Tag Archives: email second round

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 payment terms for originals and copies. 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.

Lesson #129

Setup – System Preferences function

RB comes with default options for its different functions. Some cannot be altered but generally you can customize functions to fit your company by editing, adding, and deleting options. System Preferences is where you set global options for different features in your RB system.

These global preference settings are used throughout your RB system by all users. You must be part of the Administrators group to change System Preference settings.

System preferences can be customized at any time. The only one you need to set before using RB is entering your company’s email settings in General > Email if you will be sending emails from RB.

Options you can customize in System Preferences include:

• Company email address(es)
• Text of “Forgot Password” emails
• Upgrade to Standard or downgrade to Lite editions of RB9. This feature is only available to Administrators.
• Which credit card to use for your RB subscription payments. You can also view your billing history and pay overdue invoices.
• How many Named User Licenses access your RB9
• Login security — such as requiring strong passwords and 2FA verification
• How long RB saves messages sent internally
• How long a period of inactivity allowed before RB logs a user off automatically
• Company time zone default & other time zones to select
• Job confirmations & cancellations
• Task assignments & cancellations
• Job statuses displayed as calendar search options
• Future calendar emails
• Holidays observed
• Job & task calendar view options
• Job status colors
• Job status automatic updates
• New job defaults
• Overdue tasks emails
• Resource Blast (last minute job announcement emails & texts) contents and defaults
• Zoom account settings, preferences, and other customizations
• Envelope printing specs
• FedEx & UPS account information
• Repository publishing default & use tracking options
• RB Digital Signature Proxy settings
• Invoices, statements, and payment receipts & related emails’ contents and other invoice options
• LEDES 1998B exported files
• Reward points
• Pay statements & related emails’ contents
• Payment wait periods
• 1099 Form & check printing
• Direct deposit payment settings
• Default settings for new firms, contacts, & resources
• QuickBooks settings
• Company contact information for RB Network membership
• Email Logs tracking

System Preferences sections

With so many options to describe each section is broken out into a separate lesson:

• General
• Calendar
• Production
• Billing
• Receivables
• Payables
• Entities
• Tools

System Preferences vs. Lists

RB separates out list customization from other system preferences. If you want different options in a list you would make those changes in the Lists function. All other options are grouped by module under System Preferences.

Some System Preferences options work with Lists — such as the file types you can have RB automatically attach to assignment notifications. They are generated in Lists under Repository, which you can then select from in System Preferences under Calendar.

Personal preferences

Some system preferences can be overridden by personal preferences set by individual users. Preferences that only affect your individual RB setup are available under User Preferences.

TL;DR: Use RB’s default options or customize these systemwide options to match your company.

RB concepts in this lesson

Administrator: RB user who has access to and control of all areas of RB. You can have any number of RB administrators but each RB system must have at least one administrator. Administrator rights include setting up user accounts, assigning users to groups (which authorize what actions users can perform in RB and what kinds of notifications and messages they receive), and setting global system preferences.

ReporterBase Digital Signature Proxy (RB-DSP): Free digital signatures for reporters and agencies that agencies apply to RB-PDF Transcripts. Reporters retain control of their signatures while agencies are able to apply the signatures through their normal production process. More >

RB-PDF Transcript: PDF version of a transcript with built-in transcript-specific features. More >

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB.

Lesson #122

Setup – Invoice Headers function

Invoices in RB include a short descriptive title called the invoice header. Standard invoice headers are automatically generated based on the service items you select for each witness listed on an invoice. If the standard headers aren’t accurate enough to cover your billing requirements, you can create your own invoice headers.

You can enter your own headers on the fly as you generate invoices. Or if you think you will be reusing the same headers, set them up in the Invoice Headers function. Then you can quickly select the correct header for a witness from a drop-down when generating invoices — saving time and reducing errors.

Create & organize headers

Create as many invoice headers as you need to cover all of your business’s different billing circumstances. If you have multiple custom headers, organize them into Header Groups. Header Groups are categories of invoice headers, and are set up in Lists. By organizing your custom headers into header groups, you will save time locating one when billing.

Creating new headers is easy. They only require the header content and header group. The header group defaults to the system default (selected in Lists), so you might only need to enter the content.

If you are creating multiple headers in one sitting, use the Save & New option to stay in the new header window, eliminating extra clicks to get back into the window. It will also keep the same header group you used in the last invoice header saved rather than resetting to the default, so that could also save you time.

