What’s New in Case Master Version 10.5

Highlights

• Case Master Version 10.5 is now also available in a Client Server Version.
• Case Master Briefcase is now included with Case Master at no additional charge.
• QuickBooks integration.
• New multimedia tutorial.
• Ability to configure which fields are included in Contact Searches.
• Improved Conflict of Interest searching features.
• New Recurring Dates feature simplifies the creation of repetitive calendar records.
• Improved filtering capabilities allow specifying upper and lower boundaries for indexes.  Provides incredibly fast display of records on the List tab (e.g., quickly shows primary timekeeper 1’s clients).
• Improved processing of Calendar Plan Templates.
• Ability to quickly convert calendar and journal records to fees.
• Faster display of records in the Process Timer Records program.
• Ability to specify ranges for the Daily Report.
• Enhanced integration with Outlook so that calendar entries for users other than yourself will integrate with Outlook.

Client Server Version

• Case Master Version 10.5 is now available in a Client Sever Version. STI Server minimizes the amount of information flowing back and forth on a network thereby greatly optimizing performance. Improvement in performance is particularly apparent in reporting functions and other disk intensive tasks.
• Client Server versions are available for Case Master, TABS III, Accounts Payable System (APS), Trust Accounting System (TAS), General Ledger System (GLS) and TABS III Report Writer. All integrated STI systems must be Client Server versions.
• If using the Client Server Version, STI Server is required. STI Server must be installed on a computer running Windows NT4/2000 Server, NT4/2000 Workstation, or Windows XP Professional with at least a Pentium 133 CPU. STI Server will also run as an NLM on a Novell Server, Version 4.2 or later, using TCP/IP protocol. Workstations can use Windows 95 or greater. The STI Server takes very little time to install and is quite simple to use.
• STI Server and Client Server Versions of STI software are competitively priced and provide a great deal of performance and value for your money. Contact your STI dealer or our Sales Department for pricing and additional details.

Case Master Briefcase

• Case Master Briefcase is now included with Case Master at no additional charge. Case Master Briefcase is the Remote Module for Case Master and is designed to work with Case Master data on a separate computer without the use of a network or modem.

QuickBooks Integration

• Added the ability for Case Master to optionally integrate with Intuit’s popular QuickBooks accounting software (www.quickbooks.com). Case Master can post detailed journal entries to a QuickBooks import file whenever a cost transaction is added to Case Master.

Outlook Calendar Integration

• Improved Outlook calendar integration so that users can add, change, and delete calendar entries for other users and those changes will be sent to Outlook (provided Microsoft Exchange Server is installed).

Case Master Multimedia Tutorial

• STI has developed a robust multimedia tutorial for Case Master training purposes.  Video clips for more than 40 topics are included with over 150 minutes of material.  This tutorial is ideal for introducing unfamiliar features as well as training new personnel.  The video clips can be accessed via Case Master’s Help menu as well as from the STI CD-ROM Browser.  For convenience, you can even install the tutorial onto a different computer such as a laptop so it can travel with you.  Once installed, you can pick and choose which video clips you want to play. Videos can be played with sound only or with text only thus providing flexibility for those systems that don’t have a sound card installed.
• Added links from online Help topics to related video clips in the multimedia tutorial.

System File Changes

• The following system file changes will automatically be implemented for this update.
  • Calendar File:  Added two new protected fields that are used by the new “Calendar to Fee” feature: “Fee_SeqNo” (long integer type) and “Status” (alpha type).
  • Calendar Code File: Added two new protected fields that are used by the new “Calendar to Fee” feature: “Tcode” (tcode type) and “Amount” (money type).
  • Journal File: Added a new protected index called “Status”. This index is used in the Process Timer Records program to greatly improve the speed at which records are displayed.
• As a result of the aforementioned changes, the File Version ID in Help | About Case Master will be updated to CM10c.

Contact Search

• Added the ability to configure which fields you want included in the Contact Search by selecting the new Include in Contact Search check box in File Maintenance.
• When the Include in Contact Search check box is selected, an asterisk (*) is displayed next to the field’s Cnflt column on the File Definition Report.

Conflict of Interest Searching

• Added the ability to search for multiple search values at the same time by enclosing search values with double quotation marks. For example, you can now search for "John Smith" and "Jack Smith" at the same time. 

• Added the ability to optionally exclude Area of Practice files. Previously, the Area of Practice files were always searched. 

• Added the ability to include an apostrophe in a search value. This allows you to search for names such as O'BRIEN and D'AGOSTO. (Note: To retroactively find words with apostrophes, you must rebuild your conflict of interest index files after installing Case Master Version 10.5.) 

• Searches will now also find instances of the base word followed by an apostrophe and the letter "s". For example, searching for SMITH will find all occurrences of SMITH and SMITH'S. 

• Increased the maximum search value from 128 characters to 512 characters.

