LEGALSUITE ONLINE
In response to requests from our larger Conveyancing clients, LegalSuite has developed an online enquiry module – LegalSuite Online – which allows a party in a matter to access live data off the attorney’s computer system.
How does LegalSuite Online work?
The system uses an internet browser (Internet Explorer or Firefox) to connect to the attorney’s SQL data, read the progress information and display it in an easy-to-read format. Although it is initially intended for conveyancing enquiries, the system has been developed to cater for any interested party to view progress information on any type of matter.
A party in a matter (whether they are a buyer, seller, client, etc.) will be provided with a LoginID and Password. They will then log onto LegalSuite Online with these details and will be able to see all matters that they are involved in. On any one of those matters, they will then be able to view a detailed progress report, view a detailed summary or view the parties involved. Access is read-only, i.e. parties logging onto LegalSuite Online are unable to edit matters in any way.
To view a demonstration of the system, copy and paste the following into your internet browser’s address bar: http://www.legalsuite.co.za/remote/lol/index.php?Attorney=Demo and click on GO (or CTRL-Click on the link).
Who can use LegalSuite Online?
LegalSuite Online is sold as a separate module. A quote can be obtained from your LegalSuite Agent.
The requirements for LegalSuite Online are:-
1. An ADSL internet connection;
2. A static (non-changing) IP address
Once the module has been purchased, LegalSuite Software will need the following information:-
1. Your static IP address;
2. The name of a contact person at your firm who will be dealing with queries from clients who log onto LegalSuite Online and view their matters.
This information should to be emailed to Jennifer@legalsuite.co.za or shane@legalsuite.co.za. Please make “LegalSuite Online” the Subject of the email.
Any party who will be logging onto LegalSuite Online (e.g. Estate Agents, Clients, Transferring Attorneys, etc.) needs to have an internet connection (e.g. dial-up, ADSL, 3G, iburst, etc).
The Setup
Once LegalSuite has setup the relevant details from their side, there are certain settings that you need to complete before you can start notifying parties of their login details.
Setting up the website address, email and SMS message
Go to Setup | Miscellaneous | LegalSuite Online
Fig 1: Setup LegalSuite Online
Website: This is the URL that you will give to parties wanting to connect to LegalSuite Online. The URL is unique to each firm and will be given to you by LegalSuite Software.
Send Login Details via: You have the option to choose to send LegalSuite Online login details via Email, SMS or both.
A standard message is provided for SMS’s and Emails but you are able to customize this and put in your own wording. Double-click on either English or Afrikaans and the following window will open:-
Fig 2: LegalSuite Online Settings – contents of SMS and Email Messages
You will notice that there is information contained in brackets, e.g. [[(MAT:Description)]]. When this message is sent on a particular matter, LegalSuite automatically replaces these fields with the relevant information.
If you would like to customize the message that gets sent to parties and are unsure of what fields to use, LegalSuite Support Staff can be of assistance in this regard.
Some fields which you may like to make use of are:-
File Reference: [[(MAT:FileRef)]]
Matter Description: [[(MAT:Description)]]
Client Reference: [[(MAT:TheirRef)]]
Salutation: [[(PL:Salutation)]]
Bond Account Number: [[(BON:AccountNumber)]]
Bond Capital Amount: [[(FORMAT(BON:CapitalAmount@N~R~15.2B))]]
Bond Rank [[(BON:Rank)]]
Ideal Lodgement Date: [[(FORMAT(CONV:TargetLodgementDate,@D6))]]
Setting up Party Roles for Automatic Notification
Party Roles can be setup to be automatically notified of their LegalSuite Online login details when either a matter is inserted with a party having that particular role in it or when adding, at a later stage, a party to a matter who plays that role in the matter.
Go to Setup | Types, Entities & Roles | Party Roles
Fig 3: Party Roles
Double-click on the Party Role that you want to setup for automatic notification :-
Fig 4: Changing a Party Role – LegalSuite Online Notification
Tick the “Always send this Party their login details” option.
NOTE: You can override this option for specific parties who are assigned this role in a matter. To do this, double-click on the party in the Address Book and click on the Miscellaneous tab.
Tick the option “Do not automatically send them login details”.
Fig 5: Address will be changed – option to not automatically send this party their LegalSuite Online login details
The party will then NOT be notified automatically of their LegalSuite Online login details, even though their role has been setup to be automatically notified.
Notifying Parties (manually) of their LoginID and Password
Each party is assigned their own unique LoginID and Password for LegalSuite online. The LoginID is the party’s prefix and the password is recorded on the Miscellaneous tab when you double-click on the party in the Address Book.
To retrieve this information manually,
highlight the relevant matter and click on the Parties for the Matter 
icon.
Fig 6: Parties for the Matter
Highlight the party whose LoginID and
Password details you wish to retrieve and click on the Edit Details 
icon.
The Address Book will open and that party’s details will be reflected:-
Fig 7: Address will be Changed
The Code on the right-hand side of the screen is the party’s LoginID. On the Miscellaneous tab, the Password for this party can be filled in (or left blank). An expiry date can also be set, i.e. if you only want this party to have access to LegalSuite Online for a limited period of time, fill in an expiry date. After this date, they will be unable to log on to LegalSuite Online and will need to obtain a new password from you.
Fig 8: Address will be changed – Miscellaneous tab showing Code and Password
NOTE: If you do not want a particular party’s details to be available for LegalSuite Online users to view, tick the option “Do not display this Party to remote users” on the Miscellaneous tab of the party in the Address Book. This party will then be omitted from the list when LegalSuite Online users click on the Parties Involved icon.
Fig 9: Address Book showing option to “Do not display this Party to remote users”
Parties can be setup to be automatically notified of their login details as soon as a new matter is opened and in which they play a role. If you do not want this party to be automatically notified (via SMS or Email) of their login details each time a new matter is opened, tick the “Do not automatically send them login details” option (see the section below titled “Notifying Parties (automatically) of their LoginID and Password” for further information).
The LegalSuite Online login details can then be given to the relevant party – either by Email, SMS, Letter or Fax.
To manually notify the selected party via
Email or SMS, highlight the relevant party in the Parties screen and click on
the 
(send LOL
login details to this party) icon. If you have setup the program to send
LegalSuite Online details via SMS, then the following message will be
displayed:-
Fig 10: SMS Message containing LegalSuite Online login details
A copy of the message will be placed in the Document Log for future reference.
REMEMBER: When you click on the “Send LOL login details to this party” icon, the LOL details are sent via the method you chose in the initial setup, i.e. SMS, Email or both. It is necessary to click on the Send and Receive button in Microsoft Outlook to send the Email message.
A LegalSuite Online letter is also
available to assemble – highlight the relevant matter on the All Matters
window and click on the Assemble Documents 
icon. Select the LegalSuite Online intro Letter from the
list:-
Fig 11: Assemble Documents
and assemble the letter.
A window will pop up asking you for the delivery method:-
Fig 12: Delivery Method
Highlight the delivery method and click on Select.
You will then be prompted to select the Party to whom the letter must be addressed (this party’s login details will appear in the letter):-
Fig 13: Selecting the Party
The letter will then assemble on your firm’s letterhead and will reflect the login details for the selected party.
Fig 14: Assembled LegalSuite Online letter
Notifying Parties (automatically) of their LoginID and Password
Parties can be automatically notified via Email or SMS of their Login details for LegalSuite online the minute a new matter is inserted.
This automatic notification is linked to the Party Role. In other words, each time a new matter is inserted that has a party linked to it with a party role of Estate Agent, that Estate Agent will be automatically notified of their LegalSuite Online login details.
SETTING UP THE PARTY ROLES FOR AUTOMATIC NOTIFICATION
Go to Setup | Types, Entities & Roles and click on Party Roles:-
Fig 15: Party Roles
Double-click on the Party Role which you would like to automatically notify of their LegalSuite Online login details:-
Fig 15: Party Roles
Tick the “Always send this Party their login details” option and click on OK.
TIP: At this stage it is important to remember that when a matter is inserted, you are normally prompted to insert certain parties. For example, when inserting a new Transfers matter, you are asked whether you want to assign a Buyer to the matter and you have the option of clicking on either “Yes” or “No – Later”. If you choose “Yes” and you assign the Buyer to the matter at this stage, the party who is a Buyer will be sent their LegalSuite Online login details via Email or SMS the minute the matter has been inserted and appears on your All Matters screen.
If, however, you choose not to assign a Buyer to the matter immediately and choose the option “No – Later”, if you add this party at a later stage buy going to the Parties for the Matter, you will be asked whether you would like to send this party their LegalSuite Online details.
Although this is a global setting for all parties with a specific Party Role (e.g. all Buyers will be automatically notified of their LegalSuite Online login details if the above option is ticked), if you do not want a specific party to be notified of their details then you can tick the option “Do not automatically send them login details” on the Miscellaneous tab of the party in the address book:-
An SMS / Email will be sent to specific Party Roles linked to a matter the minute the OK button is clicked when inserting a new matter.
LegalSuite Online – What parties logging in will be able to see
In order for a party to be able to log onto LegalSuite online, they will need the following information:-
1. The URL to connect to - they will type this into the Address bar in Internet Explorer (or FireFox);
2. Their LoginID and Password (see Fig 3 above).
The URL is recorded in Setup, Miscellaneous, LegalSuite Online under the heading Website. This information is automatically merged into SMS’s, Emails and the LegalSuite Online intro Letter when the document is assembled.
Once the party has typed the URL into their Address Bar and pressed Enter (or clicked on Go), the following screen will appear (remember that this screen will reflect your firm’s name and the party is going to be viewing all matters that they are involved in):-
Fig 9: LegalSuite Online – Client Enquiry showing live data
The party logging in is seeing live data, i.e. if you are to insert a new matter while they are logged in and they refresh the page, they will immediately be able to see the new matter that you have just inserted into LegalSuite. Parties can only view information, they cannot edit it.
The logged in party can then highlight the relevant matter that they would like further information on and they can click on:-
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To view a detailed Progress Report on the highlighted matter. This will open a new window which will show the progress on the highlighted matter. This information is obtained from the Plan of Action
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To view a Detailed Summary of the highlighted matter. This shows various details relating to the matter, such as the Date Instructed, Bond Amount, Interest Rate, Instalment, etc. The party logging in also has the option of printing the Detailed Summary.
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To view the parties involved in the highlighted matter. By clicking on the email address of a party, Microsoft Outlook will open with this party’s details automatically filled in in the To line.
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REMEMBER: If a particular party is “missing” from the Parties screen, it is because the option “Do not display this party to remote users” has been ticked on the Miscellaneous tab of the party in the Address Book.
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