Case Management Notes can be entered from a couple of places. Selecting the activities button from the classic menu, will allow you to enter notes, or any other type of activity.
Make sure the notes tab is selected. This displays the notes list. All notes you’ve ever entered will be displayed. If this is a new system, there won’t be any notes.
Click on the new button, to add a note.
The notes entry screen will be displayed. Since we didn’t access the notes screen from a case, it will default to the person logged in.
To associate the note with a case, click on one of the ellipses. Then select, by ID.
All available cases will be displayed. Highlight the case you want and click OK.
The selected case will now be displayed. Field titles will change to reflect the case type for which the note is being entered. The date will default to the current date.
You can change the date by typing in a new date, or selecting the calendar drop down.
Note codes are optional. They can be used for a couple of purposes. One is to group common types of notes.
For example, if you want to be able to see all offers in a litigation matter, you could set up an offer note. Note codes also have the ability to trigger automatic to do’s, when follow up is required.
Questionnaire fields can also be interfaced with notes, to display a summary of when certain activities occurred. To select a note code, you can type into the note code field or select the ellipsis.
This will display a list of available note codes for this case type. Note Codes can be added or modified, by clicking on the new button.
This will take you to the system code maintenance screen, where you can add your own note codes.
If your system has pre-loaded templates, you may see a list of note codes.
Choosing a pre defined note code can automatically fill in the text of the note. You can also type directly into the note field. This field is virtually unlimited; it will hold the equivalent of 2 or 3 novels in each note. The shorthand code is strictly to assist in placing specific language into the note. The short hand code selected is not saved, only the text. Priority, allows the user to specify how important the note is. The note’s color will change in the list, based on its priority. There are 5 priorities. Very low, which is the default, displays in white. Low displays in green, Medium in blue, high in orange, and very high in red.
When you’ve finished your note entry, you can select the spell check to verify your spelling. If you wish, this feature can also be automatically called, anytime a note is saved.
If your spelling is correct, you’ll get a message. Click on OK to continue.
In case you misspelled a word. Perfect Practice will make a guess, as to the word you are trying to spell, and offer the most likely suggestions. There are several options.
Selecting change will change the highlighted word only. Change All, corrects the highlighted word. It also checks the remaining text, and changes any place else the word was misspelled.
Add, is for use when the word is spelled correctly, but the dictionary does not recognize it. The word will be added to the dictionary as a correct spelling.
Suggest, will update the display, and show less likely possibilities for the misspelled word. Ignore, leaves the text unchanged for the highlighted word, while ignore all, will ignore any word with this spelling, for the current note only.
If the suggestion is not the correct spelling, you can highlight the word if you see it. If it’s not there, you can ask for more suggestions, by clicking the suggest button.
You can also simply type the correct spelling into the change to, box. You’ll get a message, when all of the text, has been spell checked.
A Thesaurus is also available, to help research words and locate other words with similar meanings. Highlight the word you wish to research, and Click on the Thesaurus button. Operation of the thesaurus feature is similar to those found in popular word processors.
The entered by field, will default to the initials of the operator. You can change this, if you’re entering a note for someone else.
There is also a time window, if you wish to track the time. When you’ve finished entering the note, click on the check mark to save the entry.
Notes can quickly be copied to other types of transactions, by cloning them. Use the right mouse click, to display available options for this transaction.
To clone a note, to a to do for further follow up. Two screens will be displayed. The note screen and the to do screen. The to do screen, has been filled out with all of the values from the note.
The available fields will be different for to do’s. Your screens may look entirely different, if you have a pre-loaded template, or if you’ve customized them.
Once you’ve saved your note, it’ll display in the note list. By default, the most recent note will display first.
Since this note was assigned to a case, it will also display in the case’s note list.
The note entry screen, like every transaction entry screen, can be modified to meet your requirements. This is done from the utility mode.