Tag Archives: email second round

Lesson #33

Billing – COD Invoices function

Cash on Delivery (COD) invoices require the Bill To Firm to pay the invoice when presented — instead of having a grace period before the invoice is due. COD invoices are not included in sales so RB does not allow them to be posted or archived to the central repository. CODs are handled differently than sales to avoid overstating revenue and to minimize the number of voids that would occur to clear uncollectible CODs from your accounts receivable.

You designate an invoice as COD when generating it in Turn In. If you have designated a firm as a COD client in the firm’s listing, their invoices will automatically be COD unless you turn off the COD designation in their invoices manually.

RB handles COD invoices separately

If after calculating an invoice in Turn In the Post Invoices button is grayed out, the invoice is a COD invoice. Use the COD Invoices function to manage and send these COD invoices.

Because COD invoices are different from regular invoices and cannot be posted until paid, they are not included in Send Invoices or Invoice Inquiry searches. To find COD invoices use the COD Invoices function.

In the COD Invoices main window you can find all COD invoices at once — or restrict your results to a particular date range, case, Bill To Firm, job number, or selected business unit(s). You can also look up individual COD invoices.

Invoices in the results gird display their information in all of the search categories — plus invoice amount, when sent, Bill To Contacts and Sold To clients, and job date. You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function RB will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

From this list you can edit, calculate, preview, email, and print individual COD invoices.

Manage COD invoices

You can use this function in combination with other functions for applying payments, purging invoices, and sharing associated files online:

• When you receive a payment for a COD invoice, use this function to remove the invoice’s COD flag and post the invoice. Then apply the payment in Receivables. COD invoices will not appear in Receivables’ outstanding invoices until you post them here.
• Use this function to find COD invoices older than a set date — such as 90 days old — then delete them in Turn In. Do this on a monthly basis — or whatever schedule works best for your organization.
• In addition to emailing and printing COD invoices you can use COD invoices with RB Connect. Since COD invoices are not posted in RB they do not appear in clients’ RB Connect online offices unless you manually publish them to RB Connect. This is better than other COD payment methods because the client has to pay the COD invoice online first before they can download the associated transcript.

TL;DR: Because COD invoices are not treated as sales until paid use this function to manage and send COD invoices.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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

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

Sold To Contact/Firm: Person/company that ordered the services on the invoice.

Lesson #32

Billing – Post Invoices function

Instead of posting invoices one at a time in Turn In, you can save time by posting in batches in Post Invoices. You can also archive the invoices to your repository as you post them.

Finding & reviewing invoices

You can view all unposted invoices or restrict your list to invoices in a specific date range and/or for selected business units. You can include COD invoices in your search. You can also look up individual invoices by job or invoice number.

Invoices in the results are color coded by job status plus you can see at a glance if you didn’t calculate an invoice in Turn In in the unposted invoices list, then calculate it here with the click of a button before posting. You can preview invoices from the list. Other information in the results grid includes:

• Invoice number
• Invoice date
• Invoice and pay amounts
• If the invoice is for originals
• If the invoice is COD
• If the invoice needs calculation
• Date sent
• Job number
• Job date
• Job status
• Business unit
• Case
• Sold To firm and contact
• Bill To firm and contact

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

Posting invoices

Post any or all invoices at the same time — and archive them in your repository in the same process if desired. When posting you have the option to send invoices to the clients at the same time. RB will automatically open the Send Invoices function with the posted invoices selected. You can choose to email the original or current invoices — or print them for sending via other methods.

To reduce errors you can turn on an RB option in System Preferences that will alert you when an invoice does not have a pay rate applied to it — or the total pay amount is 0 — and you attempt to post it.

Before posting, you can:

• Preview invoices. If you styled the text in invoice messages and third-party direct billing notes (such as bolding text or adding color), your styling will appear on the invoices.
• View any invoice’s details.
• Edit some invoice information, such as the date, message, and insurance/e-billing information.
• Upload/download/manage files in the invoice’s repository.
• Monitor repository activity. See which clients can access a file in the repository, who has downloaded it, and when.
• Look up and make notes in the invoice’s Notes Log.

