Tag Archives: RB Lite

Lesson #156

Personal – User Preferences function

In addition to system-wide preferences that are the same for all users of your RB system, you can set your own user preferences that customize your experience in RB9/RB Lite.

When you log into RB for the first time, the User Preferences function will automatically appear because there are a couple of defaults that you must set before using the system. You can also customize what your RB windows and emails look like and set other defaults and preferences. Some preferences entered here override global system preferences but for your account only — they won’t affect other users. You can update your user preferences at any time.

My Profile

The first default you must set before using RB is how you want your name to appear in RB. You can update it at any time. Enter your first name, last name, and optionally your middle name or initial, then choose from the various combinations — such as last name first — how you want your name displayed inside RB.

You can also enter your default personal email address for sending emails from within RB. You can update it at any time.

General

The other default you must set before using RB is which business unit (BU) you plan to use most often when setting new jobs and billing jobs.

The other 2 general options are already set but you can change them. The default row count for results grids is 50 rows per page. You can choose from 20, 50, 75, or 100 rows to display in result grids. Higher row counts take longer loading results and require more scrolling; lower row counts will load faster but require more page flipping.

The default RB visual theme is dark text on light backgrounds, but you can choose to set your RB windows to reverse/light on dark mode. Be aware that when you change between these modes, your browser will refresh and you will lose any unsaved changes in other open RB tabs. So always save your data before switching modes.

New Job

Customize default settings for new jobs. Set your RB job clock to your time zone and choose whether you want RB’s job clock to change with daylight savings time (the default is to automatically change). Enter a default city and/or state where most of your jobs take place to speed up new job entries.

Report

The other default you must set before using RB is which BU you want to associate with your reports. It does not have to be the same as your default BU for jobs.

Notifications and Messages

If you would like to have messages you receive in RB’s internal message system also sent to your email address, you can turn on the option to have RB automatically forward carbon copy messages to your email. Hyperlinks in forwarded messages will not work; and reminder messages from RB are not forwarded.

Email Subscriptions

You can select which RB emails you subscribe to: newsletters, update notifications, and/or new idea notification emails.

Email

The default is to use the email address(es) that were set up in System Preferences. If you are not going to use the email address(es) the rest of the office is using, you can set up your own email address(es) and preferences.

When you do, the Email section lists any email addresses already entered with the main email address selected as the default sender address for RB email. You can:

• Add email addresses.
• Change the default sender address.
• View, edit, delete, or test any listed email address.

You can export this list of email addresses as an Excel or CSV file to save, print, or use in other applications.

When entering a new email address, you can designate that it use either the standard email protocol or Microsoft 365 Office email protocol. If using the default email protocol, you must include the email server address and you can add security measures like SSL encryption of your email and SMTP authentication. If using a Microsoft 365 email account, you verify the account through RB before using it.

The rest of the email setup is the address, user name, and any Bcc email addresses to include in emails by default (if you like to keep copies your sent emails, enter your email address here). You can create a signature using formatted text, images, hyperlinks, and even tables that appends automatically to the end of your emails. Edit your signature in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.

Finally you can make this email address your primary email address for messages sent in RB. Depending on the function, you may have the option to override which email address you use when sending an individual email.

After setting up an email address, you can test it within this same function to see if you have the correct settings for sending emails within RB from this address. You can also view the sent email to see if you want to make any changes to the signature.

Whether you use the system-wide or your own personal email address(es) if you like to review your emails before sending them, turn on the “show mail composer” option. Then before you send an email from RB, the default will be to show you a preview of your email. In the preview you can check the email and its attachments — and update them if needed before sending the email. Whether you turn on this option or not, you can override the setting when sending individual emails.

Startup Functions

You can have RB9/RB Lite open specific functions when you log in. Select up to 5 functions to load by default when logging into RB. You can add and remove startup functions at any time as your needs change.

TL;DR: Set 2 required user preferences before using RB9/RB Lite, plus customize other options to work better for you.

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 >

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB.

Lesson #155

Personal – Locked Data function

To prevent two or more people from working on the same data at the same time and overwriting each other’s work when they save, RB “locks” data when someone accesses it so that only that person can edit it until they save, cancel, or close the data window. You can use this function to release a lock to switch access from the current user to yourself.

