Notifications in Solaria and ServiceLink

TABLE OF CONTENTS

• Introduction
• Client Notifications
  • Statements
  • Invoices
  • Billing Letters
• Attorney Notifications
  • Statements and Invoices
  • Billing Letters
  • Notification Destinations
• Contact Notifications
  • Job Emails
  • ServiceLink Notification Settings
  • Attorney Contact Relationship Settings
• Troubleshooting
  • "An Attorney Didn't Get An Email"

Introduction

This document describes how notifications are set up and used throughout Solaria and ServiceLink. Notifications refers to the electronic communications with your contacts and attorneys, either via email or text messages. Most notifications can be set up to use one or the other or both. There are a few things done only from Solaria that only send emails and not text messages (such as sending an attorney their invoice). This document explains which types of notifications go out to contacts and attorneys and how to set them up depending upon whether you want contacts or attorneys copied on emails to one another. 

Client Notifications

Clients, or law firms, typically do not receive notifications directly for things; however, they can be sent statements and billing letters. 

Statements

Statements will use their Statement Preferred Destinations as set up on the Client Maintenance window:

When you select File ► Print to Preferred Destination (CTRL-SHIFT-P) or click on Print Statements, you can select the option to Print to Preferred Destination:

Note that it can go to both the printer (to be mailed to the Mailed To address) and an email message if both have been entered on the Statements tab of Client Maintenance.

If you simply print using File ► Print (CTRL-P) or do not check Print to Preferred Destination, it will prompt you for where you want to send the statement. Sending it via email will use the email address specified on the Statements tab. 

You can also print statements from the Reports ► Clients ► Statements. This will display the preferred destination for each client; however, you can choose whether to use that or not by check Print to Preferred Destination at the bottom of the 2nd window that is displayed when printing statements (after prompting you for a date range).  

If this is not checked, you will be prompted for the report destination for all statements. 

If it is checked, you can filter the list by those who get a printed statement, those that are emailed a statement, or both.

Invoices

Clients are not sent invoices directly; however, invoices sent to attorneys will use the client’s Invoice Preferred Destination if an attorney under them does not override this and has no email address on their account.

Billing Letters

Billing letters sent from the Billing window under the client use the Statement Preferred Destination which will be displayed on the window.

It will always prompt you for the destination to send billing letters. It will use the statement destination for the default email address, if there is one, when emailing billing letters.

Attorney Notifications

Statements and Invoices

When printing an attorney’s statement or invoice and telling it to use the preferred destination, it will use their client’s preferred destination unless they override this by entering it directly on the Attorney Maintenance window in the same section. 

When NOT printing to the preferred destination and sending statements or invoices via email, it will use the attorney’s preferred statement or invoice email address on their account if they have overwritten the client. If there is no preferred destination email address for the attorney or client, it will use the attorney’s main email address. 

Billing Letters

Attorney billing letters will use the Statement Preferred Destination as shown on the window:

This could be the client’s statement destination unless the attorney overrides it with their own destination. 

If this says “No Preference” because neither the client nor attorney have a destination entered, it will use the attorney’s main email address when you email it. 

Statements, Invoices and Billing Letters will always use the Preferred Destinations unless you are using the normal File ► Print option and there are no settings entered for the Preferred Destination of the report you are sending. In this case it uses the attorney’s main email address on their account for emails.

Notification Destinations

In addition to the above Statement/Invoice Preferred Destinations, attorneys can specify if emails going to them for statements, invoices and billing letters should be copied to their contacts or not, or if it should ONLY go to their contacts.

 If Only the Attorney is selected, no one else is copied on emails directed to the attorney. 

If The Attorney and Selected Contacts is selected, all emails directed to the attorney will be sent to the attorney plus all contacts listed with Notifications checked. In the above example, Sally Jones will be copied on all emails directed to the attorney. 

If Only Selected Contacts is selected, all emails directed to the attorney will be sent to all contacts listed with Notifications checked, instead of the attorney. If it’s an email for a statement, invoice or billing letter and there is a preferred destination set up for either the attorney or client, it will still send to the preferred email address entered and copy the contacts on the email. 

