At Brightflag, we strive to continually improve our product. Keep up-to-date with our latest releases here, refreshed monthly.

May 2021

A matter notes tab allows you to easily track information against a matter in a dedicated space. Go to the matter overview page to begin using it.
Matter template fields are available within both of the report builder matters reports.
If you require tax information or PO numbers from all of your vendors, you can now mandate LEDES 98Bi files, meaning no key information will be missing from your invoices. Reach out to support@brightflag.com to enable this feature.

April 2021

A Brightflag-Outlook add-in is now available for several versions of Microsoft Outlook. At the click of a button, you can now store documents and emails directly to a matter in Brightflag from your Outlook.
Your vendors now have more autonomy with the creation of a new vendor admin role. Upgrade at least one user from each vendor to admin-level so that they can add new vendor office admins and view information across all offices. Reach out to support@brightflag.com to enable this feature.

Timekeeper rate submission and tracking have been enhanced:
- 2 pages have been merged into 1.
- The grid has been streamlined to allow for easy sorting and viewing.
- Existing timekeeper rates can be updated more easily.
Invoice summary PDFs can now include tax information.
Vendor performance surveys can now be requested on open matters at any time
A new flag now alerts you when the narrative line dates are outside of the invoice billing period.
- Contact support@brightflag.com if you need this flag enabled.
More file types can now be attached to AP email integration.
The user interface for the matter overview page has been improved.
The report builder landing screen load time performance has been improved.

AP batch export spreadsheet now facilitates a new row per allocation string per invoice.
LEDES file errors can now be addressed more easily in the Brightflag Law Firm Portal. This reduces the need to create a new LEDES file from scratch.

Enhanced Single Sign-on (SSO) to allow for a smoother workflow when opening Brightflag by email links.
Service/Billing Period is now captured on both hourly-fee and fixed-fee PDF invoices. Billing period is also available as a field and filter in the invoices report and can be displayed on the invoice review page.
Preferred Counsel Identifiers can now be set from the vendor management page.
Matter Quarterly Budgets can now be set by fiscal year
Accounts payable reverse feed now facilitates the use of the invoice ID as the unique identifier.

Vendor Performance Reporting - Capture and report on the overall performance of your vendors on their matters.
Accounts payable feature now allows you to configure AP routes based on custom matter attributes.
Enhancements to invoice approval stages logic ensure that admin approvals are logged appropriately on the invoice review page.
Support for private key authentication when exporting AP batches to an SFTP through the report scheduler.

Monthly budget requests feature completed. Law firms can now request monthly budgets by downloading a template directly in Brightflag. Those requests can then be reviewed all in one place and approved in bulk. We’ve also added the ability for users to export the budgets from the budget review page and a new flag for breaches of monthly budgets.
Ability to identify the preferred counsel within the application.
Ability to select a PO number when submitting a pdf invoice from the customer portal.
Removal of vendor offices on Brightflag’s global list from the customer portal where the office isn’t linked to that customer.

Enhanced the bulk matter updater to allow for the bulk closing of matters.
Visual identity refresh:
- Upgraded the log-in pages and application header and password reset pages to include new Brightflag branding.
- Upgraded all emails from the application to include the new branding and with updated support links.
Diversity feature: initial development completed which includes data collection, and reporting modules.
Updated vendor management to cater for specifying vendors as Preferred Counsel. Initial infrastructure has been put in place in the backend.
As part of ongoing technical improvements and security audits we have:
- Updated Javascript Libraries used throughout the application.
- Reconfigured and improved HTTP Security Headers.
- Improved validation on file uploads.
- Enhanced Cross-site Request Forgery (CSRF) and Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) Prevention.
- Improved authentication and authorisation controls on APIs.

Improved messaging when Accounts Payable email files exceed e-mail attachment limits and provided a link to download.
Configured Accruals reminders to be sent 5 days before the submission deadline.
Updated the Financial Budgets feature:
- Added a link to access the matters that are included in the budget
- Ability to edit the budget name.
Updated the Purchase Order feature to provide enhanced LEDEs98Bi support and added to the ability to enforce unique purchase order numbers.
Enhanced the Invoice Review screen for invoices that have Purchase Orders to include purchase order budget flags and block invoice approval where no Purchase Order is provided.
Security improvements made - updated the password encryption protocols, improved password reset flows and API message authentication.
Improved the performance of the Search Matters page.

Updated the Financial Budgets feature so individual budgets can be removed, and improved Brightflag Forecast synchronisation.
Improved notifications when adding a vendor to a matter. Using Any Office, only the admins will be notified.
Improved error messaging when updating and submitting Matter Budget Request.
Updated Purchase Order feature which allows PO numbers to be created and assigned to matters, and for invoices to be tracked with POs and exported to the AP system.
Improved the error messaging for LEDES Invoice Upload on the Law Firm Portal, so that it is easier for vendors to fix errors in files on submission.
Accounts Payable Module Enhancements:
- New AP Route configuration to allow payment routing via Currency.
- More granular control over what files are sent to your AP systems including individual file selection but ability to merge multiple files.