When you attempt to access data that another user is already accessing, you can view the data but you cannot edit it. If you attempt to edit the locked data, RB displays a popup that tells you the data is currently being edited and identifies who is editing it.

If you can’t wait for the other RB user to finish — and you can’t contact them to save their work and “unlock” the data but you need immediate access — you can use this function to override a lock to access the data. We don’t recommend this except as an emergency procedure because it overrides anything the other user has entered but not saved yet.

This function displays all currently locked data showing who is using what data in which database and when they started using it. You can sort the list by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function RB will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

TL;DR: Only one person at a time can edit data in an RB function but you can use this function to switch access to yourself. 

RB concepts in this lesson

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB.

Lesson #154

Personal – Change Password function

Like most online services, to log in to RB9/RB Lite you need a login name and password. You cannot change your login name yourself but you can change your password at any time using this function. You can also change your password at log-in if you forgot it so you are not locked out of the system.

We recommend using strong passwords for better security, meaning your password should:

• Be at least eight characters long.
• Contain characters from each of: upper-case letters, lower-case letters, numerals, and symbols.
• Not contain your name, login name, or birthday.
• Not contain 3 or more characters in sequence (e.g., 123 or abc).

It is good business practice to change your initial password to a strong password that only you know, and also to change it periodically. You can change your password as often as you like; plus your system administrator might require you to reset it periodically (although they might allow you to reset it to your current password). When you change your password, no one else will know it nor can it be retrieved from the system.

Don’t know your password? Use Forgot Password

If you forget your password, you can ask your system administrator to issue a new one for you; or you can save time and generate a new one yourself by using the Forgot Password function on the log-in screen.

If your log-in name is in the system, RB will send you an email with a link for resetting your password. This also works if you weren’t given a password: If you are in the system, RB will allow you to access the Forget Password function to set a password so you can use RB without waiting for an administrator.

When you use Forgot Password, it will require you to not only submit a new password but also prove you are a person and not a bot by entering text in a Captcha field.

Using Forgot Password is a good way to avoid account lock-outs when you don’t remember your password. If you attempt to log into RB with an incorrect password too many times, RB will lock you out of the system. And the only way to unlock your account is to contact an administrator. Instead of going through this hassle, you can use Forgot Password to set a new password before you get locked out of your RB account.

Changing your login name

If your login name is not your email address, you can ask your system administrator to change your assigned login name if you want a different one. RB will not allow you to choose a login name that is already in the system, but otherwise if the system is not using your email address for your login name you can have that customized that too. RB automatically displays the last logged-in username on the Login screen so you will only have to enter your password in the future after entering your new login name.

TL;DR: If you forgot your password or never had one, use Forgot Password on the login screen. Otherwise use this function to change your password at any time for better security and/or to a password you prefer.

Lesson #153

Personal – Notifications and Messages function

Receive automatic notifications from the system, and send and receive messages from other RB users using the same system in a format similar to an email system. 

In Notifications and Messages you can:

• Receive automatic notices and alerts from the system.
• Exchange messages with others within your RB system.
• Send messages to pre-determined groups of RB users.
• Delete old/unneeded messages to manage your message list.

Notifications and Messages works like email but is not an email system — you can only exchange messages with other RB users in your company.

Access messages

When a message arrives for you, RB displays an alert dialog box in the notification area of your browser — which will take you directly to the Notifications and Messages function. You can also check messages anytime by selecting the function in your personal menu.

The default view in the Notifications and Messages window is your Inbox with messages listed from most recently received first.

• Priority messages are marked with a red flag. RB automatically flags rush Turn In notifications and also displays their Subject line in red.
• Unread messages are marked so you can see at a glance which messages you haven’t read yet. And the total number of unread messages are displayed onscreen too.
• Listings include the sender’s name, the subject line, and date and time sent.
• Reminder messages have the followup date and time listed so you can see at a glance which messages are reminders.

From this main screen you can access any message listed. You can also send a new message to any RB user or message group in your company. And you can view messages you have sent and messages you have moved to the trash but not removed from the system yet.

