Tag Archives: email second round

Lesson #154

Personal – Change Password function

Like most online services, to log into RB9 Standard or RB9 Lite you need a login name and password. You might not be able to change your login name yourself (it depends on your company’s RB9 permissions) but you can change your password at any time using this function. You can also change your password at log-in if you forgot it so you are not locked out of the system.

We recommend using strong passwords for better security, meaning your password should:

• Be at least eight characters long.
• Contain characters from each of: upper-case letters, lower-case letters, numerals, and symbols.
• Not contain your name, login name, or birthday.
• Not contain 3 or more characters in sequence (e.g., 123 or abc).

It is good business practice to change your initial password to a strong password that only you know and also change it periodically. You can change your password as often as you like — and your system administrator might require you to reset it periodically (although they might allow you to reset it to your current password). When you change your password, no one else will know it — nor can it be retrieved from the system.

Don’t know your password? Use Forgot Password

If you forget your password, you can ask your system administrator to issue a new one for you — or you can save time and generate a new one yourself by using the Forgot Password function on the log-in screen.

If your log-in name is in the system, RB9 will send you an email with a link for resetting your password. This also works if you weren’t given a password: If you are in the system, RB9 will allow you to use the Forget Password function to set a password so you can start using RB9 without waiting for an administrator.

When you use Forgot Password, it will require you to not only submit a new password but also prove you are a person and not a bot by entering text in a Captcha field.

Using Forgot Password is a good way to avoid account lock-outs when you don’t remember your password. If you attempt to log into RB9 with an incorrect password too many times, it will lock you out of the system. And the only way to unlock your account is to contact an administrator. Instead of going through this hassle, use Forgot Password to set a new password before you get locked out of your RB9 account.

Changing your login name

If your login name is not your email address, you can ask your system administrator to change your assigned login name if you want a different one. RB9 will not allow you to choose a login name that is already in the system, but otherwise if the system is not using your email address for your login name you can have that customized that too. RB9 automatically displays the last logged-in username on the Login screen so you will only have to enter your password in the future after entering your new login name.

TL;DR: If you forgot your password or never had one, use Forgot Password on the login screen. Otherwise use this function to change your password at any time for better security and/or to a password you prefer.

Lesson #153

Personal – Notifications and Messages function

Receive automatic notifications from the system, and send and receive messages from other RB users using the same system in a format similar to an email system. 

In Notifications and Messages you can:

• Receive automatic notices and alerts from the system.
• Exchange messages with others within your RB system.
• Send messages to pre-determined groups of RB users.
• Delete old/unneeded messages to manage your message list.

Notifications and Messages works like email but is not an email system — you can only exchange messages with other RB users in your company.

Access messages

When a message arrives for you, RB displays an alert dialog box in the notification area of your browser — which will take you directly to the Notifications and Messages function. You can also check messages anytime by selecting the function in your personal menu.

The default view in the Notifications and Messages window is your Inbox with messages listed from most recently received first.

• Priority messages are marked with a red flag. RB automatically flags rush Turn In notifications and also displays their Subject line in red.
• Unread messages are marked so you can see at a glance which messages you haven’t read yet. And the total number of unread messages are displayed onscreen too.
• Listings include the sender’s name, the subject line, and date and time sent.
• Reminder messages have the followup date and time listed so you can see at a glance which messages are reminders.

From this main screen you can access any message listed. You can also send a new message to any RB user or message group in your company. And you can view messages you have sent and messages you have moved to the trash but not removed from the system yet.

Reading & acting on messages

When you select a message from the list to read, you can click on any hyperlinks in the message — such as a job number or entity name — to view more information/act on it. You can also reply to the message or forward it to other RB users, either individually or to an entire message group at once.

When you reply to a message, RB automatically fills in the recipient. You can change the recipient and/or add other RB users and groups from the attached list. You can also add carbon-copy (Cc) and blind carbon-copy (Bcc) recipients from the same list.

