Tag Archives: Resource

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.

Concept #4

Entities

Entities in RB are individuals, businesses, places, or discrete parts of your company such as revenue centers or branch offices.

Entity types in RB

• Firms: Your direct clients — usually law firms — and other businesses you provide services to, such as other court reporting firms, vendors, insurance companies, corporate clients, and courts.
• Contacts: People who work for firms you do business with, such as attorneys, paralegals, secretaries, legal assistants, claim adjusters, and court clerks.
• Resources: Mainly people who provide your business with a service, such as reporters, videographers, interpreters, scopists, and account executives. But it can also be entities like other agencies that cover jobs for you or a conference room where depos take place.
• Locations: Places where jobs occur that are not your clients’ offices, such as court rooms, hospitals, schools, doctors’ offices, or private residences.
• Business Units: Your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you track separately, such as branch offices, other companies you own, affiliates, and profit-sharing operations.

You can maintain deep profiles of entities in RB including contact information, financial information, personal information and preferences, detailed notes, and related files. When you add an entity to a case, job, or invoice in RB, all of their information is connected and automatically fills in the related fields with no need to re-key anything.

Related RB concepts

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 >

Lesson #11

Calendar – Send Assignment Notifications/Cancellations function

Instead of notifying resources of assignments as soon as you enter them in RB, do a day’s worth all at the same time. This will save your time if you have a lot of notices to send on a daily basis. Or maybe you prefer to wait to notify resources until after setting all assignments.

(You can also notify resources of cancellations the same way, but most likely you will do those individually as they occur to let your resources know ASAP that their jobs have been canceled.)

Notifications are sent via email or text or both. You can also print out notifications to hand out or fax.

Automatic attachments

Assignment notification emails automatically include the reporter worksheet for the task. You can customize the default worksheet — for example you can add the scheduling client’s email address — and create additional ones in Form Templates.

Before sending notifications use System Preferences to customize the subject line, the message and whether the worksheet is included in the body of the email, as an attachment, or both. You can include any text you wish, embed contextual RB data fields such as job location and witness name, add images, and style the text with fonts, text treatments, sizes, and colors. You can also customize the subject line and contents of text messages with your own text and contextual data fields.

Emailed assignment notifications can automatically include other attachments such as the relevant job notice or a shared word list, or you can attach files individually as you are sending an email (but RB will not send files over 20MB). In addition to setting up which file types will be attached (in System Preferences) you can also designate which types of tasks will receive these automatic attachments (in Lists). For example you probably don’t need to send word lists to resources handling your conference room.

You can also automatically include an iCalendar file with emailed assignment notifications that the resource can import into their own calendar. You can customize its subject line and description.

You can do the same customizations for assignment cancellations with the exceptions of no file attachments beyond the notice and no iCalendar file.

Emailing notifications

In Send Assignment Notifications/Cancellations, you can email assignments by day scheduled or job date (if you assign jobs the day before they should occur). Cancellation confirmations are selected and sent by cancelled date. If desired, you can refine your notification list to:

• A specific date or date range
• A single job number
• One or more job types
• One or more tasks
• One or more resource types
• One or more business units

The notification list displays each job’s number, date, task, start time, status, witness, resource, notified date, acknowledged date, ordering client, business unit, job type, and job location. Canceled assignments results also list the date each job was canceled.

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.

When sending notifications you have the option to attach additional files from either your desktop or RB’s Job-level Repository.

RB records emails sent in the Email Log function in Tools (RB9 only), so you can refer back to them later.

TL;DR: Instead of notifying resources one at a time, save time by emailing or texting a day’s worth of notifications at once.

RB9 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.

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

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.

Resource Type: Profession (such as Scopist, Proofreader, or Interpreter) and other categories of resources.

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

Lesson #10

Calendar – Resource Blast function

If a client calls and says they need a reporter in 2 hours, how would you find someone close enough and available to handle the job? In an urgent situation like this, use Resource Blast to send a single blast email and/or text message to a group of resources that you specify.

