ERPNext Legal E-Billing Export

User Guide & Functional Documentation

LEDES® 1998B-compatible Sales Invoice export for ERPNext

Version 1.0

1. Application Overview

The application extends ERPNext Sales Invoice with a legal e-billing export function. Before the first export is generated, the required LEDES identifiers and billing values must be maintained in the relevant ERPNext master records and Sales Invoice fields. Once the invoice is prepared, users can download a pipe-delimited LEDES® 1998B text file from the Sales Invoice Export menu.

2. End-to-End Workflow

3. Initial Data Setup and Field Mapping

This is the first implementation step. Configure the source values shown in the following ERPNext screens before generating the LEDES file. Together, these configuration screens and the Sales Invoice provide the source data for all 24 LEDES® 1998B fields. Where shown, a red rectangle highlights the field or group of fields used by the exporter.

3.1 Customer Master - LEDES Client ID

Figure 1. Customer master with LEDES Client ID

Maintain the client identifier in the Customer master. The Sales Invoice Customer determines which client master record is used during export.

3.2 Company Master - LEDES Law Firm ID

Figure 2. Company master with LEDES Law Firm ID

Maintain the law-firm identifier on the ERPNext Company record. The exporter uses this value to identify the billing firm.

3.3 Employee Master - Timekeeper Information

Figure 3. Employee master with Timekeeper ID and classification

Timekeeper information identifies the professional associated with a billing line. The sample employee record stores the Timekeeper ID and Timekeeper Classification, while the employee name supplies the Timekeeper Name used in the export.

3.4 Sales Invoice Header - Invoice and Matter Information

Figure 4. Sales Invoice header fields used by the LEDES export

The Sales Invoice header contains the primary invoice, matter and billing-period information. One screenshot is used because all of the following LEDES fields are sourced from this screen.

3.5 Sales Invoice Items - Quantities, Rates and Amounts

Figure 5. Sales Invoice item grid and invoice total

The item grid supplies the quantity, unit rate and line amount for each billing row. The Sales Invoice total is exported as the invoice-level total and repeats on each LEDES billing row.

3.6 Sales Invoice Item Detail - LEDES Line-Level Fields

Figure 6. Expanded Sales Invoice Item showing LEDES line-level fields

Open the item row using the edit icon to maintain the LEDES line-level attributes. The visible screen contains the description, line type, adjustment amount, line date and expense code. Task and activity codes are maintained on the linked Item master and are documented separately in Section 3.7.

3.7 Item Master - LEDES Task and Activity Codes

Figure 7. Item master with LEDES Activity Code and Task Code

Maintain the LEDES task and activity codes on the Item master. When the item is used on a Sales Invoice, these values provide the billing codes exported for the corresponding LEDES line. The codes should match the values required by the receiving client or e-billing platform.

4. Complete LEDES® 1998B Field Mapping

The exporter writes the following 24 fields in the fixed order shown below. Dates are represented in the generated text file as YYYYMMDD. Invoice-level values repeat across billing rows so that each line remains complete in context.

5. Exporting a Sales Invoice

Use the following procedure after the master values, invoice header and item-level LEDES fields have been prepared and reviewed.

5.1 Open the Export menu

Figure 8. Export control in the Sales Invoice header

From the Sales Invoice header, select Export. The custom legal e-billing action is available from this menu.

5.2 Select Download LEDES.txt

Figure 9. Download LEDES.txt option

Select Download LEDES.txt. The browser downloads a plain-text file containing the mapped invoice and billing-line information in LEDES® 1998B-compatible field order.

6. Validating the Generated LEDES File

Figure 10. Generated LEDES text file opened in a plain-text editor

The generated output begins with the LEDES1998B format identifier, followed by the 24-field header and the billing rows. Fields are separated by the pipe character | and each record ends with the two-character LEDES row terminator: an opening square bracket immediately followed by a closing square bracket.

·   Confirm that the 24 header fields appear in the documented order.

·   Confirm that invoice-level identifiers and totals repeat consistently across billing rows.

·   Confirm that each billing row contains the correct line number, line type, units, amount, date, billing codes and timekeeper details.

·   Confirm that dates are exported as YYYYMMDD (for example, 04-10-2026 becomes 20261004).

·   Blank optional values should remain represented by adjacent pipe separators; do not manually remove or reorder separators.

7. Validation & Troubleshooting

7.1 Pre-submission checklist

☐  Invoice number and invoice date match the ERPNext Sales Invoice.

☐  CLIENT_ID, LAW_FIRM_MATTER_ID, LAW_FIRM_ID and CLIENT_MATTER_ID match the receiving client requirements.

☐  Invoice total and all line totals reconcile with ERPNext.

☐  Fee, expense and adjustment line types are correct.

☐  Required task, activity and expense codes are populated.

☐  Timekeeper ID, name, classification and rate are complete where required.

☐  Billing period and line-item dates are valid.

☐  Line descriptions comply with the client billing guidelines.

7.2 Common issues

7.3 Operational recommendations

·   Use controlled master data for client IDs, matter IDs, law-firm IDs, billing codes and timekeeper information.

·   Keep the ERPNext Sales Invoice number linked to the external submission status for reconciliation and audit.

·   Validate at least one sample export against the intended client e-billing platform before production rollout.

·   Treat file generation as the start of submission validation, not as final acceptance; the receiving platform may apply additional client-specific checks.

8. Reference

LEDES® 1998B field order and file structure are represented in this guide as implemented by the ERPNext Legal E-Billing Export app. Client-specific e-billing rules may impose additional validation requirements beyond the generated file structure.