You can add, edit, or delete invoice headers at any time. Headers are stored in the Invoice Header function, and the default lists all of your stored headers by Invoice Header Group. You can also view the list for a single group or multiple selected groups. Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

You can update the header content and/or header group for any custom invoice header. Or delete it if you don’t need it anymore.

Using custom invoice headers

After entering billing information to invoices in Turn In is when you would add custom invoice headers. You can apply the same custom header to multiple invoices at once. And use the Save and New feature to apply different invoice headers to different invoices without leaving the Set Invoice Headers panel in Turn In for greater efficiency. Custom headers are listed in the drop-down by their invoice group, so you can quickly find the correct header by looking within its group only.

TL;DR: If RB’s default invoice headers are not enough, create and save your own custom headers to apply during Turn In.

RB concepts in this lesson

Header Group: Parent structure that contains related invoice headers as its children.

Lesson #121

Setup – Pay Dates function

When setting up your RB system and then at the beginning of each year, set up the year’s pay dates and their corresponding cutoff dates (last date for invoices to be included in pay) for each time period you use to pay resources (e.g., monthly, weekly, etc.). By setting up pay dates in advance you can reduce the number of payroll errors caused by entering the wrong date when running payroll.

View existing pay dates

The Pay Dates function defaults to all pay dates entered this year. Each pay date listing shows the date, Pay Group (different time periods you use to pay resources, e.g., monthly, weekly, etc.), cut-off date, and the date the payroll was closed. You can either add dates to the current year or change the year — if you want to enter next year’s pay dates for example.

When viewing the list of pay dates, 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.

Pay dates & cutoff dates

When you enter a new pay date, you also enter the last date for invoices to be included in pay, i.e., the cutoff date. RB calculates resource payment cutoff dates using invoice dates by default. But you can also use the date invoices are paid as the cutoff date for specific resources or all resources paid for jobs tied to one or more of your company’s business units (BUs). This preference is set in individual resource listings (under Original Term and Copy Term) and your BU listings.

You further define pay dates by selecting which Pay Group you are paying and which BUs’ jobs are included. You can include a description of the pay date listing and other notes.

Designate responsible business unit

If you have multiple BUs, you can also designate which BU will be responsible for issuing 1099s for this pay date. Instead of having to create pay date listings for each of your BUs, you can include multiple BUs in one pay date listing, and designate one BU to be responsible for issuing all related 1099s. It doesn’t have to be the BU tied to the jobs being paid for, and the default is your main office.

You can have multiple pay date listings on the same calendar date — or if every Pay Group will have the same cutoff date and BU(s), you can set one pay date for all groups.

Correcting errors

If you made a mistake setting up a pay date, you can delete it if payroll for that date has not been closed yet. Otherwise, you can make a note in the pay date’s Remarks field for future reference.

TL;DR: Set up pay dates for different pay periods (and different business units in your company, if desired).

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 — such as branch offices, other companies you own, affiliates, and profit-sharing operations.

Cutoff Date: Last date for invoices to be included in a pay date. Default is the date of the invoice, but you can use the date invoices were paid for a single resource or all resources tied to a business unit/multiple BUs in your company.

Pay Groups: Categories of time periods your company uses to pay resources, e.g., Monthly, Weekly, On Demand. Group resources according to their pay period (frequency) to reduce errors when running payroll.

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

Lesson #118

Setup – Billing Rates function

Billing rates are the amounts you charge for services. These rates are organized into tables — so you can charge different clients different amounts for the same service items by applying different billing rate tables instead of having to enter rates each time you bill someone. You might charge different billing rates for the same service items based on negotiations with clients, networking rates with other agencies, or rates requested by an insurance company. Your multiple billing rate tables can contain the prices for all of your service items — so you can easily apply the correct prices when invoicing specific firms by selecting the appropriate table.

Set up Billing Rate Groups first

Before you start creating billing rate tables, set up Billing Rate Groups in the Lists function. Billing Rate Groups are groups of similar tables, so when billing you can search through a subset of your billing rate tables instead of the whole long list of tables each time you invoice a client. Set up basic categories/groups — such as Standard, Preferred, and for specific cases. You can also designate which Billing Rate Group is your default group that will appear when setting up new billing rate tables, new firms, new contacts, etc.

After setting up groups, use the Billing Rates function to add your billing rate tables within the groups. You can set up as many billing rate tables as you need in each group.