Target the best resources for the job

Use search criteria to optimize the list of message recipients:

• Job number
• Resource’s distance from job (can leave blank for online meetings)
• Single state, some states, or all states
• Resource’s priority level
• Resource type
• Specialty required
• Available resources only or all resources

The search results display resources that meet your criteria and for each resource includes how far in miles they are from the job location (except for online meetings), their email address(es), their mobile phone number & vendor, their priority level and resource type, the city/state they live in, and any warnings about the resource. You can click on any resource name in the results to view/update their listing in your RB database.

You can sort the 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.

Select which resources in the list you want to contact and how you want to contact them by checking the email and/or SMS box next to their names. You can also export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

The message sent to the selected resources will automatically include pertinent job information like location and time. You can customize the default contents and settings for Resource Blast emails and SMS text messages in System Preferences. For example, you can automatically include case information or the witness name. You can also change individual messages on the fly before sending.

In System Preferences you can also designate the number of emails RB9 sends at one time to balance speed against spam filtering on your resources’ mail servers.

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

TL;DR: Use Resource Blast to send email and/or text-message blasts about last-minute jobs to a targeted group of resources instantly. Customize your messages to fit your company and resources.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

Priority Level: Order of selection preference for resources. For example, resources on staff vs. affiliates.

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.

Resource Type: Professions and other categories of resources.

Specialty: Skill or specific expertise required for some jobs, such as medical reporting, Spanish, or realtime.

Lesson #9

Calendar – Quick Assignments function

If there are too many jobs or too many changes in a day to assign tasks one at a time within each job, save time by printing out your upcoming calendar, writing your resources on your calendar, then using Quick Assignments to:

• Apply your assignments to your job calendar in RB9.
• Send resources notifications of their assignments.

Even if you don’t have so many assignments but just prefer to assign all of a day’s resources at one time, use Quick Assignments after confirming tomorrow’s jobs to drag and drop resources to related tasks, or select someone from a list of resources that have previously worked on jobs for the same case.

You can also use Quick Assignments to easily enter assignments made on past jobs that you didn’t get a chance to enter into RB9 before the job occurred.

Assign then notify in one function

Quick Assignments defaults to tomorrow’s tasks when you open the function so you can immediately start assigning resources and checking who has already been assigned. You can change the date to view, narrow the list to one or more tasks and/or business unit (BU), and assign resources to a different date.

In addition to dragging and dropping resources, there are 2 shortcut methods: Previous resources and preferred resources.

As the name implies, previous resources are any resources that were assigned to tasks in jobs on the same case. You can assign a resource from a list of previous resources with a click instead of searching for a resource to drag and drop.

If you maintain preferred/blocked resources lists for firms and contacts you can view those lists in Quick Assignments, so you can:

• Avoid attempting to assign a blocked resource.
• Assign an ordering firm’s or ordering contact’s preferred resource to a task with a click.

Whether you select a previous resource/preferred resource from a list or drag and drop a resource to a task RB9 records it in the related job’s Notes Log and asks if you want to notify the resource. (If you try to assign a blocked resource to a task, RB will alert you and not allow the assignment.) You can send the notification by either email or text message or both without leaving the function, or you can wait to send all of the day’s notifications in a batch using the Send Assignment Notifications/Cancellations function.

Notifications can be sent via text or email or both. Notification emails automatically include the reporter worksheet for the task. You can customize both the message and whether the worksheet is included in the body of the email, as an attachment, or both. You can include other attachments as you are sending the email. You can also send an iCalendar file that the resource can import into their own calendar.

Tasks listed in Quick Assignments include information such as job number/type/status/date/time/location, task times (if different from job times), assigned resource, client, witness, BU, and any notes you’ve made about the task. If you use the Notation field in jobs for your own custom codes to describe jobs (such as “RT” for Real Time), these codes appear here too to help you choose appropriate resources.

Tasks are color coded by job status, so if any job hasn’t been confirmed yet it’s easy to see and follow up with the client. And the list makes it easy to see all unassigned tasks at a glance so you won’t overlook any when applying resources to assignments.