Reading & acting on messages

When you select a message from the list to read, you can click on any hyperlinks in the message — such as a job number or entity name — to view more information/act on it. You can also reply to the message or forward it to other RB users, either individually or to an entire message group at once.

When you reply to a message, RB automatically fills in the recipient. You can change the recipient and/or add other RB users and groups from the attached list. You can also add carbon-copy (Cc) and blind carbon-copy (Bcc) recipients from the same list.

Like most email systems the  subject line defaults to Re: [subject] of the original message in replies and Fw: [subject] of the original message in forwarded messages, and is editable. Also the message defaults to include the original message.You can edit and format the information as you would an email.

If you want to compose a message now but send at a later time, you can schedule a delivery date and time. You can flag messages so your recipient sees in their Notifications and Messages listing which messages are important before reading them. You can also request a receipt to have the recipient automatically acknowledge receiving your message.

When you send a message, your message is saved to your Sent Message directory where it is stored for a set amount of days determined in System Preferences.

If you do not need to save a message after viewing it, you can delete it. You can also select multiple messages in your Notifications and Messages inbox to delete at the same time. Deleted messages are moved to your Trash directory where they are stored for the same set amount of days as your sent messages.

TL;DR: Receive reminders and other messages from the system and other RB users. Act on messages by clicking hyperlinks within messages. Send messages to other users in your company.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

Groups: Categories of RB users that define who can access which functions in RB, what they can do within accessible functions, and what kinds of notifications and messages group members receive.

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB. Contacts and resources are different entities — not users in RB — and access RB9 through RB Connect or RB Connect Mobile.

Lesson #152

Your corner in RB is literally in the corner

The personal section is accessible under the user name in the top right corner on screen. What you can do in this module includes:

• Receive automatic notifications from the system and exchange messages with other RB users in a format similar to an internal email system. 
• Change your password at any time. Can also change it at log-in if you forget your password.
• Release a lock on data in RB to switch access from the current user to yourself.
• Update user preferences including overriding some global system preferences for your account only.
• Clear your window by closing all tabs at once.
• Log out of the program.

Personal functions by name

• Notifications and Messages
• Change Password
• Locked Data
• User Preferences
• Close All Tabs
• Log Out

TL;DR:  Communicate with others in your office, manage your RB9, and shortcut some work in the system.

 

Lesson #151

Get RB help in a variety of ways

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

Help functions

What you can do in each function in this module:

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

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

Lesson #136

Setup – System Preferences function

Entities System Preferences

Save time when entering new contacts, firms, and resources by specifying some defaults.

Autofill contact & resource names

If you enable Autofill for Contact and/or Resource names, RB will autofill the Full Name field when individual name fields (First Name, Mi., Last Name, Salutation) are entered in individual contact/resource listings. You choose which name fields automatically fill in and in which order.

Invoice options for firms

Default settings for new firms cover invoice options.

If you add late charges (one-time fee added to invoice balance after a certain number of days) and/or finance charges (monthly % of outstanding balance) to your invoices, you can set default percentages including up to 3 decimal placements. Similarly if you need to bill for state sales tax, you can include your sales tax rate as a percentage including up to 3 decimal placements.

You can specify how many days old an invoice has to be when you haven’t received payment yet before RB counts it as being past due and notifies you to start collection efforts.

You can also have RB detail services on invoices as the default for new firm entries.

You can change defaults for individual firms in their Firm listing.

Payment terms for resources

Default settings for new resources cover payment terms for originals and copies. RB will wait the number of days set here to release outstanding payables to resources. The number of days can range from 0 (zero) to 9999.

A term of 0 (zero) means you pay on bill-out: There is no waiting to pay resources. As long the invoice is within the cutoff date for the next payroll, it will be included in the payroll to pay to the resource. Cutoff dates are set up in combination with pay dates.

A term of 9999 means the resources won’t get paid for an invoice until the invoice balance reaches $0.

If you have specific wait periods — for example resources wait 2 weeks (14 days) to get paid for copies — you set the copy term to 14. RB will wait until invoices for copies reach 14 days old to be released for payment to the resource.

You can change defaults for individual resources in their Resource listing.