Like most email systems the  subject line defaults to Re: [subject] of the original message in replies and Fw: [subject] of the original message in forwarded messages, and is editable. Also the message defaults to include the original message.You can edit and format the information as you would an email.

If you want to compose a message now but send at a later time, you can schedule a delivery date and time. You can flag messages so your recipient sees in their Notifications and Messages listing which messages are important before reading them. You can also request a receipt to have the recipient automatically acknowledge receiving your message.

When you send a message, your message is saved to your Sent Message directory where it is stored for a set amount of days determined in System Preferences.

If you do not need to save a message after viewing it, you can delete it. You can also select multiple messages in your Notifications and Messages inbox to delete at the same time. Deleted messages are moved to your Trash directory where they are stored for the same set amount of days as your sent messages.

TL;DR: Receive reminders and other messages from the system and other RB users. Act on messages by clicking hyperlinks within messages. Send messages to other users in your company.

RB concepts in this lesson

Entity: Individual, business, place, or discrete part of your company — such as revenue centers or branch offices. More >

Groups: Categories of RB users that define who can access which functions in RB, what they can do within accessible functions, and what kinds of notifications and messages group members receive.

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB. Contacts and resources are different entities — not users in RB — and access RB9 through RB Connect or RB Connect Mobile.

Lesson #159

Calendar – Jobs (Weekly View) function

Weekly View displays a week’s worth of jobs at once in a week-by-week format. Similar to the Monthly View calendar, Weekly View is a visual calendar format displaying a week at a time.

Weekly View defaults to all jobs for the current week — grouped by day (including Saturday and Sunday) so you can quickly access the week ahead. Each day’s header includes:

• Date
• Day of the week
• Total number of jobs scheduled and canceled for that day

Each day’s list of jobs scheduled/canceled appears in chronological order by start time. In addition to the start time each listing shows the job number and a third option of your choice — ordering firm, case, or witness. Listings are color coded based on their job status.

Rolling over any entry pops up details about the job. Clicking an entry opens the job’s detail window.You can page back and forth through weeks — or jump to a particular week by entering a date.

If the row of 3 elements in a job listing is longer than the width of its day’s space, it will be cut off (there is no word wrapping) — but details are easily visible if the user rolls over the listing. If there are more jobs scheduled for a day than fit vertically, the day’s space will include a scroll bar so you can access the jobs that are not visible at first. If the whole week is not visible, you can use your screen’s scroll bars to view hidden sections.

You can restrict the listings to jobs for:

• A single ordering firm
• An ordering contact
• A scheduling contact
• One or more job statuses
• One or more job types
• One or more of your business units
• One of your sales reps
• A case
• One or more case types
• A parent firm
• A job location
• A job location city
• One or more job location states

From the calendar you can add a new job, or view/update/turn in/cancel/reschedule existing jobs.

Weekly View customization

Each Weekly View job listing shows its start time and job number. Those are fixed data and cannot be changed but you can select the third type of information that appears in job listings to identify jobs in System Preferences.

You can also set the height of the weekday boxes in rows from 5 to 15. Each row lists one job. The weekly calendar will display each weekday with enough space vertically for the number of rows you set (Saturday and Sunday will be half the height set). If there are more jobs scheduled for a day than the maximum you set, the day’s space will include a scroll bar.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: Use Weekly View to see a week’s worth of jobs at a time with brief descriptors of the jobs. 

RB concepts in this lesson

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

Case Type: Categories of cases by work type, e.g., Civil or Personal Injury.

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources, such as realtime, videoconferencing, or read & sign. More >

Job Status: Stage the job is in, e.g., New or Cancelled.

Job Type: Category of jobs requested by clients, such as Deposition or Real-Time.

Ordering Firm: Firm that is responsible for a job with your company.

Ordering Contact: Contact at the firm that is responsible for a job with your company.

Scheduled By: Contact who initiates a jobs with your company. Can be different from the Ordering Contact.