Customize how you view assignment lists

The grid in which you view assignment lists is customizable to your individual preference:

• Re-arrange the columns so the most important information is most prominent
• Stick up to 10 columns to the left side of the grid so they do not scroll when you have a results grid wider than your screen.
• Stretch/shrink columns to fit the results.
• Hide columns you don’t need to see.
• Choose which column(s) to sort results by.
• If you select more than one column choose in what column order to sort the list.
• Choose whether to sort info by ascending or descending order in each selected column.
• Save your custom grid as your default.

You can save your custom grid as your default. Your customizations do not affect other users and you can restore the original RB grid layout anytime.

In addition to assigning tasks you can view and update any listed job’s details, remove assigned resources, and 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: In Quick Assignments you can quickly assign resources to tomorrow’s jobs and see if any of those jobs are not confirmed yet so you can follow up with the client.

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.

Blocked Resource: Resource that a particular firm or contact does not want assigned to tasks on jobs they schedule or order from you.

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.

Notation: Short codes (up to 24 characters) you create yourself to give key information about a job (such as “V” for video, “RT” (for realtime), “1 of 2,” or “Daily”) in a results grid, so you don’t have to click into a job’s detail window.

Notes Logs: Un-editable internal-use only notes entered either by a user or automatically by RB9 appear in chronological logs in the database record where they occurred, such as a case, job, invoice, or entity. More >

Preferred Resource: Resource that a particular firm or contact wants you to assign to tasks on jobs they schedule or order from you.

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 #8

Calendar – Resource Availability function

When a resource wants to take a vacation or a personal day — or if they want to pick up extra hours of work outside their normal schedule — use Resource Availability to view their schedule, then quickly add or remove time for specific days.

The default view in Resource Availability is all resources’ work schedules for today. (Resources’ regular work schedules are set up in their individual listings.) Work schedules are color coded so you can easily track resources’ schedules by assignments, available/unavailable times, and time off.

Search for a resource

Use any of the search criteria to narrow your search to find a particular resource/resources:

• Date range
• A resource’s name
• One or more Priority Levels
• One or more Resource Types
• One or more Specialties
• Text in time-off notes/comments

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.

Include notes about time off

When granting time off, you can include reasons for it and any notes or comments about it for your records. Resource Availability will display this information in the search criteria results.

Quickly change a resource’s schedule

Use the Change Availability option to add time to resources’ schedules when they are willing to work extra hours for a month, or quickly block out time off for a resource if you do not need to keep track of the reason.

During a resource’s scheduled time off — whether it’s their regularly scheduled time off or time off added here — the resource’s name will not appear in the list of available resources when assigning tasks. If you try to assign a resource in Quick Assignments who is not available, it will alert you so you can pick a different resource or override the resource’s time off.

TL;DR: Set up resources’ regular work schedules in their individual records in RB; use Resource Availability for one-off changes, such as vacations or availability outside of their normal working hours.

RB concepts in this lesson

Priority Level: Order of selection preference for resources. For example, resources on staff vs. affiliates.

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.

Resource Type: Professions and other categories of resources.

Specialty: Skill or specific expertise required for some jobs, such as medical reporting, Spanish, or realtime.

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

Concept #3

Notes Log

Log notes entered either by a user or automatically by RB appear in a chronological log in the database record where they occurred, such as a case, job, invoice, or entity. Log entries are your internal paper trail because every entry is stored and listed separately — and they cannot be edited nor deleted. Entries can only be canceled but remain in the log as a canceled entry.

Notes Logs are included in:

• Entities (Firms, Contacts, Resources, and Locations)
• Cases
• Jobs
• Witnesses
• Invoices
• Tracking
• Collections

Notes Logs are private

Notes Logs are for internal use only, and log notes are not published on RB Connect or in any correspondence with clients or resources. Notes to be shared with clients and resources — or internal notes that require high visibility such as information the production or billing staff need to know about a particular job — should be entered in other fields in RB dedicated to those purposes. However only notes in Notes Logs are unalterable.

You can set a date and time on any note in a Notes Log to have the system send you or another staff member a reminder about the note.

