Custom Word or PDF reports for client or internal use
by simply selecting the relevant profiles in MasterFile
by simply selecting the relevant profiles in MasterFile
Printing comprehensive reports of documents or facts, sorted or categorized by date, author, issue, etc., in MasterFile is as simple as displaying the appropriate view (or selected portions of it) and printing it — either to hardcopy or to PDF — or pasting it as a table into a new or existing Word or Excel document to work on further.
Often though, you need to put together an ad-hoc collection of presentation quality reports for your clients or others with other specific information. MasterFile’s Grab ‘n Go Briefs were designed for these situations and are the simplest and fastest way to make polished Word or PDF reports for your client or other use.
In post we’ll explain the rational behind this feature, and present some examples, plus do a brief comparison to CaseMap’s report books.
We cover
Grab ‘n Go briefs compared to CaseMap’s Report Books ↓
Grab ‘n Go Briefs in 3 easy steps ↓
Grab ‘n Go example ↓
In CaseMap 5, Lexis introduced a feature known as Report Books. Essentially Report Books allowed you to create a PDF file with several reports along with ancillary pages such as the title, TOC, a confidentiality statement, etc. However, it turns out that developing and defining a Report Book is long and tedious process requiring considerable configuration and much experimentation along with good knowledge of subtle CaseMap idiosyncrasies. You need to configure settings and options in over a dozen dialog windows just to setup the basic report shell and then, for each report you want to include there are half a dozen more dialog windows to configure.
The fundamental problem, despite all the configuration dialogs, is that a Report Book at its heart is a collection of traditional database reports that are created all at one go, so every aspect of the entire Report Book must be defined correctly in advance. And since it is created directly as a PDF document, a Report Book can not be edited or refined to add or remove information or to tune it or correct minor mistakes. In particular, Report Books force you to accurately define, test and save, in advance, very precise search criteria for each report to ensure the correct information is selected. And since, for a given report only one filter may be used, you need to understand how to create complex multi-condition filters for even simple situations, such as selecting all information related to several issues.
Since the issues related to a case are almost always unique to it, Report Books related to a case’s issues have to be custom developed. Similarly, as Report Books are frequently needed to satisfy ad-hoc requests for specific information, detailed search filters must be defined and tested to ensure just the information needed is included — in addition to basic configuration.
The net result is that a lot of development and testing is required for a Report Book that will most likely be unique to a specific case, and then only used a few times.
MasterFile’s Grab ‘n Go Briefs were designed from a very different perspective — we viewed the report collection as a brief that may require editing or drafting of additional text. Consequently Grab ‘n Go Briefs are not a static, monolithic description of every aspect of a report set in CaseMap Report Book fashion. There’s no need to properly configure, in advance, dozens of necessary nitty gritty details for each report. Instead Grab ‘n Go Briefs are Word documents into which report tables are inserted — simply grab (select) the information needed and add it to the brief as you go. Once the brief is complete, you can save it as a Word document and/or MasterFile can create a PDF version of it.
The contents page and two report pages from a Grab ‘n Go Brief as it appears in Word are shown below. The first report lists all documents, extracts, facts and players linked to the key issue “Sky High Elevators knew parts were defective” and the second lists outstanding questions, related to the same issue, that require investigation.
Since the reports are simply tables in Word, they can also be pasted into other documents, re-ordered, or even deleted and added again if corrections are required. At any time, a new table can be simply appended to the brief, perhaps later, after the brief has been reviewed. The brief itself can of course be stored in the MasterFile database, becoming part of the case documentation, and therefore others can contribute to it as well. And finally, because the brief is a Word document and not a static PDF, you’re able to edit, revise and add paragraphs, logos, graphics, etc. to the document. Once complete, you can print it to PDF and add that to the case record in MasterFile too.
Here’s the three step G ‘n G creation process in toto.
Create a blank Grab n Go Brief by clicking on the button below. The brief is created from a Word template provided with MasterFile that you can copy and modify to customize with corporate or other information, logos, etc.
After a brief has been created as above, or you have re-opened an existing one in Word, report tables are then added as needed. For each report you want to add, simply:
Save the Word document and/or create a PDF version, complete with bookmarks to each report, with the “Print current brief to PDF” button shown above.
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