The following interfaces are certainly compatible with timeSensor accounting:
Since lawyers deal with particularly sensitive data, the security of the timeSensor LEGAL database is an especially serious matter. The article below provides information on how to ensure the safe operation of the database.
This FAQ article is limited to information with regard to the security settings concerning the 4D database itself. Regardless of these settings, you must also ensure the security of your infrastructure. For example, the network must be protected by a firewall and the workstations must be updated with the latest software. We highly recommend that the security of your infrastructure is periodically checked by an independent expert!
In multi-user mode, the client application communicates permanently with the 4D database. In order to prevent data traffic between the client and the 4D Server from being intercepted, you should encrypt the communication between the client and the 4D Server. To do this, please proceed as follows:
In order to enable the clients on the individual workstations to log on with SSL encryption in future, you must now change the connection type on the workstations. (You will only need to do this once.) Please proceed as follows:
Note for administrators: if you manage a larger number of workstations, you can also roll out a preconfigured client via your deployment tool. The client application folder has a sub-folder called "Database", in which you will find the file "EnginedServer.4Dlink". The exact path is as follows:
This XML file should be edited as shown in the example below. Here it is also important to place a circumflex before the database name (i.e. ^timeSensor).
User passwords have no longer been stored in the database since tSL 7.0/Build 2139, so even the Administrator can no longer read user passwords, since only a hash code is stored in the database. However, this improvement in security is only effective if all users choose secure passwords. With this in mind, please ensure that your users choose passwords that are sufficiently strong.
If an incorrect password is entered three times successively in a user account, the password dialogue closes and the corresponding user receives a ticket informing him/her of the unsuccessful access attempt.
Administrators can also choose to be informed about such incidents by activating the "Send tickets for security-relevant messages" checkbox in their user account. We recommend that you make use of this option and define a process that takes effect when such incidents occur in your law practice. After any unsuccessful access attempt, it should at least be clarified whether the user had forgotten his/her password or whether it was in fact an attempt by a third party to access the account.
When logging on to the database, the user first encounters the timeSensor LEGAL login dialogue box. timeSensor LEGAL offers several security levels for this dialogue box that can be selected in the Settings section under "Admin"/"Special". To adjust the security for this dialogue box, click the Security tab and set the Login Dialogue slider to the desired level:
timeSensor LEGAL has available (beginning with the Smart Edition) an interface to ecall which can be used to send faxes or SMS messages directly from timeSensor LEGAL. Thus you can, for example, prepare ready-to-go fax templates complete with scanned-in signature and fax them with a press of a button. timeSensor LEGAL will transmit the fax to ecall where it will get delivered from your account. The fax sent in this way cannot be distinguished from a “real” fax.
Afterwards, ecall will return a fax invoice which is automatically archived with the brief. A ticket from timeSensor LEGAL notifies the sender if the fax was delivered (or if need be, about an existing problem). A similar thing happens with SMS messages.
To carry out the following steps, you need to have administrative rights for timeSensor LEGAL.
Now select your fax template, click on the small arrow in the “draft” button and select the “Fax” delivery method. The fax template you prepared will appear. Now you can send out the template from
timeSensor LEGAL directly.
Different tasks in timeSensor LEGAL need to access internet resources to work properly. Please make sure that the following ports are open on your firewall. Access is always initiated by timeSensor LEGAL.
Port: 8080
This port is used to query the license server via HTTP so that new updates are detected and displayed.
Ports: 20, 21
These ports are used for downloading updates via FTP. Please note that large update packages of up to 1 GB can be downloaded and they must not be blocked by the firewall.
The email interface must be able to communicate with the mail server. Therefore we recommend leaving the usual email ports open for POP3 and SMTP.
Ports: 19812, 19813, 19814
These ports provide external access to database, SQL and SOAP servers. For security reasons we recommend, when necessary, ensuring external access via VPN connections, because then these ports don’t have to be opened.
According to RFC 5322, an email may only contain 7-bit ASCII characters. There are only 128 characters available, which today may be limiting. Current email clients use a different code for characters which do not appear in the 7-bit list, such as "ü". Codes vary and may lead to problems if the sender and recipients use different codes. You will find a detailed description of the problem here (in German).
Problems may arise in particular when senders use a type of code that recipients may not decode. Companies such as Microsoft and Apple work hard to optimize their email clients and make sure that they can decode as many codes as possible.
The 4D database is not a dedicated email client and does not do well with all the various codes. Emails may thus not always be decoded properly and you may sometimes not see all special characters.
While you cannot control which codes senders use, you have control over the code that you wish to use. Make sure that it is compatible with the 4D database.
Make sure that your email client uses the right format:
You will find a detailed description of how to setup the email interface in timeSensor LEGAL in the FAQ entry B7. The following entry covers the technical setup of the interface.
You will need to setup a separate, dedicated, email inbox ("email account") in order for timeSensor LEGAL to send and receive emails. The email account can be setup on the law firm's server or somewhere else. For privacy reasons, we do not recommend the use of Gmail accounts. For the purpose of this FAQ, we will show how to setup a GMX account.