The default for new attorneys created can be set up in System Preferences ►Clients tab ► General – Attorneys section: 

If you do not want to copy contacts on any statements, invoices or billing letters, you can check Suppress Copying contacts on Emailed Invoices, Statements and Attorney Billing Letters in this same section of System Preferences:

Contact Notifications

Job Emails

Emails regarding job confirmations, schedulings, cancellations, reinstatements and reschedulings will be directed to the contact on the job instead of the attorney (unless the contact is the same as the attorney) since they are usually the one that called in the job. 

If you want attorneys to be copied on the emailed confirmations directed to contacts, turn on the Copy Attorney on Emailed Confirmations checkbox in System Preferences ►Clients tab ► Confirmations section:

 Note this only applies to the confirmation emails as the other job emails are sent out of ServiceLink, as explained below.

ServiceLink Notification Settings

Solaria sends emails for job confirmations, statements, invoices and billing letters. All other types of notifications are generated out of ServiceLink if you integrate with ServiceLink. For example, job cancellations are generated out of ServiceLink. 

Attorneys and their contacts are all categorized as “contacts” in ServiceLink. Each contact can specify where they want to send their notifications that are generated out of ServiceLink: either to email, text, both or none. These are found under the contact’s Manage Email Settings option under their account.

 Here they can customize where to send each type of notification that is generated by ServiceLink:

The rules for the attorney still apply here as they are synched with Solaria. If an attorney copies their notifications to one or more contacts, it will send it to the attorney’s destination(s) for that notification type as well as the contact’s destination(s) for that notification type. 

For example, if files are ready on a job for an attorney, it will: 

1. Send an email to the attorney if the Get Email is turned on for the “Job Files Ready” notification and they have an email address entered and they are not sending all notifications only to their contacts. 
2. Send a text message to the attorney if the Get Text Alert is turned on for the “Job Files Ready” notification and they have a phone number entered and they are not sending all notifications only to their contacts. 
3. Send an email to the attorney’s contacts with notifications turned on if the Get Email is turned on for the contact’s “Job Files Ready” notification and they have an email address entered and they are copied on notifications sent to their attorney. 
4. Send a text message to the attorney’s contacts with notifications turned on if the Get Text Alert is turned on for the contact’s “Job Files Ready” notification and they have a phone number entered and they are copied on notifications sent to their attorney.

Attorney Contact Relationship Settings

The relationship between attorneys and contacts can be set up in ServiceLink in addition to/instead of in Solaria as well as they are kept in synch. When a contact is viewing “My Account”, they can go to the Delegations tab to see the notification settings that Solaria users see in Solaria.

The one exception to this is that attorneys can copy other attorneys on notifications, if desired, as all contacts (attorneys and contacts) are shown here. 

Changes to these settings will be fetched into Solaria and updated there to match. 

Note: Notifications are separate from delegations. Notifications are communications going to the attorneys and contacts. Delegations are what an attorney or contact can view of other’s jobs, files and orders in ServiceLink. Just because a contact is a delegate of an attorney does not mean they will get copied on notifications to the attorney. This must be specified separately.

Troubleshooting

"An Attorney Didn't Get An Email"

The following items should be checked if an attorney didn’t get an email that you think they should be getting. 

1. Was the email regarding a statement, invoice, billing letter or files ready on a job? 
   1. Yes: 
      1. Check in Solaria if the attorney shows an email address on their account.
      2. Check in Solaria if they aren’t sending all notifications to their contacts. If Only Selected Contacts is selected, the attorney will not get the email notification. 
      3. Check in ServiceLink if the specific notification is turned on with an email address for them.
   2. No: : If this was for a job, scheduling, cancellation, rescheduling, reinstatement, etc. the email would go to the contact on the job, not the attorney. 
      1. Check in Solaria that the contact has an email address. 
      2. Check in ServiceLink if the specific notification is turned on with an email address for them.