate b
 LEFT OUTER JOIN timerate e ON b.tkinit=e.tkinit AND e.tkeffdate > b.tkeffdate AND b.tkrtcur=e.tkrtcur
 GROUP BY b.tkinit,b.tkeffdate,b.tkrt01,b.tkrtcur
 )
SELECT 
client.clnum AS 'Client #'
,client.clname1 AS 'Client Name'
,mexrate.mrmatter AS 'Matter #'
, matter.mdesc1 AS 'Matter Desc'
, deptlab.head1 AS 'Matter Dept'
, CASE WHEN mexrate.mrtitle='!' THEN mexrate.mrtk ELSE mexrate.mrtitle END AS 'Exception'
, CASE WHEN mexrate.mrtitle='!' THEN tk2.tklast+', '+tk2.tkfirst ELSE 'ALL' END AS 'Exception Name'
, CASE WHEN mexrate.mrtitle='!' THEN tk2.tktitle ELSE mexrate.mrtitle END AS 'Exception Title'
, CASE WHEN mexrate.mrtitle='!' THEN dept2.head1 ELSE 'ALL' END AS 'Exception Dept'
, CASE WHEN mexrate.mrtitle='!' THEN ldesc ELSE 'ALL' END AS 'Exception Loc'
, mexrate.mreffdate
, mexrate.mrrate
, mexrate.mrdevper
, mexrate.mrdevdol
, mexrate.mrrtnum
, rates.tkrt01
, rates.tkrtcur
--, matter.mbillaty
--, deptlab_billatty.head1
--, matter.mclosedt
FROM   mexrate mexrate 
INNER JOIN matter matter  ON mexrate.mrmatter=matter.mmatter
INNER JOIN deptlab deptlab ON matter.mdept=deptlab.delcode
INNER JOIN maxmex maxmex ON mexrate.mrmatter=maxmex.mrmatter AND mexrate.mrtk=maxmex.mrtk AND mexrate.mrtitle=maxmex.mrtitle AND mexrate.mreffdate=maxmex.maxdate
INNER JOIN timekeep timekeep ON matter.mbillaty=timekeep.tkinit
LEFT OUTER JOIN timekeep tk2 ON maxmex.mrtk=tk2.tkinit
LEFT OUTER JOIN deptlab dept2 ON tk2.tkdept=dept2.delcode
LEFT OUTER JOIN location ON tk2.tkloc=locode
INNER JOIN deptlab deptlab_billatty ON timekeep.tkdept=deptlab_billatty.delcode
INNER JOIN client ON mclient=clnum
LEFT OUTER JOIN rates ON mexrate.mrtk=rates.tkrinit AND rates.tkrdate2='12/31/2025'
WHERE  matter.mclosedt IS NULL 
AND (mexrate.mrtk='!' OR mexrate.mrtk IN (SELECT tkinit FROM timekeep WHERE tktmdate IS NULL)) 
AND (mrdevper<>0 OR mrdevper IS NULL)
AND (mrdevdol<>0 OR mrdevdol IS NULL)
AND matter.mdept=@Dept

UNION ALL

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
-- Client Exceptions
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

SELECT cexrate.crclient AS 'Client #'
, client.clname1 AS 'Client Name'
, 'All' AS 'Matter #'
, 'All' AS 'Matter Desc'
, 'All' AS 'Matter Dept'
, CASE WHEN cexrate.crtitle='!' THEN cexrate.crtk ELSE cexrate.crtitle END AS 'Exception'
, CASE WHEN cexrate.crtitle='!' THEN tk2.tklast+', '+tk2.tkfirst ELSE 'ALL' END AS 'Exception Name'
, CASE WHEN cexrate.crtitle='!' THEN tk2.tktitle ELSE cexrate.crtitle END AS 'Exception Title'
, CASE WHEN cexrate.crtitle='!' THEN dept2.head1 ELSE 'ALL' END AS 'Exception Dept'
, CASE WHEN cexrate.crtitle='!' THEN ldesc ELSE 'ALL' END AS 'Exception Loc'
, cexrate.creffdate
, cexrate.crrate
, cexrate.crdevper
, cexrate.crdevdol
, cexrate.crrtnum
, rates.tkrt01
, rates.tkrtcur
FROM   cexrate 
INNER JOIN 
 (SELECT crclient
 ,crtk
 ,crtitle
 ,MAX(creffdate) as 'maxdate'
 FROM cexrate
 WHERE crccode ='!'
 GROUP BY crclient,crtk,crtitle) AS
maxcex ON cexrate.crclient=maxcex.crclient AND cexrate.crtk=maxcex.crtk AND cexrate.crtitle=maxcex.crtitle AND cexrate.creffdate=maxcex.maxdate
LEFT OUTER JOIN timekeep tk2 ON maxcex.crtk=tk2.tkinit
LEFT OUTER JOIN deptlab dept2 ON tk2.tkdept=dept2.delcode
LEFT OUTER JOIN location ON tk2.tkloc=locode
INNER JOIN client ON cexrate.crclient=client.clnum
LEFT OUTER JOIN
 (
 SELECT b.tkinit AS tkrinit
 ,b.tkeffdate AS tkrdate1
 ,MIN(CASE WHEN e.tkeffdate IS NULL THEN '1/1/2026' ELSE e.tkeffdate END)-1 AS tkrdate2
 ,b.tkrt01 AS tkrt01
 ,b.tkrtcur AS tkrtcur
 FROM timerate b
 LEFT OUTER JOIN timerate e ON b.tkinit=e.tkinit AND e.tkeffdate > b.tkeffdate AND b.tkrtcur=e.tkrtcur
 GROUP BY b.tkinit,b.tkeffdate,b.tkrt01,b.tkrtcur
 ) AS rates ON cexrate.crtk=rates.tkrinit AND rates.tkrdate2='12/31/2025'

WHERE  (cexrate.crtk='!' OR cexrate.crtk IN (SELECT tkinit FROM timekeep WHERE tktmdate IS NULL)) 
AND (crdevper IS NULL OR crdevper <> 0)
AND (crdevdol IS NULL OR crdevdol <> 0)
AND EXISTS (SELECT * FROM matter WHERE mclient=clnum AND mdept=@Dept AND mclosedt IS NULL)

Matter Exception Rate Update

Occasionally we have the need to input matter exception rates for a number of matters for a client, but not all (hence matter exceptions and not client exceptions). To my knowledge, there are at least three ways to accomplish this. 1) Manually input exception rates on all matters that need them (but what if there's 50!). 2) If you're on 3.5 or higher, you can create a matter udf called CEXRATE and input a different client number to utilise that client's exception rates. You could then create a dummy client, load the exception rates once and add this client number to each matter in the CEXRATE udf. 3) You can use the method below.

Step 1 - Input exception rates for one matter. Then view the exception rates in SQL. We want to copy the last row with the effective date of 5/1/2004.

SELECT *
FROM mexrate
WHERE mrmatter='2000-001'

Results

mrmatter	mrtk	mreffdate	mrrate	mrdevper	mrdevdol	mrccode	mrtitle	mrmaximum	mrreason	mrrtnum
2000-001	!	2000-01-01 00:00:00.000	200.000	NULL	NULL	!	Senior Partner	N	NULL	NULL
2000-001	!	2003-01-01 00:00:00.000	250.000	NULL	NULL	!	Senior Partner	N	NULL	NULL
2000-001	!	2003-03-01 00:00:00.000	300.000	NULL	NULL	!	Senior Partner	N	NULL	NULL
2000-001	!	2003-05-01 00:00:00.000	350.000	NULL	NULL	!	Senior Partner	N	NULL	NULL
2000-001	!	2004-04-01 00:00:00.000	400.000	NULL	NULL	!	Senior Partner	N	NULL	NULL
2000-001	!	2004-05-01 00:00:00.000	500.000	NULL	NULL	!	Senior Partner	N	NULL	NULL

Step 2 - Create temporary table to hold matters that need the exception rates & populate.

CREATE TABLE ##mexrate1
( mmatter VARCHAR(15));

INSERT INTO ##mexrate1 VALUES ('2000-003')
INSERT INTO ##mexrate1 VALUES ('2000-010')
...
--If there is a systematic way to identify the matters then you can use:
INSERT INTO ##mexrate1
SELECT mmatter
FROM matter
WHERE ...(your criteria)...

Step 3 - Execute cursor update below to cycle through the matters and insert new exception rates

BEGIN TRANSACTION mexrateupdate

Declare c Cursor For Select Distinct mmatter From ##mexrate1
Open c

DECLARE @MatId VARCHAR (15);

Fetch next From c into @MatId

While @@Fetch_Status=0 Begin

INSERT INTO mexrate
SELECT @MatId,
 mrtk,
 mreffdate,
 mrrate,
 mrdevper,
 mrdevdol,
 mrccode,
 mrtitle,
 mrmaximum,
 mrreason,
 mrrtnum
FROM mexrate
WHERE mrmatter = '2000-001' --The original matter to copy
 AND mreffdate = '5/1/2004' --The exception rates to copy

   Fetch next From c into @MatId
End

Close c
Deallocate c

Step 4 - Use SQL to view a matter that was updated & make sure everything looks good

SELECT *
FROM mexrate
WHERE mrmatter = '2000-010'

Step 5 - Check the matter in Elite to make sure everything looks ok.
Step 6 - If it's all good, commit the transaction (if not, rollback)

ROLLBACK TRANSACTION mexrateupdate --if it's bad
COMMIT TRANSACTION mexrateupdate --if it's good

Step 7 - Explicitly drop the temporary table

DROP TABLE ##mexrate1

Step 8 - Be thankful you didn't have to manually input 25 exception rates for 75 matters...


DISCLAIMER - As always, test liberally in a test environment and deploy cautiously.