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

October 2021

• Coming Soon: Brightflag is developing a Legal Service Request Portal that can be used by anyone in the business. This immediately removes the chore of data entry from the legal team and places that task with the person requesting legal assistance. This will help each client to use Brightflag as a one-stop-shop for all their matters.

September 2021

• New Multi-line Purchase Orders. Brightflag has upgraded the Purchase Order feature adding the ability for customers to break down their PO's into multiple lines. This means that:
  • Client users will see Multi-Line PO in the PO tab on a Matter page & the PO tab on an Invoice
  • Ability to add PO Comments
  • Start & End dates of PO's are now captured
  • API enabled
  • Law Firms/Vendors may be required to split out fees and expenses by PO line item (depending on client requirements.

• Brightflag Awarded US Patent for AI Innovation in Legal Operations
  We have some exciting news...The United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has granted Brightflag a patent for our innovative application of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning in legal technology! 
  
  "This patent confirms the uniqueness of Brightflag’s core technology, but its practical value is something that in-house legal teams have been confirming daily since 2014” 
  - Ian Nolan, Brightflag CEO and Co-Founder 
  Watch the video below from COO and Co-Founder Alex Kelly to learn more about the patent
  
• Click here for the September issue of the Brightflag newsletter.

August 2021

• New Direct Cost Savings Canned Report. Brightflag has launched a new Direct Cost Savings Report beta version which is now available to Client Admin users of Brightflag. This is a new Brightflag report that will enable users to report on direct cost savings realized through Brightflag. This report makes it easier & quicker to report on how your organization has controlled and reduced cost through invoice review. Report and export from one central place on all types of Invoice Adjustments.

July 2021

• Reporting API beta version is now available to clients to test. Please reach out to Brightflag support by Submitting a Request if interested and we can provide you with information on how to use this new API.

June 2021

• Multi-Line Purchase Order Capabilities - This allows law firms/vendors to submit invoices broken down into different lines per fees and expenses per Purchase orders. Clients can see this multiple line information in the Purchase Order tab on the Matters page
• Matter Confidentiality: We have added a legal support admin role with access to all admin settings but no access to matters & invoices. This new user role will have access to Vendor Management and Matter settings menus.
• A new Matter Overview Tab on Matters Details Page gives a summary of details for a specific matter. This new feature also includes the ability to add notes within this Overview tab.

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. Submit a Request to Brightflag Support Team 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. Submit a Request to Brightflag Support Team to enable this feature.

March 2021

• 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.
  • Submit a Request to Brightflag Support Team 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.

February 2021

• 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.

January 2021

• 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.

December 2020

• 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.

November 2020

• 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.

October 2020

• 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.

September 2020

• 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.  

August 2020

• 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.