Add as many billing rates as you need

You can set up billing rate tables in 2 ways:

• From scratch
• From an existing table — copying and updating an existing table is a quicker way to create a new table because the existing table’s rates and details are duplicated in the new table for you to update.

Another way to save time is to set default billing rates, pay rates, and options for service items in the Service Item Master, then change them for specific situations by creating different rate tables with custom rates for the service items.  Every billing rate table you create in RB will automatically inherit all service items set up in the Service Item Master — including all default rates and options for each item as well. So if you set up defaults in the Service Item Master then you only have to update them as needed in individual rate tables.

Give each billing rate table you create a clearly specific name so your billing staff can easily understand when it should be used. Some examples would be Standard Rates, Preferred Rates, Medical-Technical, and Rates for [a specific law firm]. You can further segment your market by state and/or city if you charge different rates by location.

Add as many billing rates as you need

In each billing rate table you can customize the billing rate for each item. If there are service items that do not pertain to this billing rate, leave their billing rate at $0 and RB won’t bill for them when this billing rate table is used.

In addition to each service item’s billing rate you can also customize:

• The minimum invoice amount for the service item.
• The pay rate for resources, the minimum amount you pay resources for this item, and whether you pay your resources for the service item using a flat rate ($) scale or percentage (%). If you have service items that resources do not get paid on, leave them set at $0, and RB will not calculate pay for them. (You do not have to include pay rate information in your billing rate tables. You can use the Pay Rates function to set up separate pay rate tables which you can select when billing.)
•  If the billing amount and pay amount for this service item will have the Expedite/Rush amount added to it.
• Whether the item is court taxable and/or sales taxable.
• If you offer discounts on this particular service item. The percentage of discount that a client will receive on the service item is entered in their Firms setup.
• If you use the Reward Points System and the service item should be included in the revenue calculation to accumulate points.
• If you pay commissions on the service item to resources that bring in clients (Client Of) and/or account managers (Sales Reps).
• If you want the service item name and billing amount to appear on invoices. (If you set a firm to always print details on invoices in their Firm setup, then their invoices will be fully itemized, displaying all service items and billing amounts overriding whatever is specified here.)
• If you have the RB Connect plug-in, you can allow clients to request the service item when submitting an online job request and/or allow resources to select this service item during turn-in.
• If the service item needs your production department’s involvement, you can have it appear on Production Sheets which show them on a job-by-job basis who is ordering and what they’re ordering that needs to be produced.
• LEDES codes required by clients for e-billing.

In addition to customizing the billing rates you can also make adjustments to each Rush Type in the table if needed. All Rush Types are automatically inherited from the Rush Type Master. You can also include any relevant notes or comments in a rate table.

Manage billing rates

You can update any information in a billing rate table at any time except its Billing Rate Group. You can delete any billing rate table that hasn’t been used. If you can’t delete a table, you can de-activate it so it does not appear in lists. And you can update rates in multiple billing rate tables at once in the Service Item Master.

To find a billing rate table to copy, update, delete, or de-activate, you can search your entire set of billing rate tables or narrow your search to a specific Billing Rate Group, state, city, and/or billing rate table name. You can also choose to search all tables or only active tables. RB lists the results by Billing Rate Group and includes each table’s name, its state and/or city (if applicable), and its Active status.

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 your search results as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications. You can also sort and export the service item and rush type lists in each billing rate table.

Attach billing rates to entities

After setting up Billing Rate Groups and billing rate tables, attach entities to the rate tables. You connect billing rates to firms, contacts, and parties to a case/job. You can do this when you set them up or at any time afterwards. Contacts inherit billing rate tables from their firms but you can select different tables for contacts from their firm’s. Parties will default to the billing rate tables in their contact profile. You can override the default when adding parties to cases/jobs or when turning in jobs.

Apply billing rates

When creating an invoice in Turn In, RB will select the billing rate table connected to the designated Bill To contact. You can select a different rate table for this invoice and you can override any charge on individual invoices.

TL;DR: Set up multiple billing rate tables so you can automatically charge different amounts to different clients for the same service items based on prices you negotiate with clients.

RB concepts in this lesson

Billing Rate Groups: Umbrella structures aimed at categorizing your billing rates. Instead of one long list of billing rates, Billing Rate Groups create a series of shorter lists to search through.

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

Client Of: Resource that receives a commission for jobs their clients scheduled or that are part of a case the resource was designated as the Client Of resource. You can also give reporters right of first refusal on their clients/cases’ jobs by displaying unassigned jobs from their clients/cases in Resource-side online calendars in RB Connect.