TL;DR: Set default invoice options for new clients and default payment terms for new resources.

RB concepts in this lesson

Firm: Company you do business with.

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

Lesson #135

Setup – System Preferences function

Payables System Preferences

In addition to options for fixing printing problems on checks and 1099 forms, you can also set up direct deposit for payroll and other pay options.

1099 Form

In RB9 you have the ability to print each resource’s 1099 directly from the system. RB9 is designed to print in the correct fields on the 1099-NEC forms, but you can adjust the placement if needed to align the RB9 output with the 1099 form’s fields on your printer. Adjustments are in inches. You can increase (or decrease with a negative number) the top and left margins, using up to 2 decimal placements.

NOTE: Print 1099 Forms is an RB9-only function. It is not included in RB Lite.

Check

If you want to print checks directly from RB9, RB9 will create a PDF of the check information according to your settings to print on your own standard or voucher (2-part check) business checks. You can use Quickbooks-compatible laser checks (standard or voucher). Adjust where RB9 information is printing on your checks by increasing (or decreasing with a negative number) the top and left margins, using up to 2 decimal placements.

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

NACHA (National Automated Clearing House Association)

Instead of printing checks or using a third-party payroll service, use RB9’s direct deposit feature to deposit pay into your resources’ accounts instead. After signing up for direct deposit with your bank use information provided by your bank to set up your system preferences for direct deposit payables. Some of the information you must get from your bank includes a unique 9-digit number assigned by the bank and a company ID number. (You will need to enter your resources’ banking information in their profiles.) Then all you have to do is send a NACHA-formatted file (exported from RB9) to your bank and your bank will transfer the funds for you.

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

Draft Pay Statement

Before closing, you can print out or email your resources a draft of their pay statements, so they can review which invoices they will be paid for and how much will be included in their next paycheck.

If you email draft pay statements, you can customize the email that accompanies them. Similarly to invoice emails set up in Billing preferences, you can change the default text in the Subject and Message fields and insert contextual data fields so that real data from RB related to the resource and payroll merge into the email automatically. You can also customize the appearance of the body of the emails with text formatting, colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables.

The draft pay statement itself will attach to the email as a PDF. And you can override the defaults set here in any pay statement emails sent from RB.

Pay Statement

After you run payroll in RB and close it, you can print out or email your resources their pay statements – which is the report that shows them exactly which invoices they were paid for on a closed payroll. You have the same settings options for pay statements as for draft pay statements.

Payroll

You have 2 options for when you pay resources:

1. “Hard Wait” is the default and refers to waiting a set number of days before releasing an invoice for payroll — regardless of whether you received payment from clients. (The default number of days to wait for originals and copies are set in Entities preferences, and can be overridden in individual resources’ settings.)
2. “Soft Wait” is similar in having your resources wait to get paid after a certain number of days — but there is an exception. If you receive payment for an invoice within the wait period, then RB will release the invoice to the resource in the next payroll you run.

TL;DR: Customize pay statement emails. Specify when resources get paid in relation to invoices. Adjust printing layouts for 1099s and checks. Set up your direct deposit account for paying resources.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

Lesson #134

Setup – System Preferences function

Receivables System Preferences

Set the subject line for payment receipts. Choose a statement template based on your company’s payment options, and set other statement options.

Payment Receipt

Enter default text and RB data fields into the subject line for receipts you send clients for payments received. (Set up receipt forms in Form Templates.)

Statement

Before sending statements to clients, choose your default statement template plus other invoice options, and customize the email that accompanies statements. You can also customize which colors are used to color code open-invoice listings on statements by invoice age. These choices are system-wide.

You have 4 statement templates to select from:

• Standard RB statement with a remittance section at the bottom of the statement
• Statement without a remittance section
• Statement with a credit card payment section that accepts American Express, MasterCard, and Visa
• Statement that accepts only MasterCard and Visa

You can also have RB automatically include both the client firm’s main phone number & fax number (if they have one) below the address on printed statements.

If you email clients their statements, you can customize the email that accompanies statements. Similarly to invoice emails set up in Billing preferences, you can change the default text in the Subject and Message fields and insert contextual data fields, so that real data from RB related to the billed contact and firm merge into the email automatically. You can also customize the appearance of the body of the emails with text formatting, colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables.

