Tag Archives: RB9

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 user name and password. You cannot change your user name yourself but you can change this 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.

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.
• 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.
  
• Send Feedback
  Access the Idea Collaborator in our customer portal to submit feedback about RB.
• 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.

RB concepts in this lesson

Idea Collaborator: Online forum for RB users to submit feedback and suggestions for improving RB. OMTI’s development team monitors this forum and uses client suggestions to determine future RB development.

Lesson #159

Calendar – Jobs (Weekly View) function

Weekly View displays a week’s worth of jobs at once in a week-by-week format. Similar to the Monthly View calendar, Weekly View is a visual calendar format displaying a week at a time.

Weekly View defaults to all jobs for the current week, grouped by day (including Saturday and Sunday) so you can quickly access the week ahead. Each day’s header includes the date, day of the week, and the total number of jobs scheduled and canceled for that day.

Each day’s list of jobs scheduled/canceled appears in chronological order by start time. In addition to the start time, each listing shows the job number and a third option of your choice, such as the ordering firm or witness. Listings are color coded based on their job status.

Rolling over any entry pops up details about the job. Clicking an entry opens the job’s detail window.You can page back and forth through weeks, or jump to a particular week by entering a date.

If the row of 3 elements in a job listing is longer than the width of its day’s space, it will be cut off (there is no word wrapping); but details are easily visible if the user rolls over the listing. If there are more jobs scheduled for a day than fit vertically, the day’s space will include a scroll bar so you can access the jobs that are not visible at first. If the whole week is not visible, you can use your screen’s scroll bars to view hidden sections.

You can restrict the listings to jobs for:

• A single ordering firm
• An ordering contact
• A scheduling contact
• One or more job statuses
• One or more job types
• One or more of your business units
• One of your sales reps
• A case
• One or more case types
• A parent firm
• A job location
• A job location city
• One or more job location states

From the calendar, you can add a new job, or view/update/turn in/cancel/reschedule existing jobs.

Weekly View customization

Each Weekly View job listing shows its start time and job number. Those are fixed data and cannot be changed, but you can select the third type of information that appears in job listings to identify jobs.

You can also set the height of the weekday boxes in rows, from 5 to 15. Each row lists one job. The weekly calendar will display each weekday with enough space vertically for the number of rows you set (Saturday and Sunday will be half the height set). If there are more jobs scheduled for a day than the maximum you set, the day’s space will include a scroll bar.

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

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

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.

Case Type: Categories of cases by work type, e.g., Civil or Personal Injury.

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition, but can also be any kind of service you provide with your reporters or other resources, such as realtime, videoconferencing, or read & sign. More >

Job Status: Stage the job is in, e.g., New or Cancelled.

Job Type: Category of jobs requested by clients, such as Deposition or Real-Time.

Ordering Firm: Firm that is responsible for a job with your company.

Ordering Contact: Contact at the firm that is responsible for a job with your company.

Scheduled By: Contact who initiates a jobs with your company. Can be different from the Ordering Contact.

Lesson #150

Connect – Connect Preferences function

Resource side preferences

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

Announcements

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

Accessibility

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

Firms

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

Jobs

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

General

Select job calendar options including:

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

Users to notify

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

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

Master Word List

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

Turn In

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

General

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

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

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

Users to notify

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

Options

Turn on these options to:

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

Custom Sections in Job/Witness

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

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

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

Repository

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

Availability

Set preferences for resources’ time-off requests:

General

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

Users to notify

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

Approval/Denial Notifications

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

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

Support Tickets

Set preferences for resource support ticket notifications:

Ticket Notification

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

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

Users to notify

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

Other Connect Preferences sections

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

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

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

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.

Firm: Company you do business with.

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

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

Repository: 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.

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

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB.

Lesson #149

Connect – Connect Preferences function

Contact side preferences

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

Announcements

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

Accessibility

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

Calendar

Preferences for new job requests, job cancellations, and change job requests:

General

Set cutoffs for how many days in advance clients can request jobs, cancel jobs, or change jobs online. (Weekends are not included in deadline calculations.) You can set zero limits or a specific number of days; they can be different for each of these 3 types of requests. You can also allow contacts to request a new job for today.

Users to notify

Designate which staff members are alerted when a contact requests a job, cancels a job, or changes a job. You can have any number of RB9 users alerted, and add or delete users at any time. You can export this list of users like the Contact-Accessibility list.

New Job

Designate which of your company’s business units new jobs requested through RB Connect will be associated with and select which fields contacts can see and use when requesting new jobs via RB Connect. Fields you can include:

• Deposed witness’s name
• Whether the witness was summoned to appear
• Witness’s expertise (types of witness expertise are set in Lists > Jobs)
• Category of job requested such as Deposition or Real-Time (set in Lists > Jobs)
• Name used in RB9 to identify case
• Case number
• Specific expertise/skills required for job
• Additional services requested for a case or job that are not included in the contact’s standing requests
• Direct Billing Notes – If the Bill To client will be different from the Sold To client, this information appears on the invoice
• Client Matter No. – A number designating a client combined with a number designating a case that will be printed on the invoice and is required for electronic billing in RB9
• Insurance claim number
• Insured individual’s name
• Date of incident

Custom Section in New Job

Get additional information from contacts when they submit new job requests via RB Connect by adding custom data fields. You can:

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

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

New Job/Request Confirm Job/Request Cancel Job Notifications

You can have RB9 automatically send clients emails that acknowledge these 3 types of requests.

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

Order Transcript

Set preferences for contacts ordering transcripts on previously billed jobs:

Users to notify

You have the same options here for staff alerts as under Contact-Calendar.

Custom Section

Get additional information from contacts when they submit requests via RB Connect by adding custom data fields to transcript orders. You have the same options for creating and using custom fields in Order Transcript as in Contact-Calendar > Custom Section in New Job.

Account Activity

Set preferences for online invoice access and payment:

Options

For orders that have different Bill To and Sold To parties the default is only the Bill To party can view and pay the invoice. You can choose to allow both parties access to the invoice and/or allow both parties to pay the invoice.

You can show beginning and ending page numbers of billed transcripts in addition to total number of pages in the Witness line on invoices in RB Connect.

Online Payment

For e-commerce RB Connect integrates with several online payment processing services including PayPal, Authorize.net, First Data, Square, and Stripe. If you want to offer online payment of invoices including COD invoices through RB Connect, you must set up an account with one of these services and enter your credentials here.

Users to notify for Online Payment

You have the same options here for staff alerts as under Contact-Calendar.

Payment Receipt Email

You can customize the emails that RB9 automatically sends to clients that notify them when you have received their online payment. You have the same customization options for payment receipt emails as for automatic email notifications in Contact-Calendar.

Transcript Packages

Set preferences for Transcript Packages and notifications:

Select a transcript profile from the PDF Transcript Preferences you have set up that will automatically dictate the appearance and other options of transcripts contacts export from their Transcript Packages. Your clients can override any of these default RB-PDF Transcript settings when exporting a transcript.

You can have RB9 automatically email clients so they know when they have a Transcript Package waiting in RB Connect. You have the same customization options for Transcript Package email alerts as for automatic email notifications in Contact-Calendar.

Repository

Set preferences for contacts’ repository access and notifications:

Email notifications

You can customize the emails that RB9 automatically sends to clients that notify them when you have uploaded files to their case, job, witness, or invoice repositories. You have the same customization options for repository upload emails as for automatic email notifications in Contact-Calendar.

Users to notify

You have the same options here for staff alerts as under Contact-Calendar.

Others

You can choose to allow clients to downloads files:

• As soon as they are available, or
• Only when the original invoice tied to the files is paid in full, and/or
• When the copy invoice tied to the files is paid in full.

Reward Points

If you offer reward points, designate which staff members are alerted when a contact requests reward point redemptions online. You have the same options here for staff alerts as under Contact-Calendar.

Support Tickets

Set preferences for contact support ticket notifications:

Ticket Notification

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

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

Users to notify

You have the same options here for staff alerts as under Contact-Calendar.

Other Connect Preferences sections

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

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

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

RB concepts in this lesson

Award Points: 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.

Bill To Contact: The contact responsible for paying the invoice for a job. This contact could be the same as the Sold To Contact, but also could be a different person at the same firm or a person at a third-party firm that is paying the invoice such as an insurance agency.

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

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

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

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

RB-PDF Transcript: PDF version of a transcript with built-in transcript-specific features and containing case and depo information from your RB database.

Repository: RB has 9 repositories where you store files for safekeeping and quick retrieval. 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.

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

Transcript Package: Bundle containing interactive transcripts with all of their related files to be viewed in a browser through RB Connect and RB Connect Mobile. More >

Users: You and your staff who directly access RB.

Lesson #147

Connect – Connect Preferences function

RB Connect comes with default settings for the overall system and its different functions. Some cannot be altered, but generally you can customize RB Connect to fit your company by editing, adding, and deleting options. Connect Preferences is where you set options for difference features in your RB Connect. Preferences can be updated at any time.

If you have the RB Connect Mobile plug-in (which gives clients and resources access to your RB Connect on their smartphones and tablets in an interface optimized for mobile devices), preferences set here will also apply to your RB Connect Mobile.

What you can do in Connect Preferences:

• Customize the contents, look, and feel of your RB Connect.
• Set up systemwide defaults and function defaults.
• Turn access to different functions on or off.
• Customize emails to users from various functions.
• Set up online calendars and payment processing.
• Designate staff to handle various activities.
• Set options and restrictions for various activities.
• Look up and update your RB Connect information. (Not all information is editable, such as your site URLs.)

Connect Preferences sections

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

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

TL;DR: Customize the experience for contacts and resources by setting RB Connect function preferences.

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.

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

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

Resource: Person or thing that provides your business with a service, such as reporters, videographers, interpreters, scopists, proofreaders, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.

Lesson #146

Connect – Support Tickets function

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

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

Set up your support tickets

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

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

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

Managing support tickets

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

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

You can sort the list by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you exit the function, RB9 will revert back to the default order). Export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

You can also view the list by:

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

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

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

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

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

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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

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

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