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

Firm: Company you do business with. They schedule depositions with you, e.g., a law firm, or they are a third party that pays you, e.g., an insurance company.

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 >

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

Lesson #113

Setup – Users and Groups function

You can run RB as a single user, but if you have other in-house personnel who need access to your RB, set them up as users. Then give them user names and passwords to access RB, and store work-related and personal information about them. Group them according to their access levels and job functions so they can perform their jobs and receive internal messages, but not access areas of RB you do not want them to use. 

Groups give users defined access

Users and Groups is the tool you use to manage RB users, individually and grouped according to permissions, rights, and notifications. There are 2 default groups in RB:

1. Administrators, which grants group members full access to all areas of RB
2. Users, which is the basic group every RB user is part of and grants them limited access to only essential areas of RB.

The initial user of your RB system is designated as an administrator so they can enter other users and grant them permissions. They can add other users to the Administrators group, and anyone who is an administrator in RB can perform the same functions. There is no limit to how many administrators your system can have.

Security Groups

Administrators can set up Security Groups in addition to the default groups, which can have different access to RB functions. For example, you could set up a Calendar group, in which you give access to all Calendar functions in RB and maybe some select functions in other modules, such as the repository and entities.

When setting up a new group the only required information is the Group Name. Other information you can add to a group is a group description, group members (RB users), and security permissions/function access.

There are 2 levels to security permissions:

1. Simple access — Users in the group can search and view information, i.e., a read only level.
2. Comprehensive access — Users can also edit and delete information.

Most functions offer comprehensive access only, but in some functions you can limit access to read only. Functions that offer both access levels are generally more critical areas — such as cases, jobs, and invoices — which you might want to allow some users to view but not change.

In addition to setting up Security Groups, administrators can:

• Add or delete users from each group (one user, several, or all users at once).
• Change which functions are accessible in a group (except the Administrators group).
• Delete groups (except the Administrators and Users groups).

Users can be members of more than one group so you do not have to have a lot of groups to cover every option. If someone’s responsibilities overlap different areas — such as someone who oversees both calendaring and billing — administrators can give that person access to both areas through membership in multiple Security Groups.

While members of the Administrators group have all of the capabilities described by default, they can also grant members of other Security Groups the same capabilities if desired.

Message Groups

In addition to Security Groups RB also has Message Groups, which allow you to send a message to all the members of a group simultaneously. Members of a Message Group can also send messages to the group. There are no required Message Groups nor are users required to be a member of any Message Group to use RB.

Similarly to Security Groups the only requirement when setting up a Message Group is a group name. Administrators can also add a group name, and add or delete members. Administrators can edit or delete existing Message Groups.

With either group 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).

Adding users

When you open the Users and Groups function it lists all of the users who are already entered into your RB system — along with their user name, email address, whether they are an active user, and when they last logged into the system. 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). You can also export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Administrators can add users to RB at any time. When entering a new user the only required information is their full name, RB login name, and password. When saving a new user RB will prompt you to tie them to your company’s business units (BUs). You can tie them to one or more of your company’s BUs.

If you are using email addresses as user login names you will be required to enter the user’s email address instead of a login name. We recommend this option because everyone knows their email address so it is easier for them to remember than a unique user name for their RB user ID. The option to use email addresses for RB login is a general system preference.

General information

In addition to required information you can store users’ contact information— such as their work email address, and other work related information, including their work phone number, start date/termination date, title and department (which you choose from lists you customized in the Lists function), the user’s supervisor, and any information you want to include that is not covered elsewhere in the user’s listing.

In addition to storing info about the user this is also where administrators can:

• Reset the user’s password for them if they forgot their password and don’t want to change it themselves (administrators do not have a way to retrieve passwords).
• Let the user back into RB if they got locked out for making too many incorrect attempts to log in (using the wrong user name and/or password). Administrators set how many tries users get to log in correctly before being locked out in System Preferences.
• Deactivate the user if they no longer work for the company or otherwise don’t need to be assigned or contacted anymore. Deactivated users can no longer log into RB and their names will not appear in the system by default.
• Delete a user if they never did anything in the system. RB tracks and logs user interactions so if someone has added or updated information in RB, they cannot be deleted from the system because their interactions are part of your audit trail.

