Addon: Client Status Portal

The Client Status Web Portal is an optional add-on to Prime that allows a client to use the Internet to log in and check on the status of their case.  They can upload or download documents, read or leave messages, see calendar/appointment entries, and review the overall progress of their case.  Clients, who have difficulty communicating with the office, can log in at any time.  This means the client can be kept informed of the status of the case in an alternate way to telephone calls and letters.

Specific Features

Each case has its own unique password.  To help ensure safety and security, the password must be complex: it has to be at least 10 characters long and have two upper case letters, two lower case letters, two special characters (!@#$%, etc.), and two numbers.  These requirements can be changed as desired to ensure additional security.

Once logged on, the client immediately sees the current status of the case, together with the attorney assigned to the case.  The “Current Case Status” is from a predetermined set of entries chosen by a staff person.  These entries can be modified to suit the program’s desires.  The “Additional Status Information” comes from an open field that staff can fill in with any relevant information.
If the case is a staff case, the staff person’s office contact information is displayed.  If the case is a PBI case, the PBI attorney’s contact information is displayed.  This quickly identifies the person that the client may contact regarding the case.

Appointments are pulled from the Calendar table.  Calendar entries made in the client’s case are shown on the Client Status Web Portal when appropriately marked for the web portal. Either prior or upcoming appointments can be shown.  When calendar entries are marked for the web portal, an email is generated by Prime and sent to the client to notify them of that entry and to log onto the web portal to see it.

Messages to and from the client are stored in the case notes.  Case note entries may now be marked as a message for the web portal.  When a case note is marked for the web portal, an email is sent to the client notifying them of a new message on the web portal.

Documents contained in the document tracking system for the case and marked for the web portal are made available to the client.  The client can download any document for review.  Likewise, if the client has paperwork and a scanner, the document can be scanned and uploaded to the system.  If the document is already in electronic format (.doc, .xls, .pdf), it can be uploaded without needing to be scanned.

Finally, each case status entry is saved, so that each entry can be reviewed.  This can show the “flow” of the case from application, approval, assignment,  an advocate’s work, and finally closure.

The client login information is stored in a special program within the case.  This allows for the easy reset or verification of password for the client. The system can also be set to allow or not allow the client to log on to the system (the “Allowed To Log On” checkbox).  This might change depending on the use (or misuse) of the system by the client.  Additionally, whether the client should get notice of activity in the case (“Email notice” checkbox) and the client’s email address are controlled from within this special program.

The case status is stored in another special program within the case (shown here with some of the default statuses that can be chosen).  Each status entry “adds to” the entries in this special program and is used by the web portal to show the progress of the case.  Only the last dated entry is used as the current status and shown on the default or home page of the Client Status Web Portal.