This article is intended for customers prior to the release of Cases.
If you need any assistance reorganizing your data with Cases or have any other questions or concerns about this change, please contact us at help@litigationlocker.com.
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Cases are a new layer between Contacts and Forms that aim to simplify the relationship of different cases, plaintiffs, or topics a Contact has. This will also allow us to begin work on other requested features, such as permissions to limit access to case types or groups of cases to a specific group of users.
How CaseLocker works today
Currently in CaseLocker this is the existing relationship between Contacts and their Forms. If multiple of the same form are added to a Contact, or different templates are added, users currently rely on tags and the party name and form number fields to organize the Case Types and plaintiffs/injured parties on a form
How CaseLocker is changing
We're introducing Cases and Case Types to CaseLocker.
Case Types are your defined form groups. You can give these a name, like "3M Earplugs" or "Zantac". You can also create templates and relate the template to a case type. Templates related to a Case Type can be quickly added to any Case when created.
Cases are the new layer between Contacts and Forms. These will have a case number (unique) and a case title. This can replace the form number and party name in Forms (but those options remain available as needed). By default, cases are "Active", but can be set to inactive at any time to "close" the case.
Standard bulk operations will be available for Cases. This includes bulk importing of cases with a CSV of case numbers and titles, and bulk updating Cases based on ID.
Form creation imports will now require a Case ID.
This also modifies the “Move Contact” function on Forms, as you’re now moving the Form to a different Case.
Why it’s changing
We’re making this change to address contact and user confusion with case identification, as well as lay the groundwork for future improvements and new features.
While tags and the form fields (form number, party name) serve as methods to identify and organize cases, a formal relationship between forms of the same Case aims to reduce any confusion.
The following features are being planned after Cases (please note, these features are subject to change and there is currently no estimated timeline for release)
- Case Type Restricted Permissions
- Case News/Updates
- Case Progress
What’s not changing
Contact Files and Messages will remain at the Contact level.
What happens to my existing Contacts and Forms?
When we release this update, a default case type will be created in your account. All contacts will have this case added to their account, and all forms in a Contact will be moved into this Case.
The case title will be the contact’s full name, and the case number will be the contact’s CUID. If the contact doesn’t have a CUID, a temporary unique identifier beginning with “temp” will be set.
Your contacts will see no difference immediately after the migration - they’ll use CaseLocker the same way.
Your users will now see a “Default” case in each Contact, and this case will contain the contact’s forms. To add new forms, you’ll add them to the case.
How do I create a new Contact and add a form?
After the update, if you aren’t utilizing case types to organize your forms, you’ll create a contact as usual and add the “Default” case to the contact where you previously added forms. You'll need to enter a unique case number for that case, then you can enter the case and add forms by searching for the template, just like before.
If you are utilizing case types, instead of selecting the “Default” case to create, you’ll select the Case Type you want to create from already existing types. Then, open the case and add your forms.
Form Importing now uses the case number instead of the contact ID when importing.
How do I migrate my existing Cases?
After the update, your forms will be moved into “Default” cases in each contact.
Migrating and organizing your existing forms will require some cleanup. We’ll circulate a template file after the update you can use to organize your forms into their respective case types.