Personal info

Personal information about a user includes their home address, date of birth, and personal phone numbers. When entering the user’s street address or P.O. box number, skip the other fields and enter the zip code. RB will fill in the city, state, and country for you. After entering the user’s address you can view maps and directions to it in RB.

After saving a new user, 2 other panes appear in their listing: Groups and Business Units. Groups will have the default Users group listed and Business Units will list any BUs you tied to the user. You can add or delete groups and business units you want to associate with the user here.

Who gets RB access?

Clients or resources who need access to their information in your system are not the same as RB users who are your staff, managers, or other company personnel who need access on a more global level. If you want to give your clients and resources access to their calendars, financial info, files, and other relevant info, add RB Connect to your RB system, where they can have their own online RB offices automatically populated with their information exclusively. Add RB Connect Mobile to give them similar access on their iPhones and other mobile devices.

TL;DR: Store work and personal information about company personnel. Give them access to specific functions in RB through Security Groups, and communicate internally with multiple users at once through Message Groups.

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.

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 >

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. 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 >

Lesson #112

Setup – Lists function

Lists in RB allow users to choose an entry from a set of available values — saving time and reducing errors that result from keying in entries. RB includes initial values and defaults for lists used throughout the system, and you can run your business using these defaults. You can also edit, hide, merge, or delete most of these entries. You cannot create new lists, but you can add your own entries to most RB lists.

Managing lists

When setting up your RB system, take some time to customize its default lists to better match your company. You can revise a list at any time you have new options to add or unused options you’d like to remove/hide.

You can set each list’s default entry which will appear in any field tied to that list. Default entries cannot be deleted. If you want to delete a default-designated entry, you must set a different entry in the list as the default. Then you can delete the other entry if it is not required by RB.

If you no longer need a particular entry — but want to keep its historical data — you can merge it into an existing entry of the same data type.

If you don’t want to delete an entry or merge it into another entry— but you also don’t want it to appear as a list option in RB — you can de-activate it. It will still exist in the database but it will be hidden.

You can export any list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, share, print, or use in other applications.

Lists can be customized for:

• Accounting: Although RB is not an accounting system, it does track many financial aspects of your business. Its data can be used with QuickBooks, and it replaces separate billing software.
  Set up categories for types of accounts, financial transactions, payments, payment terms, and units of service items (e.g., pages, miles, or hours).
  Also set up billing and pay rate groups: parent structures for related billing or pay rates. (You could have 100s of billing and pay rates, which can quickly become overwhelming without some sort of organizing capability.) You will assign each billing rate table, firm, contact, and party to a case to a billing rate group — and assign each pay rate table and resource to a pay rate group.
• Cases: RB is a case-based system. Case attributes will be automatically applied to jobs tied to a case.
  Set up categories for types of cases, sides represented in a suit, notes, and case statuses — such as in progress or settled.
• Connect: RB Connect is the RB9 plug-in that gives your clients and resources direct access to your office via the internet.
  Set up designations for RB Connect support ticket ratings, support ticket status (e.g., Awaiting Response or Closed), and resource time-off request status (e.g., Pending or Approved).
• Contacts: Contacts are people who work at firms that schedule jobs with you.
  Set up categories for types of contacts, notes, work turnaround preferences, credit ratings, and tags to organize contacts. Also set up gender classifications, work titles, and salutations.
• Firms: Firms are companies you do business with: They schedule depositions with you, e.g., a law firm, or they are a third party that pays you, e.g., an insurance company.
  Set up categories for types of firms, notes, credit ratings, collection actions, and tags to organize firms. Also set up designations for account status, class (the quality or ranking of a firm), and client sources (how clients heard of you).
• Invoice: Set up categories (Groups) for invoice headers and messages so you can find what you want when invoicing without having to scroll through all of your invoice headers or messages. Also set up categories for invoice types and notes types to use as search filters.
• Jobs: Set up categories for types of expert witnesses, client referrals, jobs, notes, job status, tasks, and task status.
• Locations: Set up categories for types of locations, notes, and tags to organize job locations.
  Not all job locations should be entered in the location database so they would not need categories here. Examples would be law firms or other businesses in your Firms database, resources — such as other court reporting firms, your own conference rooms or business units, one-off locations you won’t use again, and virtual locations — such as Zoom meetings.
• Other: Set up categories for types of events to acknowledge — such as client birthdays and anniversaries, how notes in Notes Logs were received (e.g., System, Email, or call), and award point redemption like gift cards or cash.
• Production: Set up designations for how products are delivered to clients, e.g. USPS, courier, or FedEx.
• Repository: Set up designations for types of files that you will store in the central repository.
• Resources: Resources are people or things that provide your business with services — such as reporters, other court reporting agencies you work with, and your conference rooms.
  Set up categories for types of resources, notes, and tags to organize resources. Also set up categories of time periods you pay resources, certifications, specialties, priority levels (e.g., staff or overflow), salutations, and reasons for resources’ time-off periods (e.g., vacation or personal time).
• Tracking: Tracking is a stand-alone function in RB9 used to monitor where production items are in your production cycle and physical space.
  Set up categories for archival status, types of service items (such as DVD, Editing, Exhibit, Scanning, Synching, and Transcript), and priority of tracked items. Also set up media classifications (e.g., Confidential or Under Protective Order) and media formats.
• Users: Users are people on your staff who directly access RB — as opposed to contacts and resources who access your office through RB Connect.
  Set up categories for departments in your company and position titles.
• Witnesses: Set up categories for notes types to use as search filters.

