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Lesson #107

Entities – Contacts function

Contacts are people who work for firms you do business with. Examples of contacts are attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, claim adjusters, and court clerks.

Maintain a deep database of your contacts in RB in the Contacts function. If there is something you want to remember about a contact — whether it’s their contact info, standing orders, anniversaries, or anything else — store it in their RB profile. 

Add contacts to your database

You can:

• Enter contacts from scratch in this function.
• Copy an existing contact at a firm and update only the new contact info.
• Add them on the fly within a firm, case, job, or invoice.
• If you have an existing database of contacts in another application, you can import the data into RB from an Excel spreadsheet in the Bulk Import function.

Before entering a contact 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 contact. If there are duplicate entries, you can merge them — however not all data will carry over from the contact that is being merged. The only information that will be saved from the merged entry is from the Notification Email, Tags, Preferred Services, Anniversaries, Award Points, Repository, and Notes Log panes.

Search for contacts

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

• Full Name, First Name, or Last Name
• Firm — which you can search for by name, number, or the name or number of a contact at the firm
• Contact Type — single, several, or all
• Email address
• Client Of — which you can search for by first name, last name, full name, or number
• Sales Rep — which you can search for by first name, last name, full name, or number
• Tag
• Phone number
• Active contacts only or all
• Contact number

Each listing displayed in the results shows all of this info except any tags — and includes the main address of the contact’s firm, the type of firm, whether the firm is currently active, and any warnings about the contact and firm.

Customize how you view contact listings

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

Contacts are tied to firms

When entering a contact in RB, the first, most important information is their firm. If you are entering a new contact without starting from their firm, RB will automatically open the firm panel so you can select the firm before entering other contact information. If the contact’s firm is not in your RB database, you can add it here on the fly.

Once you have designated which firm the contact belongs to, you can proceed to enter the contact’s information. Some fields will auto-fill with the firm’s information — such as phone numbers and billing information — which you can override in the contact listing. Until you save the contact you can change which firm the contact is tied to. After saving a new contact you can view maps of the firm’s location, get directions to the location, and view/update firm details from the contact’s detail screen.

Basic contact information

In addition to which firm the contact works for, the only other required information about a contact is their full name. When entering the contact’s name we recommend 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. (You can also select options that include their preferred salutation and middle initial.) This way you can use the First Name/Last Name filters when searching for contacts in the main Contacts window.

You can save time entering contacts’ 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.

In addition to the contact’s name the General pane of their listing contains their contact information, other basic information, and any warnings.

Other General information tips

If you enter the contact’s primary email address in the General pane, you can email the contact directly from within their RB listing by clicking the button next to the email field.

If you have information about a contact that your staff should know when scheduling or invoicing jobs, enter those notes in the Warning field. This information appears in red under Contact Warning in ordering clients and parties in jobs, cases, and in the Invoice panel in Turn In.

If a contact is no longer scheduling jobs with you and you do not need to contact them anymore, you can deactivate their listing instead of deleting it so you retain all of your historical data about the contact but they will no longer appear in searches for active contacts anymore.

Additional information

Store the client’s preferences for receiving invoices and statements (email, print, don’t send) in the Additional pane. You can also enter their federal ID number if it’s different from their firm’s, and unlimited notes about the contact for your calendaring and production/billing departments. Style the text with different options — such as bold face, italic, text sizes, and colors — to enhance the readability of your notes.

If you have RB Connect, this is where you set up the contact’s login credentials. After saving the new contact this is also where you:

• Reset their password.
• Unlock their account if they tried to log in too many times with the incorrect credentials, and RB Connect locked them out.

Marketing

Use the Marketing pane to specify what type of contact the entity is for marketing and billing purposes plus enter personal information about the contact, including their home address. Some of the billing information will automatically populate from the contact’s firm listing — such as default billing rates — but you can change it for the contact.

You can also designate which resource receives commissions on this client’s jobs. If a reporter brought in this contact set them as the Client Of. If an account manager or sales representative got this client for you set them as the Sales Rep. This information will be used for allocating sales commissions and to generate Sales Commission Reports.

Use the Client Of feature in RB to attract and retain highly talented reporters who can bring attorney clients to your business. By designating resources responsible for clients you can track the amount of the business being generated from those attorneys — and pay incentive bonuses based on the new business generated, in addition to commissions on existing accounts.

After initial setup add more information

Once you save a contact in RB additional panes, fields, and functions become available. You can:

• Enter more information.
• Update existing information — including resetting the contact’s RB Connect password.
• View the contact’s financial & job trends.
• Copy the contact to create a new contact with the same firm information.
• Merge contacts if you find duplicates.

