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 RB9 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 RB9 system.
• Send messages to pre-determined groups of RB9 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 RB9 users in your company.

Access messages

When a message arrives for you, RB9 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. RB9 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 RB9 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 RB9 users, either individually or to an entire message group at once.

When you reply to a message, RB9 automatically fills in the recipient. You can change the recipient and/or add other RB9 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 RB9 users. Act on messages by clicking hyperlinks within messages. Send messages to other users in your company.

RB9 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 RB9 users that define who can access which functions in RB9, 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 RB9. Contacts and resources are different entities — not users in RB9 — and access RB9 through RB Connect or RB Connect Mobile.

Lesson #151

Get RB9 help in a variety of ways

RB9 has contextual help in every function. However, sometimes what you are looking for can’t be found inside the program. In those cases, check the Help module to find exactly what you need.

Help functions

What you can do in each function in this module:

• User Guide
  Look up information in the online user guide or download it as a PDF.
• Online Training
  View RB9 training videos on our website. Online training is part of the RB Help Center where you can also access RB tutorials, cheat sheets, and user guides for all of our products.
• Update History
  Look up what was in each application update without leaving RB9. Print or export as PDF any update list.
• FAQ/KnowledgeBase
  KnowledgeBase articles from the Customer Portal and RB9 tutorials from the Help Center have been moved here.
• Online Support: Team Viewer
  When directed by OMTI Support, connect your screen with us via remote support to solve issues in real time.
• Live Chat
  Get support by chatting with OMTI Support during our regular business hours.
  
• Report Issues
  Support ticket system for reporting bugs and other problems with RB9 while maintaining a paper trail of your query and responses.
• Suggest Ideas
  Submit feedback and suggestions for improving RB in an online forum. OMTI’s development team monitors this forum and uses client suggestions to determine future RB9 development.
• About
  Look up the current version of RB9 you are using.

TL;DR: When the contextual help in RB9 is not enough, check the Help module for additional options.

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 Standard-only function. It is not included in RB9 Lite.

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

RB9 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 #150

Connect – Connect Preferences function

Resource side preferences

Your RB Connect consists of 2 URLs — one for your contacts and the other for your resources. Customize these preferences for information and feature options on the Resource side of your RB Connect.

Announcements

Enter and format text for your resource’s home page. You can further customize the appearance of the text with colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables. Edit Announcements in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.

Accessibility

Designate which areas of RB Connect resources can access. The default is full accessibility but you can turn accessibility on or off for any area at any time. You can export this list of functions as an Excel or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

My Profile

Users to notify

Designate which staff members are alerted when a resource updates their contact information. You can have any number of RB9 users alerted — and add or delete users at any time. You can export this list of users like the Resource-Accessibility list.

Firms

You can choose to allow resources to see firms’ COD status in their profiles in RB Connect.

Jobs

Set preferences for worksheet forms, global options for accessible job information, and who to notify of Client Of assignment requests:

General

Select job calendar options including:

• Which form is used for assignment notifications that are exportable/printable from the Jobs calendar.
• Allow resources to see their future tasks as soon as they are assigned — or hide them until you have sent them an assignment notification.
• Allow resources to see who was assigned to other jobs related to the same case they are assigned to when they access a job through their job calendar. This can be helpful – e.g. resources can share information about the job.
• Allow resources to download additional files related to a case when they access a job through their job calendar or the repository.

Users to notify

If you reward resources with commissions on job from clients they bring to your business or from specific cases, they can see jobs on their calendars that are scheduled by their clients/from their cases to track their commissionable work — also they can get first dibs on those jobs.

Designate which staff members are alerted when resources request job assignments coming from their clients/cases. You can have any number of RB9 users alerted — and add or delete users at any time. You can export this list of users like the Resource-Accessibility list.

Master Word List

Select a transcript profile from the PDF Transcript Preferences you previously set up that will automatically dictate the appearance and other options of Master Word Lists compiled by resources. Resources can override any of these default RB-PDF Transcript settings when exporting a Master Word List.

Turn In

Set preferences for resources turning in jobs online — such as what options they have and who is notified when they turn in a job:

General

You can turn on or off access to some Turn In functions. Options you can let resources handle:

• Correcting case names and other case details.
• If Read & Sign applies to a witness being deposed, the resource can indicate they have completed the requirement and can enter the date.
• Entering firm and contact information for attending and ordering clients into your RB9 database.
• Adding parties already in your RB9 database from the job, case, or previous turn-ins, instead of manually entering information.
• Entering names and other details about parties who attended the deposition but did not order copies of transcripts at the time.

These are optional because the information resources enter here is entered directly into RB9 — and you might not want resources to enter information into your RB9 system because they might duplicate existing firms or contacts for instance, or otherwise enter errors into your database. However we do recommend allowing and encouraging your resources to add attending parties to their turned-in jobs. Then you can contact these non-ordering parties later to see if they would like to order copies — and provide them their own RB Connect IDs and passwords so they can purchase copies online.

Users to notify

You have the same options here for staff alerts as under Resource-Jobs. Plus if different users should be notified when tasks are turned in depending on the type of task (e.g., specific production staff should be notified about transcript turn in but other staff should be notified when video is turned in), you can select users to be notified per Task Type. If no task is specified for a user listed, they will receive notifications for all Task Types.

Options

Turn on these options to:

• Allow resources to add automatically numbered stamps to PDF exhibits when turning in jobs online.
• Have RB9 send the designated user(s) a notification when a resource adds a new firm or contact during Turn In.

Custom Sections in Job/Witness

Get additional information from resources about the job and/or witness when they turn in jobs via RB Connect by adding custom data fields to Turn In. You can:

• Add text, number, Yes/No, list, date, and time fields.
• Require users to enter something in specific fields/select something in a list before their request can be processed.
• Update lists in list fields.
• Set which item is the default in Yes/No options and lists.
• Include brief instructions for any field.

Add as many custom data fields as you like, change the order of their appearance in the screen, and edit or remove any data field at any time. You can export this list like the Resource-Accessibility list.

Repository

You have the same options here for staff alerts when resources upload files to the repository as under Resource-Jobs.

Availability

Set preferences for resources’ time-off requests:

General

Set a cutoff for the minimum number of days in advance resources can request time off online. (Weekends are not included in deadline calculations.) You can set no limits or a specific number of days.

Users to notify

You have the same options here for staff alerts as under Resource-Jobs.

Approval/Denial Notifications

You can customize the emails that RB9 automatically sends to resources to notify them that their time off has been approved or denied.

You can change the default text of the Subject and Message of these emails. You can automatically insert relevant RB Connect data into the Subject and Message with contextual data fields. You can customize the appearance of the email messages with the same options as the Resource-Announcements section.

Support Tickets

Set preferences for resource support ticket notifications:

Ticket Notification

RB9 automatically emails resources when there is a response to their support ticket in RB Connect. You can change the default text of the Subject and Message of these emails. You can automatically insert relevant RB Connect data into the Subject and Message with contextual data fields. For example you can automatically include the text of the latest reply so the resource does not have to go to RB Connect to see your reply.

You can customize the appearance of the email messages with the same options as the Resource-Announcements section.

Users to notify

You have the same options here for staff alerts as under Resource-Jobs.

Other Connect Preferences sections

• Basics (both sides of your RB Connect)
• Contact side

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

TL;DR: Set preferences for features on the Resource side of your RB Connect.

RB9 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.

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.

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 >

Repository: RB9 has 9 repositories where you store files for safekeeping and quick retrieval. When you store files in a case, they are in RB9’s Case Repository; when you store files in a job, they are in RB9’s Job Repository; etc. If you have RB Connect, you can give clients and/or resources access to specific repository files.

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. More >

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB9.

Lesson #146

Connect – Support Tickets function

Your clients and resources can get help and support within RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile (RBCM). They can look up information in the online user guide or they can contact you via support tickets to ask questions and get assistance, then track the resolution of their issues.

Manage RB Connect users’ questions and problems — and maintain a paper trail of their resolution in the Support Tickets function. You can provide support tickets to everyone who uses your RB Connect — or only your contacts or only your resources. You can also choose not to use support tickets at all and have your clients and resources rely on other methods such as phone calls, texts, and email to contact you about issues.

Set up your support tickets

To use support tickets in RB Connect/RBCM, first turn on access for your contacts and/or resources in Connect Preferences. Then set what your email responses to support requests say. You can set up different email responses for contacts and resources. You can make the email a generic alert that there is a response to their ticket in RB Connect — or include response information in the email.

Insert RB9 data fields into the Subject and Message fields of the email so your responses automatically include relevant information. For example you can include the data field that will insert the text of the latest reply so the user does not have to go to RB Connect to see your reply.

Designate who on your staff will be alerted when a support ticket comes in. The staff you list can use the Support Ticket function whenever they are alerted to a ticket or as fits their work process to handle support requests received online.

Managing support tickets

The default view in the Support Tickets function lists all requests awaiting your response from the most recent to the oldest. Each listing includes:

• Ticket number
• Current status
• Who initiated the ticket
• Subject line of the ticket
• When it was issued
• When it was last updated
• Any rating from the user

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 also view the list by:

• Client or resource tickets only.
• Tickets you are waiting for the user’s response to, tickets the user has closed and rated your response, and/or tickets you have resolved/closed (in addition to the default view of tickets awaiting your response).
• Tickets initiated during a specific date or date range.
• Tickets from a single firm, contact, or resource.

Click the hyperlinked ticket number of any ticket to read the message, view the message thread, and follow up. When you send your reply the support ticket’s status automatically changes to Pending Customer Response — leaving it open while waiting for the user’s response unless you choose to close the ticket. If you close the ticket, you can include an explanation in your follow-up comment that is sent to the user.

When you reply — whether you are furthering the conversation or closing the ticket — RB9 updates the user’s support ticket log in their RB Connect and records your reply in the ticket’s thread so you have a paper trail.

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

TL;DR: Manage RB Connect/RB Connect Mobile users’ questions and problems, and keep a paper trail of their resolution. 

RB9 concepts in this lesson

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

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 #145

Connect – Activity Log function

RB9 tracks activities by contacts and resources on RB Connect. This interactive report lists firms and their contacts or your resources who use your RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile (RBCM), and how often they access your RB Connect site during a specified period.

Monitor user activity

Activity Log defaults to listing all of the firms whose contacts accessed your main RB Connect site during the current month to date. The results show the number of times each firm’s contacts accessed your site during the month — with additional columns for the current year and a grand total column. At the bottom of the list is a grand total row for how many times all of your clients accessed your RB Connect during the month.

You can click any firm name in the report to have it expand to list all of the firm’s contacts who accessed your site through either RB Connect or RBCM. And you can export the results as an Excel spreadsheet to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

You can change the Activity Log’s search criteria to view resource-side activity instead. You can also change the date range you want to view activity for. If you choose a longer date range, the initial results will be the year’s total — and you can drill down to see the month-by-month breakdown. If desired, you can have the interactive report break down the results by year, quarter, and month instead.

If you have additional RB Connect sites, you can view the same activity breakdowns for each of those sites.

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

TL;DR: See who is using your RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile and how often they access it.

RB9 concepts in this lesson

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

Firm: Company you do business with.

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 #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 Standard-only function. It is not included in RB9 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.

RB9 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, RB9 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 Standard-only function. It is not included in RB9 Lite.

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

RB9 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 templates for emails notifying clients that a package is available. In each template you can enter different text and style the appearance of the body of the email with text formatting, images, color, hyperlinks, and tables. Create as many email templates as you want and set one as your default.
• In the email templates, you can insert contextual data fields into the 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 sending these alerts, you can use the default or select a different template, change the contents, upload attachments from your desktop, flag the email as important, select a different From address, and/or include Cc and Bcc addresses. When you send a Transcript Package 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 Standard-only function. It is not included in RB9 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. 

RB9 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 >