TL;DR: Many lists in RB can be customized by adding/editing options to better fit your company.

RB concepts in this lesson

Award Points: Used to encourage clients to book with your agency by rewarding them with points for different services.

Billing Rate Groups: Umbrella structures aimed at categorizing your billing rates. Instead of one long list of billing rates, Billing Rate Groups create a series of shorter lists to search through when invoicing clients.

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with.

Firm: Companies you do business with.

Header Group: Parent structure that contains related invoice headers as its children.

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

Location: Place where jobs occur — such as court rooms, hospitals, schools, doctors’ offices, or private residences.

Message Group: Parent structure that contains related invoice messages as its children.

Notes Logs: Un-editable internal-use only notes entered either by a user or automatically by RB appear in chronological logs in the database record where they occurred, such as a case, job, invoice, or entity. More >

Pay Groups: Categories of time periods your company uses to pay resources, e.g., Monthly, Weekly, On Demand. Group resources according to their pay period (frequency) to reduce errors when running payroll.

Pay Rate Groups:  Umbrella structures aimed at categorizing the rates you pay resources, such as by experience levels, percentage paid on services, or affiliates. Instead of one long list of pay rates, Pay Rate Groups create a series of shorter lists to search through when invoicing clients.

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. More >

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service — such as reporters, videographers, interpreters, scopists, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.

Tracking: System for keeping track of where production items are in your production cycle and physically in your office.

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB.

Lesson #108

Entities – Resources function

Resources provide your business with a service or support. For example reporters, videographers, interpreters, transcriptionists, scopists, and account executives (sales reps) are resources. Basically any independent contractors you hire are resources in RB.

Resources do not have to be individuals. They can also be other reporting agencies that cover jobs for your firm or your conference rooms. You add your conference rooms to RB as resources so that you can schedule them like you do reporters and other resources.

Maintain a deep database of all of these assets in RB in the Resource function. If there is something you want to remember about a resource — whether it’s contact info, financial history, professional details, availability, or anything else — chances are there is a slot for it in their RB profile.

Add resources to your database

You can enter resources from scratch in this function, import them from other applications, or add them on the fly during turn-in. If you have an existing database of resources in another application you can import the data into RB from an Excel spreadsheet in the Bulk Import function.

Before entering a resource into RB check to see if they are already there to avoid duplicate entries. RB does not prevent you from adding multiple instances of the same resource. If there are duplicate entries, you can merge them — however not all data will carry over from the resource that is being merged. The only information that will be saved from the merged entry is from the Notification Email, Tags, Specialties, Certifications, Repository, and Notes Log panes, plus their assignment availability.

Search for resources

To find resources in your RB database you can use the search criteria singly or in combination:

• Full Name, First Name, Last Name, or a/k/a (their preferred nickname or business name if they are independent contractors)
• City
• State (single, several, or all)
• Zip code
• Resource Type (single, several, or all)
• Specialty (single, several, or all)
• Priority Level (single, several, or all)
• Pay Rate Group (single, several, or all)
• Tag
• Active resources only or all resources
• Email address
• Resource number
• Mobile phone number

Each listing displayed in the results shows all of this info — except any specialties or tags — and includes the resource’s street address, zip code, main phone number, and any warnings about the resource.

Customize how you view resource listings

The grid in which you view resource listings is customizable to your individual preference:

• Re-arrange the columns so the most important information is most prominent.
• Stick up to 10 columns to the left side of the grid so they do not scroll when you have a results grid wider than your screen.
• Stretch/shrink columns to fit the results.
• Hide columns you don’t need to see.
• Choose which column(s) to sort results by.
• If you select more than one column, choose in what column order to sort the list.
• Choose whether to sort info by ascending or descending order in each selected column.
• Save your custom grid as your default.

You can save your custom grid as your default. Your customizations do not affect other users — and you can restore the original RB grid layout anytime.

From the Resource results grid you can view and update any listed resource’s details, add new resources, and export the grid as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV(comma-separated values) file to save, share, print, or use in other applications.

Basic resource information

Whether you are viewing an existing resource listing or adding a new resource, the detail window is broken up into a series of panes that contain related fields. The first pane, General, contains contact information, other basic information, and any warnings.

With 25 fields and options in the General information pane alone, it might seem overwhelming to enter resources into RB. However when entering a new resource, the only required information is their full name. We recommend when entering individuals’ names that instead of entering the name in the Full Name field, you enter names in the separate first and last name fields, then select which order you want the names (first name first, or last name, then first) to appear in the Full Name field. This way you can use the First Name/Last Name filters when searching for resources in the main Resources window.

You can save time entering resources’ full names by setting up Autofill in System Preferences. You select which name parts are included (first name, last name, salutation, middle initial) and in what order. RB will automatically fill out the Full Name field for you as you enter the individual name fields.

You can also enter resources’ nicknames or business names if they are independent contractors in the a/k/a field. This information will appear in parenthesis after the resources’ full names in fields and lists, and is searchable.

We recommend entering resources’ email addresses so you can email resources directly from within RB. And we recommend designating the Resource Type so when assigning tasks, you assign reporters to reporting tasks, interpreters to interpreting tasks, etc.

Other General information tips

After entering the resource’s street address or P.O. box number, skip the other fields and enter the zip code. RB will fill in the city, state, and country for you.

If a resource has a different business address from their home address you can include both addresses in their listing.

If you have entered resource addresses you can view maps and directions to those addresses in RB. You can also add your own directions to the resource’s listing. Any instructions entered here will appear in the Directions field of a job if the job will be at the resource’s location.

If you have information about a resource that users should know when scheduling jobs enter those notes in the Warning field. They will appear when assigning resources to assist the user in assigning the correct resource.

If a resource is no longer active you can deactivate their listing instead of deleting it so you retain all of your historical data about the resource but they will no longer appear as available for assignments anymore.

Additional information

In the Additional pane you can enter dates related to the resource — such as date of birth (only month and day are required) and date of employment — and credentials for RB Connect, ReporterBase Digital Signature Proxy (RB-DSP), and Certified Shorthand Reporters.

Your resources’ RB Connect login names and passwords are stored here. Resources can reset their password any time in RB Connect and you can also reset their login name and password here. This is also where you can unlock their account if they tried to log in too many times with the incorrect credentials and RB Connect locked them out.

If you use RB-DSP to apply reporters’ digital signatures to RB-PDF Transcripts this is where you store their reporterbase.com credentials so you can use their digital signatures.

If you store resources’ Certified Shorthand Reporter certification numbers here you can include their certification on RB-PDF Transcripts by customizing transcript templates to include this number in headers or footers.

Pay information

Important pay information to include are the resource’s:

• Priority Level which gives you an order of preference when assigning tasks, such as staff and overflow.
• Pay Group which designates how often the resource is paid, e.g., weekly, monthly, bi-weekly.

Other info to enter here includes:

• Pay rate — if you pay this resource the same rate for all jobs, select that here instead of having to do it every time you bill a job they worked on.
• Federal tax ID number if this is a resource that you will issue 1099s for. You can also indicate that you will print their 1099s from within RB9.
• Number of days until you pay this resource for originals and copies. These default to your system-wide preferences, but you can change them here for a resource that you pay differently.
• Commission rates if you pay this resource commissions. If the resource is a reporter with their own clients, you can set different commissions for their clients’ jobs they work and for their clients’ jobs that other reporters cover.
• Resource’s banking information if you do direct deposit from RB9.
• Any recurring payments or deductions (for example the resource is paying back an advance in installments).

You can set a resource as “do not pay” if they are a conference room or an owner of your business who does not receive a paycheck — so they won’t appear in your pay process.

Work schedule

Resources’ availability for assignments is generated by the system using the work schedule set up for each resource. When assigning resources to tasks only resources who are available during the scheduled time will appear in the list of resources.

You can customize individual resources’ work schedules from the default schedule of Monday–Friday, 9am–6pm to match their actual availability. Setting an individual’s schedule is simple: You click and drag the beginning and end marks on each day-of-the-week to change the resource’s default availability for that day.

You can override resources’ availabilities manually to handle exceptions in other functions — for example if you want to assign a resource to a job outside their normal work hours, or to give a resource additional time off for a vacation, doctor’s appointment, or other exception. (Tasks and Resource Availability)

But wait, there’s more

Once you save a resource in RB, you can:

• Enter more information.
• Update existing information.
• View the resource’s financial & job trends.
• Merge resources if you find duplicates using RB’s Merge To sub-function to save some of the resource’s historical data from the duplicate listing.

You don’t have to go into the Resources function to update a resource. Most RB functions that include a Resource field allow you to directly access that resource’s listing to view and edit.

Also if you have multiple resources that you need to update the same information for — such as their commission rates or original and copy terms — you can use Bulk Update to change them all at once.

Additional panes in saved resource listings include:

Notification email

If a resource has more than one email address you can designate which one(s) should receive email notices from RB related to jobs they are involved with and which one(s) to use for payroll information.

Tags

If you use tags (keywords or phrases) to monitor and choose resources to bulk email or snail mail letters and packages you add tags to resource listings — either by keying in tags or selecting them from the tag list you made in Lists. Each resource can have an unlimited number of tags and you can delete tags from a resource when they no longer apply. (You can also use the Tag Manager to add or remove tags quickly from multiple resources at once.)

Specialties

If a resource has specific expertise add that specialty to their RB listing. Then when you have a task that requires that specialty, the resource will be included in the list of available resources so you can assign resources more accurately.

Certifications

If a resource has been certified for a particular skill/knowledge add that certification, when it was achieved, and if it is still active to their RB listing as reference for evaluating resources. You can also include certification expiration dates and set reminders so resources don’t let their certifications lapse.

Repository

Keep files related to a resource in their RB listing. When viewing the resource’s listing you can see information about uploaded files including their description in the Repository pane without having to click into each file’s details. You can upload, download, or delete files here, and update file information — such as which groups can access the file.

If you have RB Connect you can give resources access to specific files in their repository. You can also view the download history of each file in the repository — including when it was downloaded and by who.

Notes Log

The system enters some notes about resources automatically in their individual Notes Logs and you can also enter notes yourself about a resource in their Notes Log for internal purposes. An example of automatic Notes Log entries would be what changed when the resource’s information was updated using the Bulk Update tool.

When you add a note to the Notes Log you can include what type of note it is, how you communicated with the resource, details about what occurred, and if needed, designate who should follow up and set a date/time for a reminder to be sent to them via RB’s message system.

Export resource data for other uses

In these additional panes you can export the information as Excel spreadsheets or CSV(comma-separated values) files to save, share, print, or use in other applications.

View financial/job trends

In a resource’s Account Overview, highlights of their financial and job activity history, future projections, and trends are displayed visually. A table displays the resource’s total outstanding payables, upcoming tasks, and tasks not turned in yet. A line graph displays monthly earnings and a second line graph displays the resource’s assigned and canceled tasks.

The line graphs are interactive. Hovering over a point in a line on a graph displays that month’s total $ amount or number. The line graphs default to the resource’s trends over the last six months. You can also view the resource’s trends over a year or 2.

TL;DR: Maintain a deep database of your resources in RB including contact, pay, personal, and business/professional information, files related to the resource, notes about the resource, their work schedule, and more. View interactive graphs of their earnings and assignments.

RB concepts in this lesson

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition. More >

Notes Logs: Un-editable internal-use only notes entered either by a user or automatically by RB appear in chronological logs in the database record where they occurred. More >

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

RB-PDF Transcript: Customizable PDF version of a transcript with built-in transcript-specific features like hyperlinked exhibits, word lists/indexes, errata sheets, and headers/footers that automatically contain case and depo information from your RB database. More >

ReporterBase Digital Signature Proxy (RB-DSP): Free digital signatures for reporters and agencies that agencies apply to RB-PDF Transcripts. Reporters retain control of their signatures while agencies are able to apply the signatures through their normal production process. More >

Repository: Where you store files in RB for safekeeping and quick retrieval.

Task: Service requested with a job — such as reporting, interpreting, or video — that require a separate resource (person, company, thing) to accomplish. More >