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

Also if you have multiple contacts that you need to update the same information for — such as assigning a new sales rep or changing the billing rate — you can use Bulk Update to change them all at once.

If a contact moves to another firm you cannot change the firm in the contact’s listing. Instead you have to de-active the current listing and set up a new listing for the contact at their new firm. You can use RB’s Merge To sub-function to save some of the contact’s historical data from the original listing in the new contact listing.

Additional panes in saved contact listings include:

Notification Email

If a contact has more than one email address or has someone else on staff who should receive their emails, you can designate which one(s) to use for:

• Job confirmations and cancellations for jobs they schedule.
• Invoices and statements (if the contact’s firm does not request consolidated statements).
• Repository file upload alerts.

If you entered an email address in the General pane it will automatically populate each of these notification email slots. You can change, delete, and add email addresses for any of these email types.

Tags

If you use tags (keywords or phrases) to monitor and market to contacts, you add tags to contact listings, either by keying in tags or selecting them from the tag list you made in Lists. Each contact can have an unlimited number of tags, and you can delete tags from a contact when they no longer apply. (You can also use the Tag Manager to add or remove tags quickly from multiple contacts at once.) Label entities with tags (keywords or phrases) to mark them as part of specific groups, which you can use for different purposes, such as monitoring or marketing.

Grant Access To

In RB, jobs and invoices are tied to the Ordering Contact (attorney). So by default if you have RB Connect, related information is accessible by that contact only. But in real life the attorney isn’t the one who will be accessing RB Connect and scheduling jobs, paying invoices, or downloading the repository files. Instead it is paralegals or secretaries that take care of that work on behalf of the Ordering Contact.

In Grant Access To you select contacts at the same firm who can access this contact’s information on RB Connect. In addition to giving access to paralegals and secretaries who work for this contact and to the attorney’s senior(s) at the firm, you can also grant access to contacts at other firms.

Have Access To

Similar to Grant Access To use Have Access To to grant this contact access to other contacts’ RB Connect — including contacts at other firms. Use Have Access To when you want to give one contact access to multiple other contacts’ RB Connect accounts instead of going into each of the other contacts’ listings and granting access one by one.

Any contact that you give access to this contact’s RB Connect will automatically list the contact in their Have Access To pane.

Preferred Services

Add your clients’ standing orders to their contact profiles. Then you can use Prefill Services on a case, job, or invoice to easily select all of the service items a client expects.

When listing which service items are included in a contact’s standing orders you can also include relevant details — such as how many units of an item they usually order, how many business days the order is due in (RB will calculate the due date for a specific job excluding weekends and holidays), the delivery method, their preference on rush deliveries, and any additional instructions for the service item. Any information entered here will appear as the default for jobs ordered by the contact and can be overridden in individual jobs.

Anniversaries

Add important personal dates to contact profiles and set reminders so you never forget those dates. Important anniversaries could be birthdays or the anniversary of when they became your client. When setting reminders you determine how many days and at what time of day to send an alert and which staff member(s) the alert should be sent to.

You can use Anniversary Inquiry to print labels for cards to send to clients celebrating upcoming anniversaries based on these saved dates.

Preferred Resources

If a contact has resources they prefer assigned to their jobs, you can keep a list of those resources in the contact’s listing. When assigning resources to tasks on jobs the contact scheduled or ordered, preferred resources will appear at the top of the list.

Blocked Resources

If there are resources a contact does not want assigned to their jobs, you can keep a list of those resources in the contact’s listing. When assigning resources to tasks on jobs the contact scheduled or ordered RB will alert you and not allow the assignment.

Award Points

Award Points are used to encourage clients to book with your agency by rewarding them with points for different services. If you have RB Connect you can allow contacts to request point redemptions online. You set up your own rewards —such as cash or gift certificates — plus designate what services earn points.

If your state does not allow reward programs, use points to track your clients’ order history and see who your best customers are by which contact’s calls generate the most revenue instead of by firm only.

If you reward contacts with points, you can monitor a contact’s points in the Award Points pane plus view their points history — which includes which services earned how many points on which invoices, current status of those points, how they were redeemed, and any notes about the points.

You can also designate which contact(s) within a firm will receive points earned by this contact — and allow the contact to view and redeem their points online via RB Connect.

You can boost a contact’s points-earning ability by automatically multiplying their points. For example if this is one of your best clients, you might want to award them double-points for every point-eligible service you offer. Or award extra points for special promotions that are limited in time then revert back to the original point scheme afterwards.

Repository

Keep files related to a contact — such as signed contracts — in their RB listing. When viewing the contact’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 contacts 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 which contact at the firm.

