Configured self-maintaining rules enable users from source systems to be added to client teams or removed from client team, if users meet the rule criteria. Self-maintaining rules can be configured under the Staffing tab of a client. Rules are set on the client for the inherited matters. 

All the users who post hours for any inherited matter or perform a specific type of activity on documents related to an inherited matter are automatically added to the client team, if they conform to the rules defined on the client.

In case of open matters, rules are defined at the matter level. Users who post hours for any open matter or perform document activity on documents related to an open matter are automatically added to the client team.

Activity on individually restricted matters is considered for open clients, and for restricted clients with "Limited to users named under Client staffing" security. However, activity on individually restricted matters is not considered for restricted clients with "Not limited to users named under Client staffing" security: for clients with this type of security, this means that no users from the individually restricted matter can be added to client staffing by self-maintaining rule.

If users on an inherited matter team do not post hours or perform any document activity for the period(s) defined in the self-maintaining rule(s), they are considered as stale users and are removed from the client staffing, provided that the period of time that they have been a member of the client staffing is greater than the (longest) period defined in the rule(s). Removal of users is done based on a set schedule, so the changes may not be reflected immediately. 

If users post hours or perform a document activity on an inherited matter, they are automatically prevented from accessing an opposing matter. The users need not be on the staffing of the current matter. 

When configured, self-maintaining rules are executed daily, at midnight.

1. On the Client Details page, click the Staffing tab. 
   The Staffing page appears.
   Alternatively,
   On the Client Details page, in the Overview tab, click View Staffing. 
   The Staffing page appears.

2. Click

   
   . The Self-Maintaining Rules dialog box appears.

   NOTE:

   If there are existing self-maintaining rules, the following icon is displayed:

   

   .

   To remove a self-maintaining rule, in the Self-Maintaining Rules dialog box, click x next to the rule. The rule is removed. If there are no rules set for the client, then the

   

   icon is displayed in the Client Details - Staffing page.

3. Before creating a Self-Maintaining Rule, consideration should be given to the availability of billing or document activity data: Self-Maintaining Rules rely on data from the Billing Activity feed and/or the Document Activity feed. You can proceed to create rules without these being enabled, but a warning message will be displayed. A panel is also displayed in the Self-Maintaining Rules dialog box advising of the current billing and document activity period specified in SPM settings. You can nonetheless create a rule specifying a period longer than that of the relevant activity data period if required.
   For information on how to enable, or configure the period of such activity feeds, see Activity Feeds in Settings>General.
4. Automatically Add Users
   1. Set the rules as follows:
      
      1. Enter a value for one, or both, of Time Posted Exceeds (hours and minutes) and Activity Exceeds (number), under Billing Activity or Document Activity, respectively.
      2. In the Past period, which you can select from the dropdown menu. The Fixed Date option enables you to specify a date in the past from which to define the beginning of the rule period.

      • All the users that meet the criteria set in the rules are added to the client team, when the rule executes.

        NOTE:

        Activity on individually restricted matters is considered for clients with open security, and for restricted clients with "Limited to users named under Client staffing" security. However, activity on individually restricted matters for restricted clients with "Not limited to users named under Client staffing" security, is not considered: for clients with this type of security, users from the individually restricted matter cannot be added to client staffing by self-maintaining rule.

        If you want to omit certain users from getting added to the client through self-maintaining rules, click Omit Users. The Omit Users dialog box appears. 

        NOTE:

        You have the option to filter the displayed user list based on name, user type, job title, and/or practice area.

   2. Select the check boxes in the user rows who you want to add to the omit user list. To select all available users, select the uppermost check box on the left, or, if a user has already been selected, you can also select Select All n Items, where n represents the number of items available for selection. Click OK. The users are added to the list and are displayed in the Automatically Add Users tab of Self-Maintaining Rules dialog box under the Omitted Users section. These users are not added to the client team even if they meet the rules criteria. 

      NOTE:

      Click Omit Users to add more users to the omitted users list.

      To remove a user from the omitted list, select the check box in the user row. Select Remove Selected Users.

   3. Click OK. The rules criteria is now set for the client. When the rule executes, all the users meeting the rules criteria and not part of the omitted users list, are automatically added to the client team. 

      EXAMPLE:

      For example, you can set the rule by entering the desired value in the 'Document Activity - Activity Exceeds' field, say '1000', and selecting the period of access in the 'Activity in the Past' field, say 'One month'. Now, add users who are to be omitted.

      This implies that all those users who have accessed at least a 1000 documents related to the client over the past one month, barring those who meet this criteria but have been omitted, are added to the client team when the rule executes.

      TIP:

      The values you enter for Time Posted Exceeds and Activity Exceeds for this type of 'additive' self-maintaining rule are used as defaults for Billing Activity and Import Activity filters in the User Activity > Custom filter of Staffing > Add Members. The Add Members list can be viewed to quickly assess how the rule will be applied when it executes. If the filter is altered and then Restored, it restores to the corresponding values of the self-maintaining rule.

5. Automatically Remove Users
   
   1. Set the rules as follows:
      

      1. Enter a value for one, or both, of Time Posted Exceeds (hours and minutes) and Activity Exceeds (number), under Billing Activity or Document Activity, respectively.

         NOTE:

         Users who have been added to staffing within the (longest) period specified by the rule(s) are not removed. This is to prevent the removal of new team members (for example, those added in the days prior to the rule being created, or recently re-added users).

      2. In the Past period, which you can select from the dropdown menu. The Fixed Date option enables you to specify a date in the past from which to define the beginning of the rule period.

      • All the users that meet the criteria set in the rules are removed from the client team, when the rule executes.

      • If you want to omit certain users from being removed from the client through self-maintaining rules, click Omit Users. The Omit Users dialog box appears.

        NOTE:

        You have the option to filter the displayed user list based on name, user type, job title, and/or practice area.

   2. Select the check boxes in the user rows who you want to add to the omit user list. To select all available users, select the uppermost check box on the left, or, if a user has already been selected, you can also select Select All n Items, where n represents the number of items available for selection. Click OK. The users are added to the list and are displayed in the Automatically Remove Users tab of Self-Maintaining Rules dialog box under the Omitted Users section. These users are not removed from the client team even if they meet the rules criteria. 

      NOTE:

      Click Omit Users to add more users to the omitted users list.

      To remove a user from the omitted list, select the check box in the user row. Click Remove Selected Users.

   3. Click OK. The rules criteria are now set for the client. When the rule executes, all the users meeting the rules criteria and not part of the omitted users list, and not added to the team within the period(s) specified by the rules, are automatically removed from the client team. 

      EXAMPLE:

      For example, you can set the rule by selecting the period of no access in the 'Document Activity - Performed no activity in the past' field, say 'One month'.

      (For this example, we will assume that the type of document activity selected to be taken into account by the organization is: creation of a new document.)

      Now, add users who are to be omitted.

      This implies that all those users who have not created any documents for the client over the past one month, barring those who meet this criterion but have been omitted, and those who were added to the client staffing less than one month ago, are removed from the client team when the rule executes.