Often times, clients have specific policies and procedures that must be followed when working their cases. Trackops offers a policies module to streamline special handling related to these rules so important steps are not missed.
Policy rules can be created on three levels:
- Client - The parent or root client on the case.
- Client Location - The sub-client or location associated with the case.
- Client Contact - The primary contact associated with the case.
It is best practice to apply policy rules to the parent or root client whenever possible, as these are the most uniform across all cases for a client and will require less decision making for staff.
When policy rules exist on multiple levels (i.e. the client, location, and contact), they are displayed together in the overall case policy.
Creating Policy Rules
You may choose to have a single rule that encompasses all policies and procedures for a policy, or break down a policy into mutl into their own rules for an action. Both ways are acceptable, it's more a matter of preference.
To create a policy rule, navigate to the Client, Client Location, or Client Contact profile. From here, click New > New Policy Rule.
- Policy - Select the policy where you'd like these policies to appear. A full list of policies is available below.
- Require Special Handling - Check the box to require acknowledgement when special handling exists on the selected action. Review Understanding Policy Acknowledgment below to learn more about when and how policy acknowledgment is presented.
- Title - Choose a title that is easy to understand and best describes the policies and procedures inside this rule.
- Rule - List the policies or procedures to be followed. Policy rules allow markdown syntax to easily stylize the text for readability.
Once created, policy rules are located on the are located on the Policies tab of the Client, Client Location, or Client Contact respectively.
Available Policies
| Type | Policy | Notes |
| Case | General Case Policy | Used for general case handling policies that are unrelated to creating or editing cases. |
| Case | Assign Case Policy | Used when assigning new contacts to cases (i.e. investigators, managers, etc...) |
| Case | Create Case Policy | Used when creating new cases and case requests |
| Case | Edit Case Policy | Used when editing existing cases and case requests |
| Case Update | General Case Update Policy | Used for general case update related policies that are not related to creating or editing case updates. |
| Case Update | Create Case Update Policy |
Used when creating or editing case updates for client contacts. Review Special Notes about Case Updates below to learn how access groups affect this policy. |
| Case Update | Edit Case Update Policy | Used when editing case updates for client contacts. |
| Case Update | Send Case Update Policy |
Used when sending case updates to client contacts. Review Special Notes about Case Updates below to learn how access groups affect this policy. |
| Expense | General Expense Policy | Used for general expense related policies and procedures, not related to creating or updating expense entries. |
| Expense | Create Expense Policy | Used when creating new expense entries on a case. |
| Expense | Edit Expense Policy | Used when editing existing new expense entries on a case. |
| Invoice | General Invoice Policy | Used for general billing related policies and procedures, not related to creating or editing invoices. |
| Invoice | Create Invoice Policy |
Used when creating new invoices. Review Special Notes about Invoices below to learn how changing the client on an existing invoice affects this policy. |
| Invoice | Edit Invoice Policy | Used when editing existing invoices. |
| Invoice | Send Invoices | Used when sending invoices to client contacts. |
| Task & Event | General Task & Event Policy | Used for general field-related policies and procedures, not related to creating or editing tasks and events. |
| Task & Event | Create Task & Event Policy | Used when creating new tasks and events. |
| Task & Event | Edit Task & Event Policy | Used when editing existing tasks and events. |
Reordering Policy Rules
If you've created multiple policy rules for a single action, you may want to reorder them to put higher priority policies and procedures are the top of the list, alphabetize them, or sort them in any other way you choose.
To reorder policy rules, simply click and drag the policy card header up or down to move it higher or lower in the list.
Note: You must have more than one policy rule for a given action to be able to reorder policy rules.
Viewing Client Policies Inside Cases
Users must have the View Client Case Policies on Cases permission in order to view client polices on a case.
Each case includes a Policies tab that contains the various special handling rules associated with the client, client location, and/or client contact. All of the policies that apply to a case are located in this tab. Within the Policies tab, there are sections for each policy action available to the case. If one or more policy actions does not exist when viewing the case policies it means there are no policy rules created for the client, location, or contact on the case.
Viewing Client Policies on the Trackops Mobile App
On the Trackops mobile app, Create and Edit Case policies are listed on the overview of the case.
Understanding Policy Acknowledgment
Best Practices for Policy Acknowledgment
Policy acknowledgment will require confirmation each time the specified action is performed. When policy acknowledgment is enabled these actions cannot be performed until the user has checked the box to acknowledge special handling requirements.
It is best practice to use policy acknowledgment for intaking or sending information to the client, where client policies and procedures must be adhered to before the action can be taken.
Using policy acknowledgment for editing cases and updates can be useful for certain clients where it is imperative that specific rules must be followed, but in general, once the case or update has been created, policy acknowledgment can become burdensome.
Special Notes about Case Updates
Creating and Editing Case Updates
- Policy rules will only appear on case updates where the access group is visible to clients. When you select the access group on a case update, that access group must include client contact user roles for the policy to appear. If the access group does not include client policy user roles, the update cannot be targeted to a client and special handling does not apply.
- If policies are disabled based on access group selection, staff will not be required to acknowledge policies as policy rules will not apply.
Sending Case Updates
- Similar to creating and editing case updates, access groups are verified when sending a case update. If the update is associated with an access group that is visible to a client contact (i.e. you can send it to a contact), the policy rules will apply. If this is an update that is not visible to client contacts based on the access group, policy rules (and acknowledgment requirements) do not apply.
Special Notes about Invoices
Changing the Client on an Existing Invoice
- When changing the client an an existing invoice, the Create Invoice Policy will be displayed, where normally one might expect the Edit Invoice Policy to be displayed. This is because when a new client is selected, intake policies for this client must be adhered to, similar to creating a new invoice for this policy.
Billing to Affiliate Clients and Contacts
- When invoices are designated to affiliate clients and contacts, policy rules for those affiliate client and contact profiles are displayed. Invoice Policies from the case client will not be presented when billing to affiliates.