Tag Archives: Send Job Confirmations/Cancellations

Send job confirmations or cancellations

Send job confirmation and cancellation emails to clients, then track their responses …

Lesson #6
Calendar – Send Job Confirmations/Cancellations function

As a courtesy to your clients— but also to check that your information is correct — send your clients Acknowledgements of Scheduling, AKA job confirmations, to let them know you have added their requested jobs to your calendar. You should also send cancellation confirmations for the same reasons.

In RB you can email these acknowledgements as they happen or save time by sending them in batches, especially if you deal with a volume of jobs every day or if it is your practice to confirm jobs the day before they are scheduled to take place. Use the Send Job Confirmations/Cancellations function to handle this process.

In Send Job Confirmations/Cancellations you can email job confirmations by day scheduled or job date (if you confirm jobs the day before they should occur). Cancellation confirmations are selected and sent by cancelled date.

The default list shows all jobs scheduled for today. Refine your confirmation list to a date range, single job number, particular job types, or specific business units. Search for canceled jobs using the same search criteria.

Automatic attachments

Confirmation and cancellation emails automatically include the confirmation/cancellation form. RB comes with default confirmation and cancellation forms that you can customize. You can also create your own.

Before using this function to send confirmations or cancellations use System Preferences to customize each type of notice’s subject line, the message, and whether the notice 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 the job date and case name, add images, and style the text with fonts, text treatments, sizes, and colors.

You can also automatically include an iCalendar file with the confirmation emails that clients can import into their own calendar. You can customize its subject line and description.

You can preview the emails before they are sent and attach other files when sending the emails. You can attach files from your desktop or from your RB Job-level Repository.

Managing confirmations & cancellations

When you send job confirmations or cancellations via email, RB makes an entry that includes the receiver’s email address in the job’s Notes Log. RB also records the email sent in the Email Log function in Tools (RB9 only) so you can refer back to it later.

After sending out job confirmation notices either singly or in batches, track the jobs in this function to follow up with clients and record their responses in each job’s status. You can double-check that tomorrow’s jobs are confirmed by reviewing the Status column at the end of the day for any jobs still waiting for a call-back or not confirmed.

In addition to the Status column the results grid displays each job’s:

  • Number
  • Date
  • Ordering client
  • Location (of in-person locations not Zoom details)
  • Business unit
  • Type
  • Date created
  • Date confirmed
  • Case
  • Witness

Canceled jobs also list the date the 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.

TL;DR: Use the Send Job Confirmations/Cancellations function to send acknowledgement emails to clients in batches at the end of the day then monitor the jobs’ statuses and follow up with clients.

RB concepts in this lesson

Business Unit (BU): One of your company’s revenue centers or any entity in your business that you want to track separately such as branch offices, other companies you own, affiliates, and profit-sharing operations.

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

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

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

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. Log entries are your internal paper trail because every entry is stored and listed separately, and entries cannot be edited nor deleted.

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Calendar

Calendar is one of the largest functions in RB with many features to speed up scheduling while minimizing errors …

Lesson #2
Most important module in RB?

Maybe the most important module in RB is the Calendar. It is where you schedule and manage jobs (e.g., depos), set up and manage cases, assign tasks to reporters and other resources, and manage assignments.

It is one of the largest modules with 16 functions, all related to your job calendar. What you can do with those functions includes:

  • Start a job with as little information as ordering client, date, and time.
  • Start a new job by copying an existing job and updating it.
  • Automatically import job information clients include in job requests made via RB Connect.
  • Include jobs in cases so they automatically share case parties and information.
  • Use the job wizard to set up multiple related jobs including their shared information at once.
  • Create linked jobs that share information but can be billed separately and canceled independently of each other.
  • Include complete information about cases and individual jobs, including parties, requirements, location, and LEDES e-billing information.
  • Grant parties access to jobs and related files online through RB Connect.
  • View jobs as a list, a monthly calendar, or week by week.
  • Search jobs by multiple criteria including job location, client, and witness.
  • Update, confirm, reschedule, and cancel jobs.
  • Notify clients when their requests for services are received.
  • Send clients their upcoming job calendars.
  • Email clients job confirmations as you set jobs or send a batch at a time.
  • View tasks as a list or a monthly calendar.
  • Assign, notify, and confirm reporters and other resources to job tasks.
  • Assign resources to job tasks before or after job confirmations.
  • Assign resources on the fly or print out your job calendar to make your list, then assign and notify resources in batches.
  • Include worksheets and other files in assignment notifications.
  • Send assignments via email, text, or printout.
  • Send email and text blasts to resources about last-minute jobs.
  • Update, confirm, and cancel job tasks.
  • Schedule conference rooms.
  • Log resources’ acknowledgements.
  • Audit new and canceled jobs for errors.
  • Analyze jobs by client to see how many jobs they are ordering.
  • Analyze jobs by resource so you can distribute work better.
  • View and update outstanding tasks as they progress.
  • Give resources To-Do lists.
  • Initiate a job’s turn-in.
  • Award redeemable points to contacts.
  • Upload case-, job-, and task-level files, such as notices, to the repository.
  • Maintain log of job milestones and client interactions.
  • Make hard copies of your future calendar.
  • Update and track resource’s time off.

Calendar functions by name

Calendar functions are where you will probably first see how RB’s automated processes save time and reduce errors:

  • Information entered anywhere in the system — whether by your staff entering job information in RB, a client requesting a depo through RB Connect or RB Connect Mobile, or a reporter acknowledging a job online  — automatically flows to where it’s needed. No re-keying.
  • Information and processes are easier to access than in previous versions. For example, instead of remembering shortcut keystrokes or dealing with drop-down menus, there is a New Job button in Calendar. In addition, the New Job window opens with a fly-out panel for selecting the Ordering Firm. Not a single click required to get to the first thing you will probably know when contacted about a job. Enter a few keystrokes to find the firm or add a new firm right there in the job.
  • Enter a job location’s zip code, and RB will automatically populate the city and state fields correctly.
  • RB prompts you to do certain tasks, like send notifications after scheduling a job, so nothing gets overlooked. And if you prefer, it also offers batch options for things like notifications, so you can do a day’s worth at once.
  • RB automatically enters log entries for certain activities to help you maintain a paper trail, so you know who did what when in RB9. Sometimes, it includes other information too, such as when you send a job confirmation email, RB makes an entry that includes the receiver’s email address.

TL;DR: If you schedule depos or other services, you can maintain complete details about everything in your RB calendar easily and error-free.

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 >

Linked Jobs: Jobs, such as video done by a third party of a depo, that are listed separately on the calendar and billed separately, but because they are tied together, you will be notified when one is canceled that there is a linked job, so you can cancel that job too and notify the resource.

RB Connect: Online repository, calendar, and access to your office for clients and resources, including interactive transcripts, downloadable invoices and e-commerce for clients, and one-touch job acknowledgements, online turn-in, and downloadable pay statements for resources.

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

Repository: RB has 9 repositories where you store files for safekeeping and quick retrieval. When you store files in a case, they are in R9’s Case Repository; when you store files in a job, they are in RB’s Job Repository; etc.

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.

Tasks: Service requested with a job, such as reporting, interpreting, or video.

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