After posting an invoice, it will appear in Receivables and RB financial reports. Once posted, an invoice cannot be deleted.

TL;DR: Save time by posting invoices in batches. You can archive and send them at the same time.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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

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.

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

Lesson #30

Production – Link Exhibits function

Instead of delivering a PDF transcript and its related exhibits as separate files, provide your client with a single PDF document with hyperlinked exhibits embedded inside the transcript. RB9 can automatically add hyperlinks in RB-PDF Transcripts to related exhibits so your clients can view exhibits in context by clicking the links in the transcript.

You can link exhibits to RB-PDF Transcripts as you create the transcripts or add them later in the separate Link Exhibits function. Link Exhibits also includes the ability to apply reporter and agency digital signatures (using the free ReporterBase Digital Signature Proxy) to finish the transcript.

When your clients open the PDF they can view/download any exhibit image by clicking a hyperlinked reference to it in the PDF. They do not have to maintain any additional files or file structure to access the exhibits.

Hyperlinks in RB-PDF Transcripts are called aliases and can be either words or phrases used to reference the exhibits. You set which words/phrases identify which exhibits and RB9 automatically inserts the hyperlinks into the transcript when it encounters those words/phrases.

Use naming conventions to speed the process

If you name exhibit files and transcript references according to a pattern — for example you name files EX01, EX02, etc., and transcript references Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, etc. — you can save production time by setting up those patterns before producing hyperlinked transcripts so RB9 can link all exhibits at once to a transcript.

Link Exhibits includes a default list of commonly used exhibit file names with their transcript aliases which you can edit, delete, and add to, and you can have as many alias patterns as you want to cover all the ways you label exhibits and how they are referenced in transcripts. Exhibit file names and transcript references are case-sensitive so you should take that into account too when setting up alias patterns.

If a transcript has a unique alias pattern you can set it up in the transcript as a one-time thing on the fly when creating the PDF transcript following the same conventions as in Link Exhibits. You don’t have to learn another way or add links manually in another application. The pattern won’t be saved after the one use though.

Finding, linking, & monitoring transcripts

In the separate Link Exhibits function, you can search for RB-PDF Transcripts to automatically link exhibits in by job number, witness name, upload date/date range, and/or business unit.

The results list any RB-PDF Transcripts that match your search criteria. Each listing includes its information from the search categories (except business units) plus the job date, file name, file type, last exhibit marked, and case.

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

While the results list all relevant RB-PDF Transcripts you can only link exhibits to transcripts that don’t already have linked exhibits. The already linked RB-PDF Transcripts are listed so you can monitor what has already been done plus you can download any file listed and view who else has downloaded the file and when.

When you select which alias pattern(s) you want to apply to a transcript RB9 will tell you if there are no matches in either file names or aliases in the text so you can make corrections as needed.

(The Link Exhibits function only works for RB-PDF Transcripts. Exhibits can also be hyperlinked to Transcript Packages in the Connect module following the same conventions.)

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

TL;DR: Automatically add hyperlinks in RB-PDF Transcripts to related exhibits so your clients can view exhibits in context by clicking the links in the transcript.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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

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

ReporterBase Digital Signature Proxy (RB-DSP): Apply reporters’ and your agency’s free digital signatures to RB-PDF Transcripts through the normal production process. More >

Transcript Package: Interactive transcript that includes related files, including video and PDF transcripts, and can be used by your clients through RB Connect on their computers or through RB Connect Mobile on their mobile devices. Users can highlight text, make notes, view hyperlinked exhibits and other files, and export the transcript in a variety of formats, including condensed or word list only. More >

Lesson #28

Production – PDF Transcripts function

Use the included PDF transcript creator to generate PDF transcripts (including condensed versions) that automatically include job and case information from your RB9 database. You can also:

• Customize the look of transcripts and create transcript profiles to match client, court, and other requirements.
• Attach original ASCII and AMICUS files automatically.
• Add word lists and word indexes, either as attachments, appended to the transcript or as separate files. Customize their appearance.
• Include a word index as PDF bookmarks for easy navigation.
• Hyperlink exhibits in the transcript.
• Apply your own stamps such as “original” or “certified copy.”
• Add custom cover pages. Create cover page templates for different clients or other purposes.
• Attach errata sheets. Create templates for different uses.
• Set security restrictions such as passwords and what actions users are allowed.
• Digitally sign transcripts with reporter and agency signatures.
• Generate PDF/A transcripts for archival purposes.
• Duplicate, rename, or delete PDF transcript files.

RB-PDF Transcripts are PDF versions of your reporters’ ASCII transcripts. As PDFs they retain the appearance of the original document and can be easily shared with others because PDF is a universal format.

What you can do

You generate RB-PDF Transcripts from “page image” ASCII files or any ASCII file which includes line numbers, page numbers, and page breaks — as generated by most CAT systems and word processing applications. While the transcripts mimic the look of the original ASCII transcript, you can apply a variety of customizations to satisfy client requests, court requirements, and other restrictions.

Set up different transcript profiles to cover different transcript requirements and save time when creating RB-PDF Transcripts by selecting a specific profile. You can override any of the preferences in a profile when creating individual transcripts.

You define the appearance and basic options of transcripts in transcript profiles with specifications for:

• Paper size including custom sizes
• Margins
• Border appearance: how many, thickness, location
• Line number treatments
• Text treatments including separate options for Q&A bolding)
• Attachments such as the original ASCII
• PDF format(including PDF/A for archival purposes

You can tailor header and footer content and appearance — including logos — in transcript profiles. Transcripts can automatically include job and case information — like the case name, job number, and witness name — in headers, footers, cover pages, and errata sheets.

If clients want condensed transcripts you can create  2- or 4-pages/sheet condensed transcripts which are exact replicas of full-sized transcripts but reduced in size so that 2 or 4 transcript pages fit on one sheet of paper. Like full-sized transcripts you can customize the look and options of condensed transcripts.

You can create and apply stamps to RB-PDF Transcripts without leaving RB9. Set up stamps that say “original” or “certified copy,” then when generating transcripts select and place stamps wherever you want in the document. You can apply stamps to full-sized and condensed transcripts as well as word lists and word indexes if you create them as separate documents. You can apply as many stamps to a document as you want.

You can have RB9 automatically add hyperlinks in RB-PDF Transcripts to related exhibits so your clients can view exhibits in context by clicking the links in the transcript. You designate which file name patterns link to which text patterns in the transcript (e.g., Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, etc. in transcript refer to file names EX01, EX02, etc.) either by selecting these alias patterns from your default list (set in Link Exhibits Patterns) or entering linking patterns manually in the transcript. (You can also perform this task in the stand-alone Link Exhibits function.)

If desired you can set security restrictions to limit access to an RB-PDF Transcript. Set passwords and restrict certain features — such as printing, editing, copying, and commenting — on any transcript when finalizing it in RB9.

Apply reporters’ free digital signatures to RB-PDF Transcripts through ReporterBase Digital Signature Proxy (RB-DSP) which makes the production process easy while maintaining the reporters’ control of their own signatures. Your production staff clicks on the transcript where they want to apply a signature and RB9 automatically applies the correct signature. You can also create your agency’s digital signature in System Preferences, then apply it to transcripts the same way you apply reporters’ signatures.

If you require a different PDF format for archival reasons you can create RB-PDF Transcripts in PDF/A formats which include limited features.

You can duplicate, rename, or delete the PDF transcript RB automatically generated according to your preferences. If you select to have word lists, word indexes, and/or condensed transcripts generated as separate documents when the PDF transcript is created, you can also duplicate, rename, or delete any of them.

How it works

The RB-PDF Transcript creator is a separate function in RB9 but can also be accessed directly from jobs in Turn In. If you do not use RB Connect to have reporters turn in transcripts online, your production staff can access the PDF Transcript Creator from within Turn In as they add witnesses and upload ASCII files and exhibits so they can create RB-PDF Transcripts without going to a separate function.

In the separate PDF Transcripts function you can search for ASCII transcripts to turn into PDF transcripts by job number, job or upload date, witness name, and/or business unit.

Listing in the results include both ASCII transcripts and any RB-PDF Transcripts already created including condensed transcripts, word lists, and word indexes. Each listing includes its information from the search categories — except business units — plus the file name, number of pages in the transcript, file type, whether it has been published on RB Connect, who can access it, file description, ordering client, and case.

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). From the results grid you can view and update details about any listed job, witness, or transcript, and export the grid as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV(comma-separated values) file to save, share, print, or use in other applications.

While the results list all related transcript files you can only create RB- PDF Transcripts from the ASCII files listed. The already created RB-PDF Transcripts are listed so you can monitor what has already been done plus you can download any file listed and view who else has downloaded the file and when.

The function works like a wizard app, paging you through the steps so you can easily and quickly produce transcripts without missing anything.

If you offer RB Connect you can also create interactive Transcript Packages in RB9, that are similar to RB-PDF Transcripts but designed to work in browsers and on mobile devices. With these bundles of an interactive transcript and attached files — such as exhibits and video — users can highlight and make notes on the transcript plus export it in various formats including RB-PDF Transcripts.

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

TL;DR: Use the built-in PDF transcript creator to create PDF versions of transcripts (including condensed versions) with transcript-specific features, such as hyperlinked exhibits, digital signatures, word lists/indexes, and errata sheets, and that automatically include case and depo information.

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.

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

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

Transcript Package: Interactive transcript that includes related files, including video and PDF transcripts, and can be used by your clients through RB Connect on their computers or through RB Connect Mobile on their mobile devices. Users can highlight text, make notes, view hyperlinked exhibits and other files, and export the transcript in a variety of formats, including condensed or word list only. More >

Lesson #27

Production – Repository function

In RB you can store documents linked to a case, job, task, witness, invoice, firm, contact, location, resource, or all resources in their related repository.

In the Repository function you can:

• Search for files in a single repository or across all repositories.
• Search for files by name, file type(s), job/invoice/order/upload date(s), who uploaded the file, job/ invoice number, case, and/or related firm/contact/resource/location.
• Classify files for proper user access and availability.
• Download files for viewing, archiving, or emailing.
• View who has downloaded a file and when.
• Delete files you no longer need to store.
• Upload files to the All-Resource repository to share with your resources.
• Customize how the Repository results grid looks.
• Save your custom grid as your default. Your customizations do not affect other users and you can restore the original RB grid layout anytime.
• Export the list of repository files as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV(comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Classify files

In the Repository function you can classify individual files for proper user access and availability. Set what types of users can access a file (office, client, resource, or some combination), in which functions the file will be accessible, what kind of file it is, and if access via RB Connect is permitted. If multiple files will have the same file type and/or RB Connect access, you can set them all at once.

Give resources access to same files

In addition to the Resource repository where files uploaded to individual resources’ repositories are stored, RB has an All-Resource repository for files you want to share with all resources. Instead of loading generic files — such as blank billing sheets, copy order forms, and instructions — to each individual resource’s repository or each job, you can upload the file(s) once to the common All-Resource repository for all resources to access.

If you want to include certain generic files with Assignment Notifications, upload the files to the All-Resource repository and set their file type so they will attach automatically to each Assignment Notification you send out, without having to upload each file to each job.

Customize how you view your Repository

The grid in which you view Repository listings is customizable to your individual preference. You can:

• Re-arrange the order of the columns so you can have the information most important to you in the most prominent place.
• Designate up to 10 columns as “sticky,” meaning they do not move when you scroll across a long grid so they are always visible.
• Stretch or shrink the width of columns to better fit the information presented.
• Hide any columns you don’t want to see in the results.
•  Choose which column(s) to sort results by. If you select more than one column, choose in what column order to sort the list and in ascending or descending order in each selected column.

When you have arranged your Repository the way you want it to look, you can save your layout so RB will display it this way each time you access it. You can always change or refine your layout, or return it to the default RB layout.

TL;DR: Manage files in the central repository.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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. More >

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

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 >

Lesson #26

Production – Send Originals Out function

Track the location of original transcripts, affidavits, and errata sheets, plus keep detailed notes about where and when you sent them and when they were returned.

This information is available in Turn In for each witness, but Send Originals Out gives you the ability to enter and track this information in a dedicated function so you can see at a glance witness transcript information — plus enter transcript location and other witness related information faster.

The main grid shows all jobs that meet your search criteria with the witness name, transcript’s page number info, resource, when the transcript was sent, when it was returned or expected to be returned, related case name, and business unit involved. If you need more information or are updating a witness’s info, you can access it here with a single click.

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

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

TL;DR: Use Send Originals Out to quickly see the location status of a transcript, plus update related witness information.

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.

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

Lesson #25

Production – Letters function

Correspond with contacts, witnesses, and third parties about turned-in jobs — with relevant details about the jobs filled in by RB9 automatically.

RB9 includes its own word processor with mail merge so you don’t need Word to manage forms, letters, and other documents that use RB data. It includes an extensive variety of form letters to streamline your correspondence. Edit the included form letters in Form Templates and create your own to match your business needs.

Then use the Letters function to correspond with contacts, witnesses, and third parties about a turned-in job. Search for the job by number, date(s), one or more job statuses, case, and/or one or more of your business units. 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). You can export the list of jobs returned as an Excel spreadsheet to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

Automatically include info from your database

When you correspond with contacts about a job you select which party to the job to contact and which witnesses to include. If the party is not listed, you can add them from your contacts database. When you correspond with witnesses RB9 automatically includes all parties attached to the job — but you can manually override that for any letter, deleting parties that don’t need to be included in the email or adding others from your database. RB9 will fill in the recipient’s email address if it’s in the database already. Otherwise you enter it manually. You can also send emails to other persons related to the job by entering their information manually.

Customize email’s content & appearance

You choose which email form to use from your collection of form letter templates. The list of available forms is contextual: e.g., when sending a letter to a contact only the forms you designated in Form Templates as for contacts appear. You can edit individual letters on the fly before sending.

Email letters can include cc’s, bcc’s, custom subject lines, and attachments. You can customize the appearance of the text in individual emails with different font treatments, text styling, colors, etc.

Send attorneys complete email packages including letters, transcripts, and relevant files — no need to print out and deliver if everything is digital. RB9 records the emails sent in the Email Log function in Tools so you can refer back to them later.

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

TL;DR: Correspond about turned-in jobs and transcripts using RB9’s form letters that automatically include job data. Customize individual emails and include attachments.

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.

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 but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources. More >

Job Status: Stage a job is in, e.g., New or Cancelled. You can designate your own job statuses in RB.

Lesson #24

Production – Shipping function

When clients call to find out where their order is, you don’t have to leave RB9 to check the shipping status. Use the Shipping function to send products via FedEx or UPS, then quickly follow up an order’s current location anytime from within RB9.

You can also use this function to keep track of when and via what other methods you sent jobs out, and update the job status of any shipped job or any other information about the shipping and its related job, case, and contacts.

Use Shipping to:

• Ship out produced service items.
• Print FedEx & UPS shipping labels that automatically include addresses from your RB9 database and your shipping preferences, and are tied to your FedEx/UPS account. If contact information is incorrect you can update it here and RB9 will update the contact’s listing.
• Track UPS & FedEx shipments from inside RB9.
• Note if you used another sending method such as via courier or email.
• Record notes about a shipment.
• Search for shipments using job or invoice number, shipping date(s), delivery method(s), and/or business unit(s) to quickly locate a shipment to track. You can sort your search results by one or more columns in ascending or descending order. (When you exit the function RB will revert back to the default order.)
• Create a new shipment with the same job, case, and invoice information as a previous shipment.
• Export the list of shipments to an Excel or CSV file to save, print, share, or use in other applications. (Similarly you can export the witness/service item list from any shipment.)
• Change a job’s status to Shipped. RB9 will automatically alert your billing department that the job is ready to be billed if they do not invoice a job until it has shipped.

Shipping is a stand alone function but you can also access it directly within Turn In when entering service items to be billed.

FedEx/UPS tracking in RB9

When you generate a FedEx or UPS shipping label in RB9 it automatically:

• Enters the receiver’s address, phone number, and email. It will also validate the address before generating the label unless you deselect that option.
• Sets the Ship From address, phone number, and email to the assigned business unit of your company. (You can select a different business unit.)
• Enters your shipping preferences. (You can set up multiple profiles with different preferences and the same or different business unit.)
• Enters the tracking number in the shipment’s record.
• Enters today as the ship date.
• Adds the estimated shipping cost to the shipment’s record in RB9. Estimated Shipping Cost appears in the Shipping function’s results grid and in individual shipping label windows.

When you click the tracking number in RB9 it opens the related delivery service website in your browser and shows the shipment’s current status.

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

TL;DR: Use the Shipping function to send products via FedEx or UPS, and track an order’s current location without leaving RB9.

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.

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

Job Status: Stage a job is in, e.g., New or Cancelled. You can designate your own job statuses in RB.

Lesson #23

Production – Envelopes and Labels function

Print addresses on labels and envelopes with information from your RB database automatically included. Start from a case, contact, firm, invoice, job, location, or resource to generate mailing addresses, then select which ones to print.

If entities have multiple addresses in their RB listing — such as office and home addresses — you can choose which type of address to print. You can also create labels and envelopes manually for one-off printing.

Print DYMO labels for correspondence and packages. Use RB9 default label layouts or create your own custom layouts. (Label printing out of RB9 requires a DYMO printer.)

If you want to address envelopes, use this function to generate a PDF file to print addresses directly on envelopes. Before printing, you can specify defaults in System Preferences for the envelope size and setup you use the most to minimize printing time.

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

TL;DR: Generate labels and envelopes with information from your RB database automatically included.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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

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

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.

Lesson #22

Production – Production Sheets function

Production Sheets show on a job-by-job basis who’s ordering what and how many units need to be produced. This static report includes any production and billing notes associated with jobs in the report — so your production staff doesn’t forget any particulars about a client’s order.

You decide which service items are included on production sheets (in the Service Item Master), because not all service items need production — such as reporters’ appearance fees. After all jobs are turned in for the day, production sheets listing required service items for those jobs can be printed or exported as PDF, Excel worksheet, or another file format.

You generate productions sheets for either a single job or turned in date. You can customize them to specific rush types (like next day) and one or more of your business units. You can also include already produced items in the report.

Any styling that you applied to Production/Billing Notes in a job, firm, or contact entry — such as bolding or colors — will appear on the report. This can be helpful in making important information stand out on the page.

You can search for a word or phrase in the onscreen report. RB will highlight all instances of your searched word/phrase in the report and list them in a scroll box along with the page number where they occur.

TL;DR: Production Sheets show who’s ordering what and how many units need to be produced for a specific job or from jobs that were turned on a particular day.

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.

Service items: Regular charges that you bill to your clients. Service items are listed on your invoices to provide itemized details for your clients and third-party payers. In-house they provide information to help you analyze your revenue streams.