Notes Log

The system enters some notes about contacts automatically in their individual Notes Logs, and you can also enter notes yourself about a contact in their Notes Log for internal purposes. Some examples of automatic Notes Log entries are notes recording when a sales rep has been assigned, when statements are sent to the client, and if the client 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 contact, details about what occurred — and if needed, designate who should follow up and set a date and time for a reminder to be sent to them via RB’s message system.

Export contact 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 contact’s Account Overview, highlights of their financial and job activity history, future projections, and trends are displayed visually. A table displays the contact’s total receivables since they became your client and upcoming scheduled jobs. One line graph displays revenue generated, a second line graph displays jobs scheduled/canceled, and a third line graph displays jobs that have occurred.

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 contact’s trends over the last six months. You can also view the contact’s trends over a year or 2 years.

TL;DR: Maintain a deep database of your contacts in RB, including contact, billing, and personal information, files related to the contact, notes about the contact, and more. View interactive graphs of their financial and job activity trends.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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.

Firm: Business you provide services to — usually law firms, but can also be other court reporting firms, vendors, insurance companies, corporate clients, and courts.

Ordering Contact: Contact at the firm that is responsible for a job with your company. Can be different from the contact who scheduled the job.

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 a reporter.

Lesson #106

Entities – Firms function

Firms are businesses that schedule or pay for services — such as law firms or insurance agencies. If a client has multiple locations/branches, you can designate the company’s headquarters as a parent firm for the other branches so they are connected in your RB database.

Maintain a deep database of these client companies in RB in the Firms function. If there is something you want to remember about a firm — whether it’s contact info, their employees, financial history (including collections), or anything else — store it in their RB profile. 

Add firms to your database

You can enter firms from scratch in this function, import them from other applications, or add them on the fly within a case, job, or new contact (someone who works at the firm). If you have an existing database of firms in another application, you can import the data into RB from an Excel spreadsheet in the Bulk Import function.

Before entering a firm 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 firm. If there are duplicate entries, you can merge them — however not all data will carry over from the firm that is being merged. The only information that will be saved from the merged entry is from their jobs and contacts, and the Tags, Collection Notes, Repository, and Notes Log panes.

Search for firms

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

• Firm Name or a/k/a (Also Known As)
• City
• State (one, several, or all)
• Firm Type (one, several, or all)
• Parent Firm (which you can search for by name, number, or the name or number of a contact at the firm)
• Client Of (which you can search for by first name, last name, full name, or number)
• Sales Rep (which you can search for by first name, last name, full name, or number)
• Tag
• Active firms only or all firms in your database
• Firm number

Each listing displayed in the results shows all of this info except any tags — and includes the firm’s main street address, zip code, and any warnings about the firm. With so much information displayed in the results you might find exactly what you need without having to drill down further.

Customize how you view firm listings

The grid in which you view firm 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 Firms results grid you can view and update any listed firm’s details by clicking its hyperlink in the grid, add new firms, and export the grid as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV(comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Basic firm information

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

With 20 fields and options in the General information pane alone, it might seem overwhelming to enter firms into RB. However when entering a new firm, the only required information is the firm name. (If creating a new firm within a case, you will also be required to enter at least one contact for the firm.)

Other General information tips

If you commonly refer to the firm by another name or an abbreviation, include that alias in the a/k/a (Also Known As) field. When looking up the firm, you can search by the alias instead of the firm name. In search results, the alias will appear in parentheses after the firm name.

If you are entering the firm’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.

You can enter a second address for billing purposes if the firm wants invoices and statements sent to a different address.

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

If you have information about a firm that users should know when scheduling or invoicing jobs, enter those notes in the Warning field. This information appears in red under Firm Warning in ordering clients and parties in jobs, cases, and in the Invoice panel in Turn In.

If a firm is no longer scheduling jobs with you and you do not need to contact them anymore, you can deactivate their listing instead of deleting it so you retain all of your historical data about the firm but they will no longer appear in searches for active firms anymore. You can also deactivate all their contacts at the same time, if desired.

Additional information

Store detailed billing information (including payment terms, fees/charges/rates, C.O.D status, and tax info), the client’s preferences for invoices (list services or not) and statements (consolidated or not and sending method) in the Additional pane. You can set defaults for some of this information to save time when entering new firms. Then change the settings for individual firms as needed. (When you change a firm’s Late Charge Rate or Finance Charge Rate, RB automatically records the change in the firm’s Notes Log so you have a paper trail.)

You can also enter unlimited notes about the firm here for your calendaring and production/billing departments. Style the text with different options — such as bold face, italic, text sizes, and colors — to enhance the readability of your notes. If this firm is a branch or subsidiary of another firm in your database, you can select that firm here as the parent firm/headquarters.

Marketing

Use the Marketing pane to specify what type of firm the entity is for marketing and billing purposes — including selecting default billing rates. You can also designate which resource is the sales representative/receives commissions (Client Of) on this client’s jobs.