Lesson #144

Connect – Approve Time-Off function

If you allow it, resources can submit time-off requests through RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile (RBCM). Requests can be for any time frame — from a few hours for a doctor’s appointment, to a personal day, a long vacation, or a semester of classes that repeat at a specific time for a set period. Resources can provide all the details needed for you to make a decision in their requests. Use the Approve Time-Off function to manage time-off requests made online.

Give resources access to the Availability function in RB Connect; then set preferences for:

• How soon in advance resources must make their requests.
• What your email responses to requests say.
• Who on your staff will be alerted when a time-off request comes in. The staff you list here can use this function whenever they are alerted to a request or as fits their work process to view and approve or deny time-off requests received online.

Manage online time-off requests

The default view is all outstanding requests, so you can quickly get to work resolving time-off requests. You can restrict the results to see requests pending from a single resource, and/or requests for a specific time period. You can also view requests with other statuses: Approved, Cancelled (by resource), and/or Denied.

The results list all requests that fit your search criteria. Each listing includes:

• Resource’s name
• Type of request
• Request’s current status
• Date(s) and times the resource is requesting
• Resource’s reason for the request and any further explanation
• When the request was made
• Who last acted on the request and at what time

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB9 will revert back to the default order). Export the results as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, share, print, or use in other applications.

To grant a resource’s request, you only have to click the resource’s hyperlinked name, then click Approve. If there is a schedule conflict —you tried to approve a resource’s time-off request for a time when the resource has already been assigned a task — a warning window appears and RB9 does not allow you to approve the request. If no warning appears the request is approved, RB9 updates the request’s status, and notifies the resource via email and in their RB Connect Availability window’s Time-Off panel.

If you select Deny instead — to turn down the resource’s request —RB9 requires you to enter a comment/explanation before you can complete the denial. Then RB9 updates the request’s status and notifies the resource via email and in RB Connect.

The Approve Time-Off function is limited to viewing, approving, and denying time-off requests made through RB Connect/RBCM only. If you need to make any changes to a time-off schedule or want to manage/monitor all time-off requests, use Resource Availability. You can view any resource’s schedule and planned time off, and change their schedule — adding or reducing hours of availability and time off.

If you have RB Connect and allow resources to use it to request time off, Approve Time-Off is a faster way to approve/deny requests than Resource Availability because the resource has already entered all of the request details — plus RB9 will notify you as soon as a request is made.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function and requires RB Connect. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: When resources request time off through RB Connect or RB Connect Mobile, approve or deny their requests and have RB9 automatically notify them of their status through email and RB Connect/RBCM.

RB concepts in this lesson

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >

RB Connect Mobile: Clients and resources can access your RB Connect on their smartphones and tablets in an interface optimized for mobile devices. More >

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service.

Lesson #143

Connect – Create Full-Text Search function

If you add the Full-Text Search plug-in to your RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile, your clients can search for specific text in their repositories and Transcript Packages, and get results in seconds. When they locate the right file in their repository, they can download it. When they find Transcript Packages that include the text, they can go directly to the first instance of the text in a transcript and click through to all subsequent instances.

Before your clients can use Full-Text Search in their RB Connect repositories, you must index the files. Use the Create Full-Text Search function to index files that contacts can search for specific words in their repositories. NOTE: The Full-Text Search plug-in gives the same functionality to Transcript Packages automatically — no need to set up an index first in your Transcript Packages.

You can index files from any or all client-related repositories — case, job, invoice, or witness). You can index most text-based files, with the exception of some proprietary file formats. Full-text indexes you create automatically upload to your repository.

Indexing strategy

You choose which files to index. We do not recommend indexing all files because the monthly charge for the Full-Text Search plug-in is based on the storage space used by the indexes. You can also delete old indexes in this function to manage your storage space usage.