The statement itself will attach to the email as a PDF. And you can override the defaults set here in any statement emails sent from RB.

Color code the age of invoices listed on statements to help older invoices stand out. You select which colors to use for different time periods (over 30–over 180). You can export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

TL;DR: Customize the subject line of payment receipts, and set up templates for your company’s statements and the accompanying emails.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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

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

Firm: Company you do business with.

Lesson #133

Setup – System Preferences function

Billing System Preferences

Choose an invoice template based on your company’s payment options, and set other billing options.

Invoice

Before invoicing clients set a start number and an invoice-posting alert, choose your default invoice template plus other invoice options, and customize the email that accompanies invoices. These choices are system-wide.

If starting RB or when you want to reset your invoice numbering system from now on, you can designate the next invoice number RB will use when it creates a new invoice.

You can also choose to have RB pop up an alert when posting an invoice if no Pay Rate is selected or the Pay Amount is 0. With this turned on you get a reminder to ensure that resources get paid for invoiced work if you overlooked it when creating the invoice.

Invoice templates to select from:

• Standard RB invoice with a remittance section at the bottom of the invoice
• Invoice without a remittance section
• Invoice with a credit card payment section that accepts American Express, MasterCard, and Visa
• Invoice that accepts only MasterCard and Visa

Other options you can set include:

• Have the word “Certified” appear before copy in invoice headers if you certify transcript copies.
• Give your clients job location information on invoices when the job location is included in your RB database.
• Have a red “PAST DUE” stamp printed on unpaid invoices that are older than your payment terms. (Set up payment terms in Lists.)
• Have RB automatically include both the client firm’s main phone number & fax number (if they have one) below the address on printed invoices.

Customize invoice email template

If you email clients their invoices, you can customize the email that accompanies invoices. Similarly to job calendar cancellations and notifications, you can change the default text in the Subject and Message fields and insert contextual data fields so that real data from RB related to the job, case, and invoice merge into the email automatically.

If you have RB Connect, you can insert a pay invoice data field into the Email Message that converts into a hyperlink in the email, which when clicked, automatically sends the user to RB Connect. After the user logs in, the related invoice screen appears for a convenient payment process.

You can also customize the appearance of the body of the emails with text formatting, colors, images, hyperlinks, and tables. You can edit your email contents in the default WYSIWYG word processor environment or as HTML markup.

The invoice itself will attach to the email as a PDF. And you can override the defaults set here in any invoice emails sent from RB.

LEDES 1998B

If you have clients that request electronic billing in LEDES 1998B format, RB9 exports invoices as text files. But if your clients require a different file type from TXT, you can change the default file extension to meet their specifications.

You can also set an option to exclude billed $0 amount service items in exported files, so electronic bills only include services that had billable charges.

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

Reward Points

If you want to offer clients an incentive program that awards points for services they order from your company (and your state allows it), turn on RB9’s Reward Points System. Then set the options for how your system generates and redeems points.

• Choose whether clients accumulate points for original invoices only or all orders.
• Set the default dollar amount billed on invoices that earns a point, e.g., every $100 billed earns 1 point.
• Select whether invoiced amounts will be rounded up, down, or split (amounts ending in 1–4 are rounded down, amounts ending in 5–9 are rounded up).
• Specify the multiplier RB9 will use to convert points to dollars when clients redeem points. You don’t have to use whole numbers, — you can use up to 2 decimal places — and the amount can be less than one.

After setting up your reward point options in System Preferences, you then designate which services earn points and set up individual contacts to earn points for bookings with your company. You can designate different and/or multiple contacts at the same firm to earn points for a contact’s bookings, and boost a contact’s points-earning ability by automatically doubling or otherwise multiplying their points. If you have RB Connect, you can allow contacts to request point redemptions online.

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

TL;DR: Customize your invoices. Optionally, set up electronic billing and a booking reward system like a frequent flyer program.

RB concepts in this lesson

Reward Points: Used to encourage clients to book with your agency by rewarding them with points for different services. (Also referred to as award points.)

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

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