Filtering

• Added the ability to associate an index with a query expression for filtering purposes on the List tab thus providing vastly improved performance—particularly with large data sets. You can specify an upper boundary, a lower boundary or both. In many instances, this feature simplifies how Query Expressions are defined. For instance, this new feature will allow you to display cases for a specific timekeeper with incredible speed. Previously, filtering had to examine each record in the entire file; whereas, now it filters only a portion of the file as designated by the specified boundaries.
• Shift+F8 now acts as a toggle switch to display or hide the Filter information on the List tab of the Editor window.

Daily Report

• Added a new dialog box for the Daily Report that lets you specify the following criteria:
  • Specify a range of dates.
  • Specify one or more users and/or groups (up to 6 users/groups).
  • Specify whether to include or exclude events.
  • Specify whether to include or exclude tasks.
  • Specify whether to include or exclude reminders.
• Changed the Startup Option to automatically run a Daily Report uses the settings from the last time the report was processed by the user. However, the report’s Date Range always defaults to the system date.

Recurring Dates

• Added a new Recurring Dates Feature for calendar records. The recurring dates feature lets you easily create multiple calendar records with the same information for different dates. This feature is quite useful for creating dates for repetitive tasks such as case reviews, client billing deadlines (for bills, reports, notifications), backups, meetings, filing deadlines, etc.
• Includes the ability to specify a beginning and ending date OR the number of occurrences.
• Includes the ability to specify daily, weekly, semi-monthly, monthly, or yearly frequencies with various options. The following are just a few examples of how recurring dates can be applied. As examples, you can create recurring dates for an event that occurs the third Thursday of every month; you can create recurring dates for the 15th and last day of each month; you can create recurring dates for the 2nd Friday of every other month; you can create recurring dates for a specific day of every year, etc.
• Each batch of recurring dates can be optionally linked together in a series. If one calendar record in the series is changed or deleted, you will be given the option to specify whether you want all calendar records or just the future calendar records in that series to also be changed or deleted.
• Existing Case Master Version 10 users can use the Form Designer to update their form layout for the Calendar file. The Recurring Dates button can be added to the form layout.

Calendar

• Added the following new bitmap symbols for various types of calendar records:
  •  - Indicates the calendar record is a linked recurring date record (red arrows).
  •  - Indicates the calendar record is part of a calendar plan (blue “P”).
  •  - Indicates the calendar record is linked to the same calendar record for other users.

Calendar Plan Templates

• The “Process Plan” window is now the “Process Template” window.
• Added the name of the Calendar Plan Template being processed to the Process Template window title bar.
• Added the Calendar Plan Template description to the Process Template window.
• When processing a Calendar Plan Template, the information entered into the Process Template window is saved until the Calendar Plan Templates window is closed. This allows multiple Calendar Plan Templates to be processed without having to reenter the Process Template information.
• Added a Print Plan button to the Preview of Plan window allowing you to print a Calendar Plan before accepting or rejecting the Calendar Plan.
• Added a “Processed For” column to the Preview of Plan window, the Plans Associated With Template window, and the View Calendar Plans window. This column indicates the user(s) assigned to the key item.
• Added a “User ID” column to the Calendar Plan Template Report. This column indicates users that were assigned to a template item using the Edit Fields button.

Convert a Calendar Record to a Fee

• Added the ability to convert a calendar record to a fee record by right-clicking a calendar record and selecting the Convert to Fee menu option from the Action menu.

Calendar Code File

• Added a Tcode field to the Calendar Code file allowing you to associate a calendar code with a tcode. When converting calendar records to fee records, the default tcode for the fee record will be the assigned tcode in the Calendar Code file.
• Added an Amount field to the Calendar Code file allowing you to assign an amount to a calendar code. When converting calendar records to fee records, the default amount of the fee record will be the amount assigned in the Calendar Code file.
• Existing Case Master Version 10 users can use the Form Designer to update their form layout for the Calendar Code file to include the Tcode and Amount fields.

Process Timer Records

• The Process Timer Records program displays records on the List tab much faster because only the unprocessed records are included (i.e., Status = “U” - unprocessed).
• Added a right-click Convert to Fee menu option that can be used to convert one or more highlighted timer records to separate fee entries.
• Changed the Conversion Settings window so it is accessed via a right-click menu option as opposed to a tab. This allows the settings to be shared with the new “Convert Calendar to Fee” program.

Convert a Journal Record to a Fee

• Added the ability to convert a journal record to a fee record by right-clicking a journal record and selecting the Convert to Fee menu option from the Action menu.

File Maintenance

• The File Definition window now includes a new Include in Contact Search check box under Custom Properties for alpha and memo field types to support user-configurable fields for Contact Searches.
• Case Master Version 2.x and Version 1 users had the ability to increase the field lengths of certain fields which are now protected in Version 10. If this data was converted to Version 10, the increased field length was maintained. This has caused a problem for those users who are integrating with TABS III. As a result, we have added the ability to edit the field length of a protected field to match the protected field length in the OEM file definition.

Help | About Case Master

• If using the Client Server Version, the About Case Master window shows the STI Server Name, the current number of connections, the maximum number of connections and the activation limit.

Fast Access Mode

• If using the Client Server Version, the Fast Access Mode menu option is not available.

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