Selecting files to index

To find files to index you can leave the defaults of all repositories, all file types, and all cases. Then enter a date/date range of when the files were uploaded to search. Or refine your search results by selecting:

• A single repository
• A single case
• One or more file types
• A file name or partial name
• A job or invoice number
• A different type of date range — either the job date or invoice date associated with the file(s)

Files that fit your search criteria will appear in the results along with:

• Repository they are stored in
• File type
• File size
• What type of user can access the file (files must have Contact access for your clients to see them)
• Whether they have been published to RB Connect (files must be published for your clients to access them),
• When they were uploaded and who uploaded them
• Whether they have already been indexed

You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order). Export the results as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Select the files in the results that you want to be text-searchable and create the index. If there are any problems, RB9 will stop the process and direct you to fix them. For example, if you selected an unpublished file, it will direct you to publish the file before attempting to index it. Or if a file contains no text to index, it will alert you so you can remove it from your indexing selections.

Managing indexes & files

You can update and publish files without leaving this function. Click a file’s hyperlinked file name to:

• View its details
• Change its File Type
• Change its Access Type to include contacts
• Publish or un-publish it
• Make notes about the file
• Download the file
• View who has previously downloaded the file and when
• Delete the file from your central repository

After indexing files a checkmark appears in each indexed file’s Full-Text Search column in the Create Full-Text Search results screen. When you no longer need a file indexed — for example a case was closed or a client is no longer active — you can de-index it to remove its Full-Text Search mark from the results screen and save on storage space.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: Index client repository files so they can quickly search their repositories by content in the Full-Text Search plug-in.

RB concepts in this lesson

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with — such as attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, claim adjusters, and court clerks.

Full-Text Search: Clients can search for specific text in their RB Connect repositories and Transcript Packages, and get results in seconds with this plug-in. When they locate the right file in their repository they can download it. Requires RB Connect. More >

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >

RB Connect Mobile: Clients and resources can access your RB Connect on their smartphones and tablets in an interface optimized for mobile devices.  More >

Transcript Package: Bundle containing interactive transcripts with all of their related files to be viewed in a browser through RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile. More >

Lesson #142

Connect – Transcript Packages function

Bundle transcripts with hyperlinked exhibits, video, PDF transcripts, and other related files, so your clients can view, highlight, and comment on transcripts and bundled files in browsers and on mobile devices. Your clients can also export different versions of the transcript and download the associated files.

RB9’s Transcript Packages are interactive transcripts clients can view in RB Connect in web browsers and RB Connect Mobile (RBCM) on mobile devices. Users can:

• Download/view attached files
• View streaming video
• Comment on transcripts and exhibits
• Highlight text
• Export transcripts in a variety of formats — including their highlights and comments

The Transcript Packages function is included free in RB9, but requires RB Connect for your clients to use it. Transcript Packages are readable in RB Connect on desktop computers and laptops. If you add RBCM to your system, your clients can easily work with their Transcript Packages in an environment designed for the smaller screens of iPhones or other mobile devices — no pinching and zooming to read and interact with their transcripts.

Producing interactive transcripts vs. PDF transcripts

If you already provide RB-PDF Transcripts to your clients, your production staff will find the process of creating Transcript Packages familiar yet faster. For example Transcript Packages — like RB-PDF Transcripts — are created using the original ASCII file. And the linking process is exactly the same as exhibit linking in RB9’s PDF Transcript Creator.

Where it saves staff time is that they do not have to customize the appearance of transcripts. If your clients want their transcripts to look a certain way, they choose customization options when exporting files from Transcript Packages in a browser or on their mobile devices.

Like RB-PDF Transcripts your production staff can preview Transcript Packages before releasing them. Then they notify clients automatically via email when their packages are available.

Unlike PDF transcripts, there is no physical file to deliver and your clients do not need a third-party application like Adobe Acrobat to read and work with their transcripts. Your staff cannot apply digital signatures or transcript stamps to Transcript Packages — but they do offer end users export options for:

• PDF
• Condensed PDF
• Amicus-formatted ASCII
• Word lists
• Word indexes
• Highlights
• Notes

Assembling transcript packages

You can assemble a Transcript Package after uploading an ASCII transcript to a witness repository in RB9 and publishing it to RB Connect. (If you don’t want to make the ASCII file available to your client before you create the Transcript Package, you can wait to publish the ASCII until you have created the package and are ready to notify the client.)