You may not use the dedicated account for any other purpose than that of timeSensor LEGAL. Choose a name that is not too easy to remember, such as:
GMX lets you setup an inbox for free. According to this provider, emails and data are processed and stored exclusively on machines located in Germany, according to German privacy law. To begin, open the newly created account on gmx.de or gmx.ch:
Once you have created the inbox, you will need to login using your web browser and specify, under "E-Mail" and "Einstellungen", that third party software may send and receive emails:
You will need administrator rights to setup the email interface in timeSensor LEGAL. Go to "Settings", "Parameters", "General", and then "Communication". Enter all the details of your timeSensor email account:
Then, click on "Advanced Settings":
Once this is done, close the window "Parameters" to save your new account. If you are using a multi-user interface, you will need to logout and restart the database server to save the new parameters.
Use the button "Send Test Email" to check your new settings. If the system could send a message, you will receive a confirmation message. Then, open the spooler using the icon at the bottom left of the area sidebar. Click on "Retrieve" and after a few seconds, you should see the confirmation to the test email in the inbox.
The larger your firm, the more sensitive you will be to service interruptions due to data backup, maintenance, and failure (e.g., hardware crashes). With a large firm and a big dataset, potential service interruptions can become quite long. A mirror server is an good solution to solve this problem.
A mirror server is a second machine on the same network as the production server. The purpose of this machine is to provide full redundancy. It can be switched to very rapidly in the case the production server fails. The mirror server will function as the new production server in the case of a hardware failure. The former production server will then be fixed, and after it is repaired it will become the new mirror server.
The mirror server is integrated as the second server on your network. Then a copy of the database is transferred from the production server to the mirror server. The mirror server is started in the special “mirror server” mode.
The production server will now send all changes (all “transactions”) to the mirror server's database periodically (for example, every 10 minutes). The mirror server integrates these transactions into its database, and after a short time delay it will reflect the current data state of the production server.
If the production server fails, the administrator can with a few clicks turn the mirror server into the new production server. In just a few minutes all users will be able to log in and get back to working with the database. The data loss is minimal.
By comparison, it can take between several hours and a few days to repair a faulty server (repair/replacement of the server machine, restoration of data from backup, configuration, etc.). The data loss in this case is up to one day (assuming the restoration of data from the previous night's backup).
One trade-off for the higher security that your mirror server provides is the fact that your timeSensor LEGAL system is somewhat more complex. The “plug & play” philosophy, such as the ability to automatically update software, is not compatible with the use of a mirror server. Your system must be professionally managed with correspondingly higher operating costs. This is the typical trade-off between security and convenience/cost. Therefore, we recommend the use of a mirror server only if your firm employs at least approximately 20 employees.
While the mirror server functions as a “hot standby” server and is always ready for use, offsite backup ensures the security of your data in case of a fire in or burglary of your office. Despite running a mirror server, you must make sure that the data stored by the mirror server is also backed up in an extra copy, e.g. on a secure cloud storage, disks, tapes, etc. The important consideration is that the backup is stored offsite. The backup should be created from the mirror server (and not from the production server) so that the backup process does not interfere with the operation of the production database.
PDF display under Windows uses PDF Viewer. This plug-in is not compatible with Adobe Reader 11.0.7. Adobe has made a lot of changes in this version which affect the Active X controls feature.
Solution: Update to Adobe Reader v. 11.0.9.
There are several tasks that timeSensor LEGAL runs in the background with notice. Program administrators can control and manage those background tasks.
Go to "Settings", then select "Background Tasks" from the "Admin" menu. This will open the background task window.
This task does
In order for the task "Finances" to run properly, no database records may be blocked by users. In a single workstation environment, this means that you have to close the window "Dossier" and "Time Sheet". In a multi-user environment, no user may be logged in.
Recommendation: Have the task run between 01:00 and 02:00, when no one is logged in. A single execution of the task is enough. In a single workspace environment, you can run the task continuously every 5 minutes from 00:00 and 23:59.
The task "Address Book" synchronizes your local Apple Contacts. This task can only be set up locally on a Mac.
You should select which addresses from timeSensor LEGAL should be synchronized with your Apple Contacts. Select the contacts to be synchronized by clicking on the contact type or category.
The task "Deadlines" exports deadlines to your calendar using the iCal format. You only need this task if you're publishing your deadlines and want to subscribe on your iPhone or other mobile devices.
If you've set up an email interface, the "Spooler" task will make sure that timeSensor LEGAL automatically and regularly connects to your inbox. It will download and process new emails from there. The task can be set up on the server or on a separate computer. It is recommended that you run the email interface on a separate mac, in order to increase stability and performance. Should the interface crash, it is easy to restart it without affecting the database.
The task "Exchange rate" must be activated if you want timeSensor to download the newest exchange rates from the European Central Bank or the Swiss Central Bank. This is only necessary if you're using foreign currencies.
You need a perfect connection to your server to work with the database. Some errors may interfere with the connection between the 4D client and the 4D server:
Because the 4D client is constantly communicating with the 4D server, it is more sensitive to network issues than your web browser or your email client. It is possible that existing problems will only appear once you've started using the database. Make sure that:
The most frequent network issues for our clients were network cables and defective switches.
The following video shows you how to spot those network issues using the PING command:
