Lesson #109
Entities – Locations function
Locations are places where depositions and other jobs occur. Enter locations into RB instead of re-keying location information each time. Automatically include driving directions in reporter worksheets, and store location-relevant files, like Patient Authorization Forms for doctor’s offices and hospitals, in their own repository.
When is a location not a ‘Location’
When entering locations into RB you don’t necessary enter all job locations into the Location database. There are some important exceptions:
- Law firms and courts should be entered in RB as firms, so you can maintain accurate profiles of them and use them in RB correctly.
- Your own conference rooms should be entered as resources, so that you can schedule them like you do reporters and other resources.
- One-off job locations that you know you won’t need again can be entered directly into jobs without setting them up as locations first.
When scheduling jobs, RB allows you to select job locations from a variety of sources, including your firms and resources tables, so you should only enter locations in the Locations function that do not fit the other categories. Use this function for other recurring locations, such as hospitals, private residences, doctors’ offices, or schools.
If there is something you want to remember about a location, whether it’s contact info, location directions, warnings, or anything else; store it in their RB listing.
Add locations to your database
You can enter locations from scratch in this function, or add them on the fly within a case or job.
Before entering a location 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 location. If there are duplicate entries, you can merge them, however, not all data will carry over from the location that is being merged. The only information that will be saved from the merged entry is from the Tags, Repository, and Notes Log panes.
Search for locations
To find locations in your RB database, you can use the search criteria, singly or in combination:
- Location Name or a/k/a (also known as)
- City
- State (one, several, or all)
- Zip code
- Location Type (one, several, or all)
- Tag
- Active locations only or all
Each listing displayed in the Locations results shows all of this info except any tags; and includes the location’s street address and any warnings about the location. 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).
From the Locations results grid, you can view and update any listed location’s details, add new locations, 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 location information
Whether you are viewing an existing location listing or adding a new location, the detail window is broken up into a series of panes that contain related fields. The first pane, General, contains the location’s contact information, directions to the location, other basic information, and any warnings. When entering a new location, the only required information is the location name.
Other General information tips
If you commonly refer to the location by another name, include that alias in the a/k/a (also known as) field. When looking up the location, you can search by the alias instead of the location name. In search results, the alias will appear in parentheses after the location name.
If you are entering the location’s street address or P.O. box number, skip the other address fields and enter the zip code. RB will fill in the city, state, and country for you.
If you have entered the location address, you can view maps and directions to the address in RB. You can also add your own directions to the location’s listing. Any instructions entered here will appear in the Directions field of a job when the job will be at this location.
If you have information about a location that users should know when scheduling jobs, enter those notes in the Warning field. This information appears in red under Location Warning in jobs.
If you are no longer scheduling jobs at a location 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 location but they will no longer appear in searches for active locations anymore.
After initial setup, add more information
Once you save a location in RB, additional panes, fields, and functions become available. You can:
- Enter more information.
- Update existing information.
- Merge locations if you find duplicates.
You don’t have to go into the Locations function to update a location listing. Most RB functions that include a location field allow you to directly access that location’s listing, which you can view and edit.
Also, if you have multiple locations that you need to update the location type for, you can use Bulk Update to change them all at once.
Additional panes in saved location listings include:
Tags
If you use tags (keywords or phrases) to monitor and send mass mailings to locations, you add tags to location listings, either by keying in tags or selecting them from the tag list you made in Lists. Each location can have an unlimited number of tags, and you can delete tags from a location when they no longer apply. (You can also use the Tag Manager to add or remove tags quickly from multiple locations at once.)
Repository
Keep files related to the location in your RB database. When viewing an individual location, you can see the description of any uploaded files in the repository panel without having to click into each file’s details. You can upload, download, or delete files here, and update file information, such as file type and description.
Notes Log
The system enters some notes about locations automatically in their individual Notes Logs, and you can also enter notes yourself about a location in their Notes Log for internal purposes. When you add a note to the Notes Log, you can include what type of note it is, how you communicated with the location, 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 location data for other uses
In these additional panes, you can export the information as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV(comma-separated values) file to save, share, print, or use in other applications.
TL;DR: Maintain a database of job locations in RB, including contact, and marketing information, files related to the location, notes about the location, and more.
RB concepts in this lesson
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 >
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.