To create a Transcript Package use the search criteria in the Transcript Package function to find the right ASCII file. You can search by one or more of the following criteria:

• Job number
• Job date or date range
• Witness name
• One/some/all of your business units

In the returned results, files are listed by job number, job date, witness name, file name, case, and date the ASCII file was uploaded. You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB9 will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Any Transcript Packages that were already created and fit your search criteria are also listed along with who created them and when. You can easily tell which is which because ASCII files are indicated by a radio button. Finished Transcript Packages do not have a button — instead the file name is hyperlinked to the package so you can manage the attached files, preview the package, and send the client a notice that the package is ready and waiting on their RB Connect.

When you create a Transcript Package any exhibits, video, and other files that were uploaded to the related job’s witness repository are available to bundle with the interactive transcript. You choose which ones to include — and like the returned results list — you can export any of these sub-lists as Excel spreadsheets or CSV (comma-separated values) files to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

When you create a package that includes exhibits you can have RB9 automatically add hyperlinks to the exhibits in the transcript the same way you link exhibits in RB-PDF Transcripts.

After generating the package you can preview it to check for errors and missing attachments and that any attached video streams correctly before sending an email notification to alert the client. The Transcript Package preview screen is the same as the Transcript Packages screen in RB Connect/RBCM (minus the ability to make or export highlights and comments), so you can be confident about sharing the final product.

Sharing transcript packages

Before sharing Transcript Packages with clients, customize your Connect preferences:

• Turn on Transcript Packages accessibility so your clients can see uploaded Transcript Packages.
• Select one of your RB-PDF Transcript templates as the default for your clients’ export specifications. Your clients cannot select a different template but they can change some of the specs — including margins, borders, font, Q&A styling, timestamp location, and PDF format (regular PDF or one of the more restrictive PDF/A formats for archiving purposes), when exporting a transcript.
• Customize the contents and appearance of the email notifying clients that a package is available. You can edit the default contents and style the appearance of the body of the email with text formatting, images, color, hyperlinks, and tables.
• Insert contextual data fields into the email subject and body so RB9 will automatically insert relevant data into Transcript Package notification emails. You can have RB9 include the file name, case name and number, job date and number, and witness in the subject and body of emails — plus you can have the direct URL for the Transcript Package inserted into the email body so your clients only have to click the link to go directly to their package instead of having to search for it in their RB Connect.

If you set the ASCII file to publish before creating the Transcript Package the package will be automatically available on RB Connect for the client to work with as soon as you create it. If you didn’t set the ASCII to publish beforehand RB9 will remind you when you attempt to send the notification email alerting the client to its availability on their RB Connect. Once you publish the ASCII file RB9 will publish the Transcript Package as well and you can alert the client.

When you send the notification email RB9 records the email sent in the Email Log function in Tools so you can refer back to it later.

Managing transcript packages

Other things you can do in the Transcript Packages function:

• Download the original ASCII file of any package.
• Search for text in a transcript.
• Skip directly to any page of a transcript.
• Export an AMICUS version of a transcript.
• Export PDF versions of the full-size transcript, condensed transcript, word index, or word list.
• Delete any Transcript Package you no longer need.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: Create interactive transcripts clients can work with in RB Connect in web browsers and RB Connect Mobile on mobile devices. Bundle related exhibits, videos, and other files with the transcripts, then automatically upload the packages and notify clients. 

