"Case Updates" are the primary means of communication between you and the client when working on a case. Through a case update, the client has access to important information regarding their case such as captured video surveillance, investigative reports, and other relevant case data. Case updates can be viewed from the "Updates" tab on a case.
To post a new case update, navigate to a case, click the New button, and select Update from the menu.
Update Validation
Once an update is saved, it will look something like this:
The screenshot above includes a lot of information, most notably the red outline. This means the the update has not yet been Validated. Validation is a process used by Trackops to ensure that each posted update is reviewed and authorized before it becomes a permanent part of the case. Clients and others who do not have permission to validate updates will not see them until they are validated. Using the red Validate link at the top of the update, a manager can approve the content of the post, as shown below.
Now the the update has been validated, it is visible to everyone who has access to this case and this update's Access Group. Access Groups are used to filter content such as case updates and file uploads, making it easy to show information to some people, while hiding it from others. In our example above, you will notice that this update is a part of the "Public" access group. We have created this access group so that data connected to it is visible to both internal staff and clients. You may create as many access groups as you like through the Trackops settings.
Once you have created and validated your updates, you can send them to your clients through email via the Send link at the top of the update. The system will automatically keep track of who sent each update, to whom, and when they sent it. You can even send the files (or direct links to files) that are attached to the update. Keep in mind, the system has a maximum of 3 attachments per update, and you cannot send more than 20MB of data through email. For larger attachments, the direct download link is a better alternative.
Activity Timelines
In some situations you may want to include a timeline of activity along with your update. This can be done inline (as a party of the body of the update) or as individual timeline entries. Using the timeline feature ensures each entry is uniform and consistent across the system, including in emails and documents. To attach timeline entries to an update, simply check the Include Activity Timeline box below the body of the update.
Attachments
Each case update can hold a maximum of 5 attachments, and each attachment can range in size up to 1 Gigabyte (GB) per file. Attachments can either be directly uploaded via the case update form, or chosen from preexisting files that have been uploaded through the Files section of the case.
Note 1: It is important to note, files attached to case updates must be of the same access group.
Note 2: If you want to share more than 5 files, you should create a folder in your Files tab and upload the files to that folder. Now you can attach the folder to the case update and share all of the files inside.
After a file has been attached to an update (see the screenshot above), a user can click the file to download it to their computer, or watch it online if it is a properly formatted video file. To watch videos online, you must encode your video in MP4 format with h.264 compression.
Pasting Content Into Case Updates
When pasting content into Trackops from other sources (i.e. Microsoft Word, Google Docs, Web Pages, etc...) the content may look different as it is formatted to fit the system. It is best practice to minimize formatting in external documents before pasting content into Trackops to ensure content closely matches the input.
To plain text into the system and avoid the system from attempting to format pasted text, right click into the update box and Paste and Match Style in Chromium based browsers (Cmd+Shift+V on Mac, Ctrl+Shift+V on Windows).