Use the Client Of feature to attract and retain highly talented reporters who can bring clients to your business. By designating resources responsible for clients, you can track the amount of business being generated from those attorneys — and pay incentive bonuses based on the new business generated in addition to commissions on existing accounts.

Collections

When setting up a new firm, you can assign one of your resources to be responsible for your collections efforts with the client — and designate the firm’s credit status with your company, e.g., In Collection or COD (Cash on Delivery).

After initial setup, add more information

Once you save a firm in RB additional panes, fields, and functions become available. You can:

• Enter more information, including employees at the firm you have contact with.
• Update existing information.
• View the firm’s financial & job trends.
• Merge firms if you find duplicates.

You don’t have to go into the Firms function to update a firm. Most RB functions that include a Firm field allow you to directly access that firm’s listing which you can view and edit.

Also if you have multiple firms that you need to update the same information for — such as assigning a new sales rep or changing the billing rate — you can use Bulk Update to change them all at once.

Additional panes in saved firm listings include:

Notification Email

If a firm has more than one email address you can designate which one(s) to use for:

• Email notices from RB related to jobs they schedule
• Invoices and other accounting information

Tags

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

Preferred Services

Add your clients’ standing orders to their firm profiles. Then you can use Prefill Services on a case, job, or invoice to easily select all of the service items a client expects.

When listing which service items are included in a firm’s standing orders, you can also include relevant details like how many units of an item they usually order, how many business days the order is due in (RB will calculate the due date for a specific job excluding weekends and holidays), the delivery method, their preference on rush deliveries, and any additional instructions for the service item.

Task Due Days

For clients who have their own turnaround deadlines for specific services provided by your resources — such as reporting or back orders — you can enter the number of days for each of those tasks in their firm profile. Then when scheduling jobs for contacts at the firm if they order a task that has a firm-defined turnaround, RB will automatically calculate the deadline for that task using the firm’s requirement. Otherwise if there is no firm-defined turnaround requirement, RB will use your assigned business unit’s turnaround specs.

Preferred Resources

If a firm has resources they prefer assigned to their jobs you can keep a list of those resources in the firm’s listing. When assigning resources to tasks on jobs they scheduled or ordered, preferred resources will appear at the top of the list.

Blocked Resources

If there are resources a firm does not want assigned to their jobs, you can keep a list of those resources in the firm’s listing. When assigning resources to tasks on jobs the firm scheduled or ordered, RB will alert you and not allow the assignment.

Collections

(After saving a new firm its Collections pane expands to allow you to enter more information.)

If a client is in arrears you can record your collection efforts here — including when you made an effort, what type of effort (such as Call Made — you can create your own set of collection actions in Lists), and results or other notes about the effort. If you want to be reminded on a certain date to follow up on the progress of your efforts, you can set a date and time — plus the staff member to be reminded. (This information is used in Collection Follow-up.)

If a client pays you an upfront deposit — i.e., a retainer — you can enter and track it in the Collections pane. You can view when retainers were entered in the system along with other details about the retainers — such as any notes made about a retainer and when retainers were applied to which invoices.

Repository

Keep files related to a firm in their RB listing. When viewing the firm’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 (office staff only, office and contacts, or office and resources).

If you have RB Connect, you can give contacts who work at the firm 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 which contact at the firm.

Notes Log

The system enters some notes about firms automatically in their individual Notes Logs and you can also enter notes yourself about a firm in their Notes Log for internal purposes. Some examples of automatic Notes Log entries are notes recording when a sales rep has been assigned, when statements are sent to the client, and if the client 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 firm, details about what occurred, and if needed designate who should follow up and set a date and time for a reminder to be sent to them via RB’s message system.

Export firm data for other uses

In these additional panes and the Collections pane, you can export the information as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV(comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

View financial/job trends

In a firm’s Account Overview, highlights of their financial and job activity history, future projections, and trends are displayed visually. A table displays the firm’s total receivables since they became your client and upcoming scheduled jobs. One line graph displays revenue generated, a second line graph displays jobs scheduled/canceled, and a third line graph displays jobs that have occurred.

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 firm’s trends over the last six months. You can also view the firm’s trends over a year or 2 years.

Manage firm’s contacts

From the firm’s profile you can view the contacts who work for the firm (including inactive contacts if desired), update any contact’s details, add new contacts, and add or delete notification email addresses for individual contacts at the firm.

TL;DR: Maintain a deep database of client companies in RB including contact, billing, and marketing information, collections history, files related to the firm, notes about the firm, and more. View interactive graphs of their financial and job activity trends.

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.

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, paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, claim adjusters, and court clerks.

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 — such as a case, job, invoice, or entity. More >

Parent Firm: Headquarters of a multi-branch corporation.

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.

Service items: Regular charges that you bill to your clients.

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

Lesson #102

Tools – Email Log function

RB9 automatically maintains a log of most emails sent through the system. You can view lists of emails sent and look up details about each email sent in this function. The email logs are your paper trail of correspondence sent from RB9 and cannot be edited.

Emails that are automatically logged:

• Assignment Cancellation
• Assignment Notification
• Collection Letter
• Future Calendar
• Invoice
• Job Cancellation
• Job Confirmation
• Letter to Contact
• Letter to Witness
• Letter to Other
• Overdue Tasks Report
• Repository Notification
• Resource Pay Statement
• Statement
• Transcript Package Notification

You can search for emails in each of these different categories by recipient email address, sent date or date range, job number, and/or invoice number.

RB9 lists all of the log entries that match the search criteria, along with their:

• Type
• Sent date
• Sender
• Recipient
• Subject line
• Remarks
• Any cc’s

You can sort your results 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 any email’s details by clicking its hyperlinked Log No.

NOTE: Not all emails are logged by the system

Since RB9 does not log all types of emails sent from the system, you can Cc or Bcc your email address on any email to save a copy of it. If you want to keep copies of all emails that you send from within RB9, set your user preference to “Always Bcc me,” so RB9 will send a copy of every email to your email inbox.

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

TL;DR: RB9 keeps a log of automatic emails sent from the program so you can monitor and review correspondence you sent to contacts and resources.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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

Lesson #101

Tools – Download Backup File function

Download backup files of your RB9 database from up to 7 days in the past.

There is no need for your own backups for recovery purposes because RB9 and RB Lite are on Microsoft Azure’s cloud platform which includes a better-than-backup process that requires no effort on your part to maintain. However, if you need or want backups to comply with your company security policies, you can use this function to download a copy of your RB9 database backup to store on your premises.

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

TL;DR: Back up your RB9 database to your desktop.

Lesson #100

Tools – Repository Download Log function

In addition to complying with general security rules for business applications, tracking repository access is useful to see which clients and resources are using your RB Connect, and which files they are downloading. You can also give contacts the ability to track their own download activity in RB Connect.

You can set up RB9 to record repository activity by your staff, contacts, and/or resources. (For example, if you do not have RB Connect, you can set it to track staff use only.) After setting up RB9 to record repository activity, it will track all file download activities performed by individuals in your selected categories.

Then in the Repository Download Log, you can search for download activity:

• By all persons within one of those categories, or by a single person.
• For a single date or date range.
• For a specific file or files with similar names.
• For one, several, or all file types.

RB9 lists all download activity that matches your criteria by who accessed a file; when they accessed it; which repository the file is in; the file name, type, and description; and when the file was uploaded to the system. If someone downloads a file multiple times, each download is listed.

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

From the log, you can view/update details about any person or file by clicking the person’s or file’s hyperlink.

Clients can check their download activity too

If you set Repository Logging to include contact downloading activity, your contacts can also see their download activity in RB Connect’s Repository. Similar to RB9’s Repository Download Log, a Reviewed column will be included in their Repository results grid, and any file they download will record the date and time in that column so your clients can see at a glance if they have downloaded a file or not.

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

TL;DR: If RB9 is set up to track download activity, this report lists all activity by contacts, resources, or staff for a specific time period.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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

Repository: RB has 9 repositories where you store files for safekeeping and quick retrieval. When you store files in a case, they are in RB’s Case Repository; when you store files in a job, they are in RB’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.

Lesson #99

Tools – Notes Finder function

With 10 different sets of Notes Logs, it can be difficult to remember exactly where a particular note was entered in RB9. Use Notes Finder to search for log notes entered manually by users and automatically by the system.

With this tool, you can search for notes made in:

• Case listings
• Contact listings
• Firm listings
• Firms’ collections histories
• Invoice listings
• Job listings
• Location listings
• Resource listings
• Tracking listings
• Witness listings

Search each Notes Log category for notes by:

• Date or date range
• All (system generated and entered by staff) or a single person who entered the note(s)
• Word or phrase
• Notes type — such as marketing — or action type for collections — such as call made. You can search all types, a single type, or several types at once.

You can include all notes in your search or exclude cancelled notes from your search.

View search results

RB9 displays the notes that meet your search criteria with the most recent notes listed first. You can see at a glance:

• Each note’s contents.
• Where the note is stored.
• Who entered it and when — or if added by the system automatically, who triggered the entry.
• Type of note.
• How it was communicated or what action was taken.
• If you include cancelled notes, when they were cancelled and by whom.

You can sort the notes listed 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.

Drill down in any note to see more information associated with the note — such as the contact listing associated with a contact note. From there you can edit/update the listing, upload/download repository files, and add more notes to its Notes Log.

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

TL;DR: Use the Notes Finder tool to find notes quickly anywhere in RB9.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

Firm: Business you provide services to, usually law firms.

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.

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 >

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

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

Lesson #98

Tools – Label Templates function

In the Production module’s Envelopes and Labels function you can print addresses on a variety of labels for parties, contacts, firms, locations, and resources using information from RB9’s database.

Before printing labels out of RB9, set up label templates that will automatically include the recipient mailing address, plus your company logo and other information if desired. Then store them in the Label Templates function for everyone on your staff to use. With DYMO label software and RB9’s Label Templates function you can modify label templates, create new ones, and manage all of your company’s label templates.

Customize default labels & create your own

RB9 comes with a default set that you can use as is or customize to better match your company. You can also create an unlimited amount of new label templates to meet all of your company’s labeling needs. RB9 works with DYMO label printers only.

Use DYMO software to set up labels. Whether editing existing templates or creating label templates from scratch, you can add/delete:

• Text
• Address field (which RB9 uses for mail merge)
• Graphics like your company logo

Label template management made easy

After creating/editing label templates, upload them to RB9’s Label Templates function — which stores all of your company’s label templates together in the database. This way everyone has access to the same label templates when printing labels from RB9 — and you won’t lose your label templates when transferring to new computer because they are stored in the cloud not locally.

The Label Templates window lists all label templates in your RB9 database. By default labels are sorted by type, then name, but you can sort your results in the grid by one or both 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.

You can download any existing template to modify. Afterwards upload the modified template with a new name to add as a new template in RB9 or with the same name to replace the existing template in RB9.

You can add as many new templates as you want by uploading .dymo files from your computer. And when you no longer need a template or want to replace it with a modified version, you can delete it from the Label Templates list.

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

TL;DR: Modify default label templates and create new ones for your office to use when printing addresses on labels for parties, contacts, firms, locations, or resources using information from RB9’s database.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

Firm: Business you provide services to — usually law firms.

Location: Place where jobs occur.

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

Lesson #97

Tools – Form Templates function

Some RB emails are form letters or include attachments that automatically contain RB information. You can customize the content of these forms — even add new forms — in Form Templates.

Form Templates is a word processor with mail merge, so you don’t need Microsoft Word to manage forms, letters, and other documents that use RB data. It’s a simpler word processor than Word but includes data merge fields and is designed to work with RB functions.

Complete set of forms included

RB comes with a starter set of form templates to cover a variety of needs — such as job confirmations, letters to witnesses, and collections letters. You can use the included templates as is, edit them to match your business better, import forms from other applications, create templates from scratch, and copy templates to create additional templates.

You can create form templates in RB for:

• Job confirmations & cancellations
• Assignment confirmations (AKA resource worksheets) & cancellations
• Letters to contacts, witnesses, & others related to a job
• Payment receipts
• RB-PDF Transcript cover pages & errata sheets
• Collections letters

Customize & create your own

Use RB’s Form Templates to create your own company-branded letters, notices, transcript cover pages, and errata sheets. You can include your own content, formatting, company logo, and merge data fields.

When editing templates or creating new ones, you can:

• Enter your own content, including images and simple graphics.
• Insert headers, footers, and tables.
• Add RB data fields.
• Format everything to match your needs and corporate culture.

Any edits you make to an existing form are saved system-wide in the form. And when you create a new form, it is saved on the RB server and is available to other RB registered users in your company.

RB’s Form Templates is easy to navigate and use, but powerful and full of options. All existing forms in your system are grouped by the functions they are used in, so you can find forms easily. You can also create your own subgroups to further organize your forms when the main groups are not enough. You can sort form lists by one or more columns in ascending or descending order to help you locate the form you want to edit/copy/delete (but when you exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order).

Full styling toolkit

The many tools in Form Templates are grouped into major categories on tabs, with each tab displaying all of its tools organized in subgroups so you minimize searching for a particular tool. And some tool groups have a popup option so you can change multiple related options at once.

This full-featured word processor with mail merge contains many controls and options in all aspects of form creation:

Text

Tools for styling your forms include most common text controls present in word processor applications, such as font types, sizes, colors, weights, and styling. You can style bulleted or numbered lists, and set text alignment, indents, tabs, borders, and backgrounds on paragraphs. You can choose different pagination options for multi-page forms, such as widow and orphan control, and set up re-usable character and paragraph styles.

Inserts

You can insert headers, footers, page numbers, images, graphics, blank pages, page breaks, tables, special symbols, hyperlinks, and text frames into forms. At a minimum, you can customize all of your forms by inserting your company logo. You can further customize the appearance of your logo or other graphics by setting text wrap options, positioning (including on the z axis), and size.

Tables

If you have a table in your form, you can customize it by adding or deleting rows/columns, and setting the properties of frame lines in the table, such as line colors, line widths, and cell background colors, or not having frame lines at all. You can also add custom formulas to your forms, such as sum totals.

Layout

Customize the layout of your template’s pages by setting margins, orientation, paper size, columns, content breaks, background color and borders, and paragraph spacing.

View

Form Templates has typical word processor View controls, so you can zoom in/out, or select a set view percentage. You can toggle rulers, status bar, table gridlines, control characters, and other guides on and off.

Lots of merge field options

Along with tools for styling your forms and adding boilerplate content, Form Templates includes several types of merge data fields:

• Contextual data fields – Only relevant RB data fields appear as options when inserting a merge data field in the form you are editing/creating, instead of listing every available RB data field for you to scroll through. When you insert a merge data field, RB only displays fields related to the category of form you are updating, logically grouped into sets, so you can quickly find a specific merge field.
• List data fields – You create tables of related merge fields that you select. You can re-arrange the order that the fields appear as columns in the table, or have the information display in paragraph format. For example, you can easily add a list of parties scheduled to appear to a Job Worksheet, that includes each party’s firm name, the party’s email address, party type, and services requested.
• Special fields – You customize their formatting, such as a Date field where you can select the order and appearance of day/month/year, and even include time stamps.

Merge fields are important because, when inserted into a form, real data from the job/client/resource/location you’re sending the form for will automatically merge into the place of the field, so you don’t have to manually re-key any of the information.

If you want a copy of a form template outside RB, you can print or export the form in a variety of formats, such as PDF, Word, HTML, or text.

TL;DR: Some RB functions include email-able/printable forms that automatically include RB information. These forms can be used as is or modified if needed in the Form Templates function. You can also import forms from other applications, and create your own forms.

RB concepts in this lesson

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.

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.

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

Lesson #96

Tools – Tag Manager function

Tags — the labels you create in RB9 to organize entities with — can be used to quickly print envelopes or labels for targeted mailings, or to send bulk emails to specific groups. By organizing clients with accurate qualifiers you can do a better job with your outreach efforts. You can also use tags to organize resources and job locations, then use this function to contact them by group.

If you use tags to organize entities, Tag Manager is where you can look up entities by tag, add or remove tags from multiple entities at once, print envelopes and labels for specific groups, and bulk email tagged entities.

Set up tags to re-use

Before using Tag Manager set up tags for contacts, firms, resources, and locations in Lists. You can use any word or phrase as a tag, and use as many tags as you want to define and organize entities. Tags are especially helpful in organizing firms for marketing purposes and contacts for customer service treatment. For example you might have a tag for your 25 best clients (“Top 25”) who require constant monitoring.

Setting up tag lists in RB9 is recommended over entering tags manually in each entity. With preset lists users select tags from drop-downs — which is faster than typing and eliminates misspellings — plus everyone in your company will have the same options to select from. A tag manually entered in one entity is not available to select later until you add it to a tag list.

Apply tags to entities

You can tag entities one at a time — for example tag new customers as you enter them in RB9. But if you have a group of entities to tag, use Tag Manager where you can bulk update a set of entities at once. In Tag Manager you can search for firms, contacts, resources, and locations by name or tag. If searching by tag you can select one from the contextual drop-down or key in a partial/full tag name in the field to find manually entered tags. You can also search for contacts by firm.

Using tags in Tag Manager

The results grid in Tag Manager displays the name and address of each entity that matches your search criteria. It also shows if a displayed entity is active — e.g., a client who is still scheduling jobs. This is useful if you want to send emails, letters, etc. to only active or inactive clients.

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.

After finding entities in Tag Manager you can view the details of any entry in the results by clicking its hyperlink.

Add tags to multiple entities at once by selecting them in Tag Manager results, then choosing a tag in the drop-down and saving your choice.

Remove a tag from a group of entities at once is a just-as-easy similar process.

If you want to do a mass mailing from RB9, first find firms, contacts, resources, or locations in Tag Manager. Then print envelopes or mailing labels for the selected entities. Or similarly send contacts, resources, or locations an email directly from this function.

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

TL;DR: After tagging entities use the Tag Manager to look up tagged entities, email selected entities, print envelopes or labels for targeted mailings, quickly remove tags from entities, and add more tags to entities.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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

Firm: Business you provide services to — usually law firms.

Location: Place where jobs occur — such as court rooms.

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

Tags: Labels you create in RB to organize entities with relevant, searchable keywords or phrases.

Lesson #95

Tools – Bulk Update function

When something changes that affects a lot of jobs or entities — for example you have a new sales representative — save time by changing that particular setting (field) for a group of records —i.e., all of the affected contacts — at once. Use the Bulk Update function to update multiple jobs, firms, contacts, resources, or locations at the same time.

Depending on the information you want to change, you first select the group of records (jobs, firms, contacts, resources, or locations) where that information is stored. Then you can select the specific field in those records that you want to update. Depending on the field, you choose the value you want in that field — it might be a list option, a Yes/No choice, a lookup from the RB database, or a text entry of a number or percentage. Finally you choose which specific entries in the group of records to update.

Update contacts

For contacts, you can update:

• Billing rates
• Classification
• Whether or not to send them marketing materials
• Designated gender
• Credit rating
• Sales rep or resource they belong to (Client Of)
• What salutation to use in addressing them
• Preferred methods for receiving invoices and statements

You can choose to change every listing in Contacts, only those listings for contacts that are still doing business with you (active clients), or select a custom set of contacts to update, such as all the contacts at one firm. You can also search for all contacts assigned to a single sales rep if you are bulk updating those contacts to a new sales rep.

Update firms

For firms, you can update many more fields:

• Current account status
• Whether to show detailed breakdowns on their invoices
• Billing rates
• Your ranking of them (the type of firm they are or their value to you)
• Credit rating
• Whether they are COD (Cash on Delivery)
• Sales rep or resource they belong to (Client Of)
• Resource responsible for collecting payments from them
• Whether monthly statements are printed for each contact at this firm separately or combined and sent to “Accounts Payable”
• Percentage you deduct if you offer a negotiated discount on all the firms’ invoices
• Whether or not to send them marketing materials
• Percentage you charge the firms monthly on past-due invoices
• Type of firm (e.g., law firm, insurance company, corporation)
• Deadline in business days past the payment terms of invoices for the firms to render payment before RB notifies you to start collection efforts
• Percentage you charge the firms as a one-time account service fee on past-due invoices
• Firm designated as the firms’ headquarters (Parent Firm)
• Terms for payment that will appear on the firms’ invoices
• Percentage for the state sales tax for the firms
• Where the firms heard of you (source of initial contact)
• Method for receiving consolidated statements

Like contacts, you can choose to change every listing in Firms, only active firms, or a custom set of specific firms. You can also search for all firms assigned to a single sales rep if you are bulk updating those firms to a new sales rep.

Update resources

For resources, you can update:

• Percentages for extra commission pay Client Of resources receive for their clients’/cases’ jobs  when they cover the job or when someone else covers the job (can be 2 different percentages)
• Percentage for sales reps’ commissions
• Number of days from the invoice date before resources are paid on originals or copies (can be 2 different amounts)
• If they are excluded from the pay process (for example,  an owner or conference room would not earn pay on tasks assigned to them)
• Their Pay Group (e.g., Monthly, Weekly, On Demand)
• Whether you provide them with 1099 forms
• Order of preference for assigning tasks or their availability
• Profession or other resource type
• What salutation to use in addressing them
• If they do their own scoping

As with contacts and firms, you can choose to change every listing in Resources, only active resources, or a custom set of specific resources.

Update locations

For locations, there is only one field you can update: Location Type, i.e., the category of the facilities where jobs take place, e.g., hospital, courthouse, or school.

As with the other entities, you can choose to change every listing in Locations, only active locations, or a custom set of specific locations.

There is no Undo in Bulk Update

When you select Update All for firms, contacts, resources, or locations, RB9 warns you that you are about to update all the entities in the selected table and you must affirm that you want to change the entire table. The default reply is No to help minimize errors made with this irreversible command.

Update jobs

For jobs, you can update how you classify a group of jobs (such as depo, trial, or video conference) and which sales rep is responsible for the jobs.

You can choose to update every job within a specified date range; narrow which ones to update in that date range to those ordered by a specific firm, contact, or case; or select a custom set of jobs. You can also search for all jobs assigned to a single sales rep if you are bulk updating those jobs to a new sales rep.

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

NOTE: In addition to the stand-alone Bulk Update function, Billing Rates and Pay Rates have a Mass Update feature (in the Service Item Master), which you can use to update rates in multiple billing or pay rate tables at once. With these power-user features, you will be able to keep your RB database updated more easily.

TL;DR: If you have a number of entities or jobs that need the same information changed, save time by changing them all at once.

RB concepts in this lesson

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, paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, claim adjusters, and court clerks.

Firm: Business you provide services to — usually law firms, but can also be other court reporting firms, vendors, insurance companies, corporate clients, and courts.

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 >

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

Parent Firm: Headquarters of a multi-branch corporation.

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, videographers, interpreters, scopists, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.

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