RB concepts in this lesson

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources — including interactive transcripts, downloadable invoices and e-commerce for clients, and online turn-in, one-touch job acknowledgements, and downloadable pay statements for resources. RB Connect is an optional plug-in to RB9. More >

RB Connect Mobile: Clients and resources can access your RB Connect on their smartphones and tablets in an interface optimized for mobile devices. RB Connect Mobile is an optional plug-in to RB Connect. More >

RB-PDF Transcript: PDF version of a transcript with built-in transcript-specific features like hyperlinked exhibits, word lists/indexes, errata sheets, and enhanced headers/footers containing case and depo information from your RB9 database. It can be branded and customized extensively to match client requirements — and can include digital signatures, condensed transcripts, security restrictions, stamps, and archival formats for the courts. More >

Transcript Package: Bundle containing interactive transcripts with all of their related files (exhibits, videos, RB-PDF transcripts, etc.) to be viewed in a browser through RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile. More >

Lesson #140

Connect – Publish COD Invoices function

If you allow clients to make payments via RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile (RBCM), your COD clients can also use them to pay invoices before downloading transcripts online and on smartphones and other mobile devices.

CODs are handled differently

COD (Cash on Delivery) clients are handled differently from other clients. Traditionally COD invoices require the client to pay the invoice when presented — typically along with the items listed on the invoice. Often agencies have difficulty getting paid by COD clients because they are not regular clients. By offering COD clients the option to pay online or via mobile you guarantee you get paid before they can access the transcript — and they can get their transcripts as soon as the transcripts are ready.

Because RB does not regard COD invoices as sales they are not posted. (CODs are handled differently than sales to avoid overstating revenue and to minimize the number of voids that would occur to clear uncollectible CODs from your accounts receivable.) Since COD invoices are not posted, as a default they do not appear in RB Connect/RBCM. Use the Publish COD Invoices function to allow clients to pay for and download transcripts that were billed COD.

Manually publish CODs online

To give clients the ability to pay for COD invoices online you manually publish them to RB Connect in the Publish COD Invoices function. (When you publish an invoice to RB Connect it will also appear in the client’s RBCM if you offer that service.) The default view in Publish COD Invoices shows all outstanding COD invoices. (Invoices are designated as COD in Turn In.) For any invoice listed you can see at a glance:

• Invoice date and amount
• If it has already been published to RB Connect
• When the invoice was sent to the client
• Bill To and Sold To clients
• Job number and date
• Case name
• Assigned business unit

You can narrow the list to invoices generated within a range of dates, a single invoice number, job number, case, Bill To firm, and/or one or more of your business units. You can sort the list by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

From the list you can choose which invoices to publish to RB Connect. You can also select invoices that have already been published and unpublish them so that they no longer appear in clients’ RB Connect/RBCM.

Set up for online payment first

Before your clients can pay invoices online in RB9 you must set up a business/merchant account with PayPal or one of the other accepted online payment processing services, then enter your credentials in Connect Preferences.

The default setting for RB Connect is no online payments. If you want to offer online payment of invoices including COD invoices through RB Connect, you must first set up an account with one of these services:

• PayPal
• Authorize.net
• First Data (Payeezy)
• Square
• Stripe

PayPal is easy to set up and integrate with RB9 and is a good choice if your clients have their own PayPal accounts. The other options are payment gateways — their benefit is that your clients do not have to have accounts with them to make payments through them.

In addition to setting up a merchant account and entering your credentials into RB9 you must choose which users are alerted in RB9 when a contact makes a payment online. You can also customize the email subject and message for payment receipt notices to clients.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: Because CODs are handled differently from sales, you must manually publish COD invoices to RB Connect so COD clients can pay online, then immediately download their transcripts.

RB concepts in this lesson

Bill To Contact: The contact responsible for paying the invoice for a job.

Bill To Firm: The firm responsible for paying the invoice for a job.

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >

RB Connect Mobile: Clients and resources can access your RB Connect on their smartphones and tablets in an interface optimized for mobile devices. More >

Sold To Contact: Contact that ordered the services on the invoice.

Sold To Firm: Firm that ordered the services on the invoice.

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB.

