Tag Archives: Tools

Lesson #168

Tools – RB Networks function

If you would like to share work with other agencies and related businesses that use RB, this function (formerly RBXchange) lists contact information for all of the RB users who have agreed to join this roster. Find full contact information including the primary contact’s name, preferred phone number, driving directions to their offices, and their email address. If you want to email them, you can do it directly from within RB.

Find a member

Search for all of the registered RB users in a state or narrow your search further to a particular city. Search results include:

• Name of the agency
• City and state they are located in
• Physical area they cover

RB lists the users in alphabetical order but you can sort the order of this list by clicking one of the results headers — for example group by city so you can quickly scan for all users in adjacent cities. You can export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, share, use in other applications, or print as a report.

Contact a member

Click an agency’s name in the list to view their details and contact them. Contact information includes their:

• Physical address with links to their location in Google Maps, MapQuest Maps, and Bing Maps so you can view their location on a map and get directions.
• Primary contact’s name
• Phone and fax numbers
• Email address that links to RB’s mail composer so you can send them an email directly without leaving RB.
• Company URL
• Coverage area

To be able to have other users exchange work with you through RB Network, you must first sign up and enter your contact information in System Preferences.

TL;DR: Look up contact information of other RB users to share work with and network.

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.

Lesson #167

Tools – Signature Proxy Usage function

When you apply reporters’ digital signatures to RB-PDF Transcripts as their proxy, RB9 records the application in this log. You can access these records for any time period. Each reporter can access the log of your application of their signature to their own transcripts on ReporterBase.com.

Get basic information quickly

In this function you can view your signature proxy usage in a monthly overview that lists the number of instances in each month and year by reporter with grand totals for each reporter, month, year, and overall for the date range you searched. The default is all instances you applied a signature to a transcript this month, but you can search any date range. If you search a long time period, you can “collapse” the view to see only year and grand totals.

You can also choose to view instances based on the date of the job the transcript covers instead of the date you applied the signature.

View more details

If the overview doesn’t give you enough information, you can generate a detailed report which lists every instance you applied reporters’ signatures. For each instance it lists:

• Date the signature was applied
• Job number and date
• Case
• Witness
• Resource

You can sort the list in ascending or descending order of any column by clicking the column’s header. And export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, share, use in other applications, or print as a report.

View the details of any job listed by clicking its job number. When viewing a job, you can also edit its details.

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

TL;DR: Track how many times you applied each reporter’s digital signature to RB-PDF Transcripts in any time period.

RB concepts in this lesson

Job: Usually the reporting of a deposition. More >

RB-PDF Transcript: PDF version of a transcript with built-in transcript-specific features and customization options. More >

ReporterBase Digital Signature Proxy (RB-DSP): Free digital signatures for reporters and agencies that agencies apply to RB-PDF Transcripts. More >

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

Lesson #166

Tools – Send Invitations for Signature Proxy function

ReporterBase Digital Signature Proxy (RB-DSP) is the way to apply reporters’ digital signatures to their RB-PDF Transcripts through the normal production process while maintaining the integrity of the signature. Before you can apply reporters’ digital signatures to RB-PDF Transcripts, reporters must grant you permission. Invite reporters to sign up for free digital signatures and grant you proxy to use their digital signatures.

For their part, reporters must:

1. Sign up on ReporterBase.com.
2. Generate a digital certificate.
3. Upload a file of their “wet” signature.
4. Grant you permission to use their signature.

They can then monitor your use of their signature and rescind proxy or cancel their account at any time.

Find reporters to invite

To find the reporter(s) in your RB database you want to invite, use the search criteria, singly or in combination:

• Full Name, First Name, Last Name, or a/k/a (their preferred nickname or business name if they are independent contractors)
• City
• State (single, several, or all)
• Resource Type (single, several, or all)
• Priority Level (single, several, or all)
• Resource number
• Active resources only or all

Send invitations

In the list of reporters your search returned, you can select one, several, or all to send email invitations to. If you are unable to select a reporter in the list, they either already granted you signature proxy or they do not have an email address in your RB database. You can sort the list in ascending or descending order of any column by clicking the column’s header. And export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, share, use in other applications, or print as a report.

Send reporters your standard invitation — which you set up previously in System Preferences — or you can customize it by editing the contents, writing something different, uploading attachments from your RB repository, selecting a different From address, and/or including Cc and Bcc addresses.

When you send a reporter an invitation, RB9 records the date the invitation was sent.

Monitor proxy designations

You can use this function to see if the reporter(s) you invited to join have granted you proxy yet. Search for reporters by the date or range of dates you sent invitations — or any of the other search criteria. In the results returned any reporters who have granted you proxy will have a checkmark in the Signature Proxy column so you can see at a glance who has responded and who you need to follow up with.

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

TL;DR: Invite reporters to share their digital signatures with you so you can apply them to their RB-PDF Transcripts.

RB concepts in this lesson

RB-PDF Transcript: PDF version of a transcript with built-in transcript-specific features and customization options. More >

ReporterBase Digital Signature Proxy (RB-DSP): Free digital signatures for reporters and agencies that agencies apply to RB-PDF Transcripts. More >

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

Lesson #160

Tools – Notes Templates function

Instead of typing the same notes for each case/job — or copying and pasting the info from a Word doc — create templates of boilerplate text to fill the notes fields in cases and jobs. 

With the Notes Templates function you can create templates of text for different types of notes. Create as many templates as you want for specific notes fields in cases and jobs — such as scheduling notes for different types of jobs or even for specific firms or contacts. Style the text in your templates with different font treatments (e.g., font weight, size, and typeface) and colors.

Then select the appropriate template when scheduling a job/setting up a case/etc. If needed you can edit the note to fit the case/job you applied the template to — but that will still be less typing than starting each note from scratch.

Notes templates are saved on the RB server and are available to all of your RB registered users. You can edit your saved templates to update them as needed.

Contextual notes templates

Notes templates are organized into Notes Groups so that when selecting a template in a Notes field only the relevant ones appear. For example templates saved in the Cases-Remarks Notes Group will be available to select in the Remarks field in a case listing.

Notes templates are organized into the following Notes Groups:

• Case-Remarks
• Job-Confirmation Notes
• Job-Production/Billing Notes
• Job-Resource Notification Notes
• Job-Scheduling Notes

Notes Groups are preset by RB9 — you cannot edit or add new groups. You can search for notes in a single Notes Group, several groups, or all groups at once. Export your search results as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

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

TL;DR: Save time entering notes by setting up templates of boilerplate text you can apply to notes fields in cases and jobs.

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 >

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

Lesson #137

Setup – System Preferences function

Tools System Preferences

Choose which types of RB9 emails to log into the system and for how long. Set up your QuickBooks Integrator so you can import RB9 data directly into QuickBooks. Enter your company contact information so other RB users can share jobs with you.

Email Log

Emails sent from RB9 are automatically logged in the system by default. Because all attachment files are stored as well when RB9 saves emails in the Email Log, this adds to your repository size and could result in additional repository storage charges.

Reduce the load on your repository by designating which types of RB9 emails you want to keep track of and how long you want to store them.

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

QuickBooks

Enter the information needed for integrating RB9 data into your QuickBooks program.

If you are using the QuickBooks Desktop edition, enter:

• User ID and password
• IP or URL of workstation/server where your QuickBooks is installed
• Open port in your firewall for forwarding traffic to your QuickBooks computer

Once you have your settings input, you can check that the port is open so you can use QuickBooks with RB9. You have another set-up step that involves downloading a free remote connector application from QuickBooks and setting it up to enable secure remote access to your QuickBooks. 

If you subscribe to QuickBooks online, you set up an Intuit developer account then enter your credentials here.

After entering your QuickBooks information for either edition, you check that RB9 can communicate with your QuickBooks. Complete setup instructions for both editions — including downloading and installing the remote connector, setting up a developer account, and checking your connection — are in the RB9 user guide.

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

RB Network

Enter complete contact information for your company so other RB users can find you in the network to share jobs with you.

You can set up one or more contact listings for your company. For example, if you have multiple offices you can set up a listings for each office that includes its coverage area so other users can choose the right office to contact for a job in a specific area.

Listings can include:

• Name of the office
• Street address or P.O. Box
• City, state, and zip code
• Office type: headquarters or branch office
• Main phone and fax numbers
• Contact’s name and email address
• Company website URL
• Coverage area

System Preferences lists all of your offices and you can export the list as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, share, use in other applications, or print as a report.

From the list you can update any office’s entry including deactivating an office so it does not appear in the RB Network or deleting it if you no longer use that office.