TL;DR: Notes Logs contain notes related to the record in which they are entered by a user or the system and are unalterable. They are for internal use only and are not shared by the system with clients or resources.

Related RB concepts

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

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

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

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

Concept #2

Task

Tasks in RB are services requested with a job — such as reporting, interpreting, or video — that require a separate resource (person, company, thing) to accomplish. Work performed in-house — such as creating condensed transcripts or shipping out finished products — is usually not considered a task in RB. RB includes a set of tasks which you can customize to your business by adding, editing, and deleting tasks from the set.

Task examples

• Reporting
• Videotaping
• Interpreting
• Conference Room-Inhouse
• Conference Room-Outside
• Catering

Non-task examples

• Creating condensed transcripts
• Shipping out finished product
• Doing other production work
• Compiling invoices
• Billing clients
• Following up on outstanding amounts due

All jobs include a default task which you define in Setup > Lists. You can change the task in a job if the job does not require the default task but all jobs must have at least one task included. A job can have an unlimited number of tasks. You can enter tasks in a job when scheduling the job or at any time later.

Tasks simplify & speed up job scheduling while reducing errors:

• When assigning a resource to a task, only those resources who are available during the task’s scheduled time will be listed for you to select from so you don’t assign a task to someone who cannot appear. The scheduling client’s preferred resources will appear at the top of the list so you can easily select them. You can further refine who appears in the list by selecting their priority level (e.g., staff or overflow), specific resource types (such as reporter or scopist), or specialities needed (such as RealTime or Medical). You can also override the system selection to show resources who are listed as unavailable for that time slot. If you attempt to assign a resource that the scheduling client has on their Blocked Resources list, RB will alert you and will not allow the assignment.
• You select tasks from a list to assign to resources so if you have multiple tasks on a job you want to assign to the same resource, you can select the tasks and assign them all at the same time to the one resource.
• If the job is canceled, all of the tasks are canceled too. When changing a time, date, or location for a job, all related tasks are updated.
• If a job includes multiple tasks and the client cancels one aspect — for example, they no longer need interpreting, but the rest of the job is a go — you cancel only the one task; it doesn’t affect the rest of the job.
• Canceling a task adds the assigned resource back to your available resources list for new assignments. And automatically prompts you to send an Assignment Cancellation notice to the resource.
• RB keeps track of when tasks were canceled. This is helpful in situations where there is a cost incurred in late cancellations — such as a hotel’s conference room — you will have a paper trail to back up any cancellation fees charged to your client.
• Designating Back Order as a task instead of a job status helps with job management because back orders will have their own order date, due date, notified date, acknowledged date, and cancelled date like other tasks.
• As resources are assigned to or removed from tasks, the related job’s Notes Logs automatically records that information including the staff responsible so you refer back to that history.
• Job files that resources need access to can be added to the job’s task repository so you can easily email those files to resources when sending them assignment notifications and resources can download the files from RB Connect instead of having access to all of the job’s files.

Task information includes:

• Type of task
• Order date and due date
• Resource assigned
• When resource was notified of the task and when they acknowledged the assignment
• If task was canceled, when it was canceled
• If the task required the resource to be somewhere, when they checked in at the location (resources can check in using RB Connect or RB Connect Mobile, or you can manually enter check-in date and time in RB)
• Estimated page count and delivery date
• Actual completed date and time
• Notes about the task
• Task-related files

Tasks or linked jobs?

For services you will bill separately — such as video done by a third party of a depo — set up a linked job instead of a task. Linked jobs are separate jobs on the calendar, but because they are tied together you will be notified when a depo is canceled that there is a linked video job so you can cancel the video job too and notify the videographer.

TL;DR: A task is a service requested by a client that requires a separate resource to accomplish. A job in RB can include one or more tasks, and canceling one task does not affect the rest if the job. You define tasks based on your company’s services.

Related RB concepts

Blocked Resource: Resource that a particular firm or contact does not want assigned to tasks on jobs they schedule or order from you.

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

Linked Jobs: Separate jobs on the calendar, but connect to each other. When one is confirmed or canceled, RB notifies you that there is a linked job, so you can confirm/cancel the linked job too.

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.

Preferred Resource: Resource that a particular firm or contact wants you to assign to tasks on jobs they schedule or order from you.

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

Lesson #7

Calendar – Tasks (List View) function

In RB, when you schedule a job, you include any services requested — reporting, interpreting, video, conference room, etc. — as tasks in the job, not as separate jobs. That way if the job is canceled, all of the tasks are canceled too and nothing gets overlooked. You can also cancel individual tasks from a job without it affecting the rest of the job.

Monitor tasks

You can use either Tasks (List View) or Tasks (Monthly View) to monitor tasks to see if they have been entered, assigned, and acknowledged. In List View you can see at a glance this information and other basic job information in the main window.

The job status for each task is listed and color coded for easy recognition. RB comes with default sets of tasks and job statuses,which you can customize by adding, editing, and deleting entries. You can also choose which colors represent different job statuses, including different colors for light or dark mode displays, in System Preferences.

In either Tasks function you can:

• Add tasks. Tasks can have different time frames than their related jobs.
• Assign tasks to resources.
• Delete tasks (if no resource has been assigned).
• Remove assigned resources.
• Re-assign tasks.
• Cancel tasks (RB will prompt you to send the resource an assignment cancellation notice).

When you change a task’s start or end time — or assign or remove a resource — RB will record the details in the related job’s Notes Log.

In Tasks (List View) you can use shortcuts from the list of tasks to:

• Add a new task to the job.
• View the task.
• Go directly to the task’s Edit Task panel in its job.
• Record the current date and time as when the assigned resource acknowledged the job.
• Remove the date and time listed in the Acknowledged Date column.

Viewing tasks in a list

The default task list shows all of tomorrow’s tasks in a grid that includes:

• Task’s name, status, and any notes about the task
• Order date and canceled date
• Related job number, date, start & end times, notation, status, location, type
• Task start & end times if different from job’s start & end times
• Assigned resource, when they were notified, and when they acknowledged
• Ordering client
• Related case
• Assigned business unit
• Witness

Use search criteria to refine the list of tasks shown. Search criteria in List View includes:

• Date type and date range
• Task type and status
• Assigned resource
• Job’s priority level
• Type of resource required
• Job number, status, and type
• Your company’s business unit
• Related case
• Include canceled tasks or not

Customize how you view tasks lists

The grid in which you view task lists is customizable to your individual preference:

• Re-arrange the columns so the most important information is most prominent.
• Stick up to 10 columns to the left side of the grid so they do not scroll when you have a results grid wider than your screen.
• Stretch/shrink columns to fit the results.
• Hide columns you don’t need to see.
• Choose which column(s) to sort results by.
• If you select more than one column, choose in what column order to sort the list.
• Choose whether to sort info by ascending or descending order in each selected column.

You can save your custom grid as your default. Your customizations do not affect other users, and you can restore the original RB grid layout anytime.

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

Manage tasks

You can manage tasks in either Tasks function:

• Add an overlooked task to a job.
• Enter start and end times for a task that are different from its related job.
• Assign a resource to a task which RB records in the task’s Notes Log. If the scheduling client has preferred resources they appear at the top of the resource list. If the scheduling client has a list of blocked resources RB will alert you if you attempt to assign one and not allow the assignment. When a resource is assigned any warning about them appears beneath their name in the Task panel.
• Notify resources when they are assigned.
• Remind resources of assignments by resending notifications.
• Automatically record the current date and time when a task was acknowledged by a resource.
• Remove a task’s acknowledged date and time with one click if a mistake was made.
• Update the related job’s information including notes, contact information, location, and parties.
• Remove a resource from a task which RB records in the task’s Notes Log.
• Upload task-related files to a task’s repository for assigned resources to download.
• Update a task, such as setting resource acknowledgements’ date and time manually or entering page estimates. If you change a task’s start or end time RB will record the details in the related job’s Notes Log.
• Delete a task if no resource has been assigned.
• Cancel a task if a resource has been assigned.
• Reactive a canceled task and assign a new resource (you can cancel and reactive a task in one click if you are reassigning resources).
• Begin production turn-in.

When you cancel a task the assigned resource is automatically added back to your available resources list for new assignments and RB prompts you to alert the resource of the cancellation. In addition RB keeps track of when tasks were canceled. This will be helpful in cases where there is a cost incurred in late cancellations, such as a hotel’s conference room: You will have a paper trail to back up any cancellation fees charged to your client.

List View vs. Monthly View

Tasks (List View) shows the most information about tasks in the results, you can customize how the results are displayed, and it has more search criteria than Monthly View plus shortcuts to creating new tasks and setting/clearing task acknowledgements. List View will also display jobs that do not have tasks yet (such as “Request New” jobs from RB Connect).

Tasks (Monthly View) is similar to Jobs (Monthly View) and displays jobs by job number in a calendar page format so you can see your work schedule at a glance. Monthly View only displays jobs that have tasks and displays limited information in the calendar page. Rolling over a job number pops up basic information about the task, job, and case.

In both views clicking a displayed item opens the job detail screen with the View Task panel already open so you can see complete task details and edit if needed.

TL;DR: Use the Tasks (List View) function to monitor and manage tasks in a grid layout that shows the most task information at a glance. List View also has the most search criteria for finding tasks.

RB concepts in this lesson

Blocked Resource: Resource that a particular firm or contact does not want assigned to tasks on jobs they schedule or order from you.

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.

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

Notation: Short codes (up to 24 characters) you create yourself to give key information about a job (such as “V” for video, “RT” (for realtime), “1 of 2,” or “Daily”) in a results grid, so you don’t have to click into a job’s detail window.

Notes Logs: Un-editable internal-use only notes entered either by a user or automatically by RB appear in chronological logs in the database record where they occurred, such as a case, job, invoice, or entity. More >

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

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

Preferred Resource: Resource that a particular firm or contact wants you to assign to tasks on jobs they schedule or order from you.

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

Concept #1

Job

A job in RB is usually the reporting of a deposition. But it can be any kind of service you provide with your resources, such as realtime, videoconferencing, or read & sign. You might also have further distinctions, such as conference room or document production only, to categorize jobs. A default list of job types is included in RB that you can customize to fit your business.

You do not have to set up separate jobs if a client has requested multiple services for the same time and place, such as a court reporter and an interpreter for a single depo. You can designate the services as separate tasks in one job, and bill them on a single invoice.

Jobs can be set up as:

• Single events, including Zoom meetings as stand alone events or as hybrid meetings with some attendees in person and others remote
• Linked jobs (commonly used for videotaped depositions where you want to bill the video separately)
• Series of jobs at once
• Part of an ongoing case so they share case information

If you have RB Connect, your clients can send you job requests for a single event or a series of jobs that import directly into RB9. Clients can include detailed information about the job, even upload related files, and it all imports into RB9 with no re-keying on your part.

When setting up a job, RB provides alerts and guides. For example, if a client’s invoices are past due, you can have RB pop up an alert with the total overdue amount and days past due, so you can address it immediately. Another example is when scheduling Zoom meetings, if the host account has a scheduling conflict between an existing Zoom meeting and the one you are scheduling, RB will alert you.

Job information in RB

When setting up a job, the minimum amount of information needed is who is ordering the job, job date, and time (including time zone). However, there is a great deal more information that can be included in any job.

Information about each job is organized into 10 sections.

General

Section fields include:

• Job number, date, and times (also zone and daylight savings adjustment)
• Job Status
• Business Unit
• Witness (& whether subpoenaed, expert, and what kind)
• Job Type
• Case & any case warning (includes link to complete case information)

Client

Section fields include:

• Scheduling Firm & Contact (includes links to complete firm and contact information)
• Ordering Firm & Contact (includes links to complete firm and contact information)
• Firm & contact warnings
• Firm & contact calendar notes

Job Location

Section fields include:

• Location Type (the ordering firm’s location; a different firm location; a location from your database; one of your company’s locations; a resource location, such as your conference room; or a one-off address you enter manually)
• Location name, address, and phone (includes links to complete location information and map)
• Directions
• URL ( (if the job is an online or hybrid meeting, your Zoom meeting preferences are automatically included, which you can override as needed)
• Notes and warnings about the location (if the job is a Zoom/hybrid meeting, the Notes field for remote locations will automatically include the meeting ID, passcode, and dial-in phone numbers)

Additional

Section fields include miscellaneous info like:

• Your own codes for jobs
• If the job was rescheduled, the date of the original job (includes link to previous job’s information)
• If the job is linked, the job it is linked to (includes link to linked job’s information)
• Sales Representative (includes link to sales rep’s information)
• How you got the job (referral, repeat client, etc.)
• Unlimited notes about the job (scheduling, confirmation, resource notification, production/billing that are automatically shared with the appropriate people)

Parties

Section fields include each party’s:

• Company information
• Role, including which side and attendance
• Access to job information
• Billing information (including 3rd party details plus insurance information and e-billing)
• Requested services

Specialties

Section lists:

• Any specific expertise required for the job

Award Points

Section is a sub-function in jobs for allotting reward points to the job parties.

Tasks

Section lists any parts of the job that require a separate resource and includes:

• Resource assigned
• Dates task was assigned; when it’s due; when the resource was notified; when acknowledged by the resource; current status; when the resource checked in at the job location; if canceled, when; and when it was completed.

Repository

Section includes any files uploaded to the job. (You can also upload files to individual tasks in the job.)

Notes Log

Section includes internal notes and reminders about the job added by you, your staff, and automatically by RB.

Actions within a job

Within a job, you can:

• Update information in any section.
• Upload files to the job and its related tasks.
• Confirm the job with the client.
• Reschedule or cancel the job. RB will prompt you to notify the ordering party and any assigned resources. If the job is a Zoom meeting, the Zoom info (like ID and passcode) will remain the same for rescheduled jobs. If it is canceled, the Zoom meeting is automatically deleted by RB.
• Copy the job to create a new one with all of the same information except the date.
• When creating a new job, set up multiple jobs at once for different days, or even multiple times in the same day(s).
• Add the job to a case, and have it inherit case information like parties to the case.
• Create a linked job that includes all of the job information to use for a service you will bill separately (such as video of a depo). When confirming or canceling a job, it will alert you if there is a linked job so you can update that one too.
• Add tasks, set task deadlines (you can override the default due dates set from the ordering firm’s preferences or your BU’s preferences), assign resources to tasks, and manage tasks.
• Change the job’s status, using shortcuts or automatic updates for some statuses.
• Manage job parties’ access to job information and files on RB Connect.
• Add third-party and insurance billing information for job parties.
• Include any party’s service requests for the job.
• Find information about the contact, firm, resource, and job location, including contact information and driving directions.
• Begin production turn-in.
• Export job data for other uses. You can export the information displayed in the Parties, Specialties, Award Points, Tasks, Repository, and Notes Log panes as Excel spreadsheets or CSV(comma-separated values) files to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

TL;DR: RB jobs are depos or other services you provide that require separate resources, such as court reporters. They can be attached to a case to share information or stand alone.

Related RB concepts

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.

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.

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

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

Linked Jobs: For services you will bill separately, such as video done by a third party of a depo, set up a linked job instead of a task. Linked jobs are separate jobs on the calendar, but because they are tied together, you will be notified when a depo is confirmed that there is a linked video job, so you can confirm the linked job. Or if the depo is canceled, you can cancel the video job too and notify the videographer.

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

Location Type: Categories of locations, such as doctor’s office or private residence.

Notes Logs: 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.

Ordering Contact: Contact at the firm that is responsible for a job with your company. Can be different from the scheduling contact (Scheduled By).

Ordering Firm: Firm that is responsible for a job with your company. Can be different from the Scheduling Firm.

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 job, they are in RB’s Job Repository. 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, videographers, interpreters, scopists, account executives, other agencies that cover jobs for you, or a conference room.

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

Scheduling Firm: Firm that initiates a jobs with your company. Can be different from the Ordering Firm.

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