Lesson #139

Connect – Transcript Ordered function

If you allow your clients to order transcripts through RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile (RBCM), the Transcript Ordered function is where you confirm, process, and monitor the progress of those back orders.

Clients can request transcripts on previously billed jobs in RB Connect/RBCM’s Order Transcript function. You confirm the back orders and process them through RB9. Clients can track confirmed requests in RB Connect/RBCM. And you can monitor the current status and view order details in the Transcript Ordered function.

Customize the function

Before using the Transcript Ordered function designate which staff members will be alerted when a back order request is received.

You can customize the transcript order request form with your own fields for clients to use to provide instructions — such as turnaround time, delivery options, and other directions that will minimize the need for any client back-and-forth while fulfilling back orders.

You can update your choices and customizations at any time.

View new back order requests

When someone back orders a transcript through RB Connect/RBCM, RB9 sends a pop-up message to the screen of all RB9 users you designated during setup. Alerted users can click through the message directly to the order in the Transcript Ordered function to confirm the order and start the production process.

If you prefer to batch process orders — or just want to check that you haven’t overlooked anything — you can use the Transcript Ordered function’s default view to see all unconfirmed transcript requests sent by clients through RB Connect/RBCM.

The default lists shows each request’s:

• Order date and time
• Contact ordering the transcript and their firm
• Witness
• Case
• Job number
• Job date

You can sort the list by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB9 will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

You can view details about any requested transcript’s associated job and previous invoice, along with client instructions for the back order. You confirm the back order job in this function by changing the job’s status to back order and generating a report that provides your staff with the information they need to process the order. You can export the report in a variety of formats, such as PDF or Excel, or print it to distribute to your staff.

Process & monitor back orders

Processing the order involves creating a task in the job for the transcript and assigning it to a resource, then notifying them about the assignment. The task window lists previous resources associated with the case to help you select the appropriate resource. As the order is produced and shipped you update its status in the job.

On the client side in RB Connect after they submitted a request, the job’s Request Order option disappears so they cannot accidentally back order more than one transcript for the job. They can review the details of their transcript order and monitor its progress.

You can also monitor a back order’s current status and view details using the Transcript Ordered function. You can search active back orders using any combination of:

• A particular date range
• A single order
• A single job
• A firm
• One or more of your business units

In addition to the information listed above for unconfirmed requests, the results include who on your staff confirmed each request and when. From the results returned you can view any transcript’s current status and order details.

NOTE: This is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

TL;DR: Confirm, process, and monitor transcript back orders clients make through RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile.

RB concepts in this lesson

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately.

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with, such as attorneys.

Firm: Company you do business with.

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources. More >

RB Connect Mobile: Clients and resources can access your RB Connect on their smartphones and tablets in an interface optimized for mobile devices. More >

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters.

Task: Service requested with a job, such as reporting, interpreting, or video, that require a separate resource (person, company, thing) to accomplish. Work performed in-house (such as creating condensed transcripts or shipping out finished products) is usually not considered a task in RB. More >

Lesson #136

Setup – System Preferences function

Entities System Preferences

Save time when entering new contacts, firms, and resources by specifying some defaults.

Autofill contact & resource names

If you enable Autofill for Contact and/or Resource names, RB will autofill the Full Name field when individual name fields (First Name, Mi., Last Name, Salutation) are entered in individual contact/resource listings. You choose which name fields automatically fill in and in which order.

Invoice options for firms

Default settings for new firms cover invoice options.

If you add late charges (one-time fee added to invoice balance after a certain number of days) and/or finance charges (monthly % of outstanding balance) to your invoices, you can set default percentages including up to 3 decimal placements. Similarly if you need to bill for state sales tax, you can include your sales tax rate as a percentage including up to 3 decimal placements.

You can specify how many days old an invoice has to be when you haven’t received payment yet before RB counts it as being past due and notifies you to start collection efforts.

You can also have RB detail services on invoices as the default for new firm entries.

You can change defaults for individual firms in their Firm listing.