TL;DR: Set parameters for your Email Log and enter required information for importing RB9 data directly into QuickBooks. Check that RB9 and QuickBooks can communicate.

Lesson #104

Tools – QuickBooks Integrator function

If you use the popular accounting package QuickBooks you can import your RB9 data directly into QuickBooks using QuickBooks Integrator eliminating the need to re-key financial data.

With RB9’s QuickBooks Integrator, you can:

• Import contacts and resources into QuickBooks as customers and vendors.
• Import invoices that were generated in RB9 into QuickBooks so that you can run consolidated financial statements.
• Import payments and other transactions, including overpayments, into QuickBooks so that your bank deposits record and account balances will be accurate.
• Import resource paychecks into QuickBooks so that you can reconcile your bank account easily.

QuickBooks Integrator works with either QuickBooks online or desktop edition.

Set-up is 1-2-3

QuickBooks Integrator requires some set-up before it can import RB9 data into QuickBooks for you. Before you can use QuickBooks Integrator, set up:

1. Your RB9 business units’ accounts to match your QuickBooks setup.
2. System-wide defaults for QuickBooks Integrator.
3. Secure remote access to your QuickBooks (desktop version only) or test your connection (cloud version only).

Instructions for all 3 tasks are included in the RB9 user guide, and RB Support can assist you if you need any help.

After you have finished these 3 requirements, all you have to do is open QuickBooks then RB9’s QuickBooks Integrator in that order and keep QuickBooks open while you are working in QuickBooks Integrator.

Importing entities

Instead of entering contacts/customers and resources/vendors into both RB9 and QuickBooks, enter them in RB9 then use QuickBooks Integrator to copy them into QuickBooks.

After entering contacts or resources in RB9, all you have to do to add them to your QuickBooks is open QuickBooks Integrator, select Customers to import RB9 contacts or Vendors to import RB9 resources, and leave the default date of today or enter a different date range. From the resulting list select all or some of the entities and import them into QuickBooks with a single click.

If you need help finding entities in the list to import, you can sort the list by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but if you change search criteria or 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.

Importing invoices

There are several reasons to import your RB9 invoices into QuickBooks:

• If you operate multiple businesses and use QuickBooks to generate invoices for a business other than court reporting (e.g., a staffing business), you can import RB9 invoices into QuickBooks to run consolidated income statements.
• If you keep track of deposits with QuickBooks, you can eliminate duplicate entries of invoices and payments by importing that information directly from RB9.
• You can reprint RB9 invoices in QuickBooks format if needed.

QuickBooks Integrator defaults to all invoices posted today. You can find invoices for a different post date and/or invoices posted by one or more of your business units. As with importing entities, you can sort the list if needed and/or export the list before selecting all or some of the invoices and importing them into QuickBooks.

And as it imports invoices RB9 automatically generates any missing data in QuickBooks (such as customers, chart of accounts, or items) so you don’t have to worry about importing all of the supporting data for invoices one at a time. If any errors occur during import, that information will appear in the Error column in QuickBooks Integrator.

Importing payments

Instead of recording deposits manually in QuickBooks, you can import payment transactions directly from RB9 including payment processing fees. You just have to import invoices before importing payments since payments are applied to invoices in QuickBooks.

QuickBooks Integrator defaults to all payments posted today. Or you can find payments posted on a different post date. As with the other import categories, you can sort the list if needed and/or export the list before selecting all or some of the payments and importing them into QuickBooks. If any errors occur during import, that information will appear in the Error column in QuickBooks Integrator.

Importing credits & journal entries

In addition to payments you can import other types of receivables transactions such as credits, duplicate payments, refunds, voids, and write-offs (but not debit memos or miscellaneous payments) directly from RB9. Like payments, you must import invoices before you can import these types of transactions since they are applied to invoices in QuickBooks.

As with payments QuickBooks Integrator defaults to all other allowable receivables transactions posted today. Or you can find allowable receivables transactions posted on a different post date. As with the other import categories, you can sort the list if needed and/or export the list before selecting all or some of the posted allowable receivables transactions and importing them to QuickBooks. If any errors occur during import, that information will appear in the Error column in QuickBooks Integrator.

Importing resource payroll checks

While you can print resource payroll checks directly from RB9, instead have QuickBooks print them using your RB9 data. This way, in addition to printing the checks, QuickBooks also deducts the amounts from your checking account since reconciling your bank account can only be done in QuickBooks, not RB9.

When preparing to import paychecks QuickBooks Integrator defaults to today as the pay date. You can select a different pay date. The list of resources eligible to be paid in the specified payroll also includes their check amounts. As with the other import categories, you can sort the list if needed and/or export the list before selecting all or some of the resources and importing their paychecks to QuickBooks. You can also enter the common text that will appear in the Memo field on each check before sending the list to QuickBooks.

As with invoices, RB9 automatically generates any missing data in QuickBooks (such as vendors) as checks are imported. You do not have to worry about importing all of the supporting data for checks one at a time. If any errors occur during import, that information will appear in the Error column in QuickBooks Integrator.

(While this method is faster, you can still export payroll checks via a QuickBooks IIF file from Print Checks to import into QuickBooks.)

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

TL;DR: Import RB9 entities, invoices, paychecks, and payment transactions into QuickBooks.

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.

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

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

Lesson #103

Tools – Query Maker function

RB9 includes a lot of reports, but maybe you need one that isn’t included. Or maybe you are looking for some information in RB9 but none of the functions have the search criteria you need to find what you are looking for. Depending on what you want, you might be able to create your own custom search/report using RB9’s Query Maker.

Query Maker is a tool for searching the RB9 database and creating your own reports using data fields from a single table (e.g. Cases, Firms, or Payroll) in your RB database. It also offers a few multi-table report options, such as Firm+Contact and Invoices+Jobs+Cases, which allow you to select fields from more than one table to generate a report.

Simplified database queries – no programming required

Query Maker lists of all the tables in RB9 and automates the construction of queries so you can easily create and run your own searches and generate reports using any table (or one of the multi-table options).

For example, if you want to see all contacts entered into your RB9 database today, select the Contacts table, select “Entered’ in the drop-down list of data fields, select “Is equal to”  as the operator, and leave the default of today’s date in Condition. RB9 constructs the proper SQL statements to return the results from the Contacts table. You can export the report to save it, and you can save the query itself to use again later by changing the date.

Create targeted queries for your business only or to share

If you need more targeted results than a single-condition query provides, you can set up multiple conditions in one query to find the exact results you want. Start with one data field from a table and set its condition. Then select another data field from the same table with its own condition, and set whether you want your results to include records that match both conditions or either condition. You can continue selecting fields and setting their conditions and how they are included, and use parentheses with multiple queries to prioritize queries when AND and OR operators are used. For example, to find law firms in TX or LA, you can query: (State is equal to TX OR State is equal to LA) AND FirmType is equal to Law Firm.

The combo table options, Firm+Contact and Invoices+Jobs+Cases, give you access to data fields in each included table so you can run queries across multiple tables at once. For example, with Firm+Contact you could create a report listing all the contacts with the firm address instead of their home addresses. A report using Invoices+Jobs+Cases could list invoices with detailed job and case information included.

When you execute your custom query, Query Maker lists all results that match your query. The default results grid includes columns for all the data fields in the current table. You can choose which fields to exclude from your results to generate a report that displays only the information you are interested in. You can change the width of each column but you cannot change the order of the columns. You can sort your results in the grid by one or more columns in ascending or descending order (but when you change queries or exit the function, RB will revert back to the default order).

Export your reports as Excel or generic CSV (comma separated values) files to save, print, share, or use in other applications. In addition to exporting reports and saving your queries to re-use later, you can also share queries you create with other RB9 users, and use pre-existing queries so you don’t have to start from scratch.

Save time by modifying existing queries

Instead of starting from scratch each time to create queries, save your query to re-use later. You can update a saved query if needed before generating a report. If you want to use the updated query again you can save it replacing the existing query or save it as a new query.

You can update query names, turn sharing on (so others in your company can use your query) or off (to make your query private), or delete queries. Queries that other RB9 users in your company saved with sharing on are also available to you to use as is or update and save as a new query.

Use popular queries to make custom reports

Another option instead of writing your own queries from scratch in Query Maker, is to use queries from the Query Gallery. Query Gallery contains queries written by other users, and also queries written by RB9 staff to generate reports that are the most commonly requested but are not in RB9 yet. You can download these pre-existing queries to edit or use as is. When you download a query, it is saved to your in-house list of queries.

You can publish your own queries by uploading them to the Query Gallery library in Query Maker which all RB9 users have access to. When other users download your query to use, the number in the Download column of the Query Gallery updates.

Need something more than what you can do here?

If you want to create more complex reports or use your RB data in another application, add the Data Reader plug-in to RB9. It allows you to use your RB9 data in more complex ways, including custom reports and in other applications.

If you would rather not develop reports yourself, contact OMTI about developing a custom report for your business.

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

TL;DR: Perform custom searches of your RB9 data­base, and create your own reports from the results. Save your queries to re-use and share.

RB concepts in this lesson

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with, such as attorneys.

Firm: Business you provide services to, usually law firms.

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

Query Gallery: Library of the database queries published by RB9 developers and users for anyone to download and use in Query Maker for generating reports from RB9 data instead of writing queries from scratch.

Lesson #102

Tools – Email Log function

RB9 automatically maintains a log of most emails sent through the system. You can view lists of emails sent and look up details about each email sent in this function. The email logs are your paper trail of correspondence sent from RB9 and cannot be edited.

Emails that are automatically logged:

• Assignment Cancellation
• Assignment Notification
• Collection Letter
• Future Calendar
• Invoice
• Job Cancellation
• Job Confirmation
• Letter to Contact
• Letter to Witness
• Letter to Other
• Overdue Tasks Report
• Repository Notification
• Resource Pay Statement
• Statement
• Transcript Package Notification

You can search for emails in each of these different categories by recipient email address, sent date or date range, job number, and/or invoice number.

RB9 lists all of the log entries that match the search criteria, along with their:

• Type
• Sent date
• Sender
• Recipient
• Subject line
• Remarks
• Any cc’s

You can sort your results 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 view any email’s details by clicking its hyperlinked Log No.

NOTE: Not all emails are logged by the system

Since RB9 does not log all types of emails sent from the system, you can Cc or Bcc your email address on any email to save a copy of it. If you want to keep copies of all emails that you send from within RB9, set your user preference to “Always Bcc me,” so RB9 will send a copy of every email to your email inbox.

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

TL;DR: RB9 keeps a log of automatic emails sent from the program so you can monitor and review correspondence you sent to contacts and resources.

RB concepts in this lesson

Contact: Person who works for a firm you do business with, such as attorneys.

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

Lesson #101

Tools – Download Backup File function

Download backup files of your RB9 database from up to 7 days in the past.

There is no need for your own backups for recovery purposes because RB9 and RB Lite are on Microsoft Azure’s cloud platform which includes a better-than-backup process that requires no effort on your part to maintain. However, if you need or want backups to comply with your company security policies, you can use this function to download a copy of your RB9 database backup to store on your premises.

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

TL;DR: Back up your RB9 database to your desktop.

Lesson #100

Tools – Repository Download Log function

In addition to complying with general security rules for business applications, tracking repository access is useful to see which clients and resources are using your RB Connect, and which files they are downloading. You can also give contacts the ability to track their own download activity in RB Connect.

You can set up RB9 to record repository activity by your staff, contacts, and/or resources. (For example, if you do not have RB Connect, you can set it to track staff use only.) After setting up RB9 to record repository activity, it will track all file download activities performed by individuals in your selected categories.

Then in the Repository Download Log, you can search for download activity:

• By all persons within one of those categories, or by a single person.
• For a single date or date range.
• For a specific file or files with similar names.
• For one, several, or all file types.

RB9 lists all download activity that matches your criteria by who accessed a file; when they accessed it; which repository the file is in; the file name, type, and description; and when the file was uploaded to the system. If someone downloads a file multiple times, each download is listed.

You can sort the log 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 log as an Excel spreadsheet or a CSV (comma-separated values) file to save, print, share, or use in other applications.

From the log, you can view/update details about any person or file by clicking the person’s or file’s hyperlink.

Clients can check their download activity too

If you set Repository Logging to include contact downloading activity, your contacts can also see their download activity in RB Connect’s Repository. Similar to RB9’s Repository Download Log, a Reviewed column will be included in their Repository results grid, and any file they download will record the date and time in that column so your clients can see at a glance if they have downloaded a file or not.

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

TL;DR: If RB9 is set up to track download activity, this report lists all activity by contacts, resources, or staff for a specific time period.

RB concepts in this lesson

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

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.