Payment terms for resources

Default settings for new resources cover work schedules and payment terms for originals and copies.

The work schedule set here will appear as the default work schedule in individual resource listings.

RB will wait the number of days set here to release outstanding payables to resources. The number of days can range from 0 (zero) to 9999.

A term of 0 (zero) means you pay on bill-out: There is no waiting to pay resources. As long the invoice is within the cutoff date for the next payroll, it will be included in the payroll to pay to the resource. Cutoff dates are set up in combination with pay dates.

A term of 9999 means the resources won’t get paid for an invoice until the invoice balance reaches $0.

If you have specific wait periods — for example resources wait 2 weeks (14 days) to get paid for copies — you set the copy term to 14. RB will wait until invoices for copies reach 14 days old to be released for payment to the resource.

You can change defaults for individual resources in their Resource listing.

TL;DR: Set default invoice options for new clients and default payment terms for new resources.

RB concepts in this lesson

Firm: Company you do business with.

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters.

Lesson #135

Setup – System Preferences function

Payables System Preferences

In addition to options for fixing printing problems on checks and 1099 forms, you can also set up direct deposit for payroll and other pay options.

1099 Form

In RB9 you have the ability to print each resource’s 1099 directly from the system. RB9 is designed to print in the correct fields on the 1099-NEC forms, but you can adjust the placement if needed to align the RB9 output with the 1099 form’s fields on your printer. Adjustments are in inches. You can increase (or decrease with a negative number) the top and left margins, using up to 2 decimal placements.

NOTE: Print 1099 Forms is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

Check

If you want to print checks directly from RB9, RB9 will create a PDF of the check information according to your settings to print on your own standard or voucher (2-part check) business checks. You can use Quickbooks-compatible laser checks (standard or voucher). Adjust where RB9 information is printing on your checks by increasing (or decreasing with a negative number) the top and left margins, using up to 2 decimal placements.

NOTE: Print Checks is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

NACHA (National Automated Clearing House Association)

Instead of printing checks or using a third-party payroll service, use RB9’s direct deposit feature to deposit pay into your resources’ accounts instead. After signing up for direct deposit with your bank use information provided by your bank to set up your system preferences for direct deposit payables. Some of the information you must get from your bank includes a unique 9-digit number assigned by the bank and a company ID number. (You will need to enter your resources’ banking information in their profiles.) Then all you have to do is send a NACHA-formatted file (exported from RB9) to your bank and your bank will transfer the funds for you.

NOTE: Direct deposit is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

Draft Pay Statement

Before closing, you can print out or email your resources a draft of their pay statements, so they can review which invoices they will be paid for and how much will be included in their next paycheck.

If you email draft pay statements, you can customize the email that accompanies them. Similarly to invoice emails set up in Billing preferences, you can change the default text in the Subject and Message fields and insert contextual data fields so that real data from RB related to the resource and payroll merge into the email automatically. You can also customize the appearance of the body of the emails with text formatting, colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables.

The draft pay statement itself will attach to the email as a PDF. And you can override the defaults set here in any pay statement emails sent from RB.

Pay Statement

After you run payroll in RB and close it, you can print out or email your resources their pay statements – which is the report that shows them exactly which invoices they were paid for on a closed payroll. You have the same settings options for pay statements as for draft pay statements.

Payroll

You have 2 options for when you pay resources:

1. “Hard Wait” is the default and refers to waiting a set number of days before releasing an invoice for payroll — regardless of whether you received payment from clients. (The default number of days to wait for originals and copies are set in Entities preferences, and can be overridden in individual resources’ settings.)
2. “Soft Wait” is similar in having your resources wait to get paid after a certain number of days — but there is an exception. If you receive payment for an invoice within the wait period, then RB will release the invoice to the resource in the next payroll you run.

TL;DR: Customize pay statement emails. Specify when resources get paid in relation to invoices. Adjust printing layouts for 1099s and checks. Set up your direct deposit account for paying resources.

RB concepts in this lesson

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters.