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New Cases Tool

New Cases Tool Overview

This is the  general view of the New Cases tool from a desktop, from which you can see different cases. From here you may also add cases, or subscribe to receive updates for whenever there are new cases added.

 

Mobile view of the site.

 

 

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New Cases Tool

The New Cases tool can be used to post descriptions of pro bono opportunities for volunteers. You may post individual case descriptions, case lists or descriptions of volunteer programs.

This chapter is broken into three sections:

New Cases may be viewed by Location or by Topic. The selected view appears black and bolded, while the unselected view remains orange. Up to three listings display under the location and topic headings in each display view. Click More to view others. See screenshot below:

Location View

Topic View

Posting a New Case

There are now two ways to post cases into the New Cases Tool. First, you can set-up an integration with LegalServer by contacting support@probono.net. This will automatically pull in cases posted to LegalServer onto your probono.net Cases Tool.

The other option is to add cases manually. Click the add a case link at the top right of the New Cases page, and fill in the fields according to the directions below.

TIP: If you overlook a required field, the form will not submit, and the system will list the empty fields as issues at the top of the page.

If you click on the title of the field listed as in issue, you will be directly brought to the field on the form.

General Case Information

Case Number: Enter any internal case number used for volunteer placement. If you do not use case numbers, you may also use an alphanumeric combination, including an acronym for your organization, plus 4 digits, e.g., PBN0001.)

Case Title: Enter a short, descriptive title for the case, such as "Uncontested Divorce" or "Removal Hearing - China Ethnic Minority". This will be appear in search results for the site as well.

Description: When entering a description of the case here, please remove all identifying client information in order to protect client confidentiality.

Posting Date: The default posting date is listed as the current date.

Expiration Date: The default expiration date is one year from the posting date. On this date the case is automatically removed from the page. Expired cases can then be found in the Admin Inbox under Deleted items. To repost the case, simply change the expiration date to a current date.

Organization: Enter the name of the organization offering the case. If the organization is listed in the Opportunities Guide, selecting the organization from the drop down list will associate the case with the organization’s listing in the Volunteer Opportunities page. However, if you manually enter the organization, the case will not be associated with its listing on the Volunteer Opportunities page.

  • Note: Previously listed cases are not automatically associated with organizations. The case must be edited and the organization must be re-selected from the drop-down list for the case to be associated.

For more information see the Opps Guide section of the Admin Manual.

This organization is LSC funded: Check if the organization offering the case funded by the Legal Services Corporation. If so, LSC's logo will automatically appear next to the case.

City / State: Enter the location of case. Be consistent in how you enter city or state names as the Location view of New Cases collects items under the same Location heading only if the headings are exactly the same.

 

Contact Information

Contact First Name: Enter the first name of the person whom users may contact for more information about the case.
Contact Last Name: Enter the last name of the person whom users may contact for more information about the case.
Contact Email: Enter the email address of the person whom users may contact for more information about the case.

 

Settings

Status: The default status is Awaiting Approval. If you don't switch this to Approved it will not be listed on the New Cases page. Instead it will stay in your Admin Inbox. Remember to switch the status to Approved if you want to publish the item immediately.

  • Deleted places the item in the Admin Inbox under Deleted items.
  • More Information Requested and Rejected are useful internally as a way to mark items you're not ready to post or want someone else to review.

Selecting either of those puts the item in your Admin Inbox under the same category.

Shared: Checking "Share this content item with other probono.net sites" means you allow members in all practice and geographical areas to access it in a search. Admins from other areas will also be able to add the item to their practice area news pages. Member type privileges set by you will still apply to shared content.

See Publishing Shared Content for more information.

Priority: Checking "Mark this item as a priority item" places the case at the top of the Topic View of your New Cases page under a Priority Items heading. Priority Items appear only in the Topic display mode and display up to three items, after which you must click > More to view others.

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Access Restrictions

Select who will see a New Case by choosing from the options listed. Keep in mind the following:

If your New Cases tool is password-protected, only logged in site members can see its content. A “No Restriction” item will still be hidden from public users as they will have no access to your New Cases page in the first place.


Consider marking New Cases with No Restriction and checking the Share this item box. This allows them to be read by the public in other, public New Cases pages (e.g., a different PBN New Cases page), and frees them up to be returned in search results.

 

  • Restricted to Members of this Site: All logged-in members of the site will see the item. Even if this item is published on a public New Cases page it will only display to logged-in members.
  • Allow access by these members: Only the user type(s) you select from this list will see the item story. To select more than one, hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard as you click.

Area Topics

You may assign a New Case with one or more top-level topics.

To assign Topics, take these steps:

  • Topic: Select a topic from the drop down list and it will appear in the box below labeled Available Topics/Subtopics. (New Cases do not have Subtopics available for tagging; this is for Library items only.)
  • Available Topics/Subtopics: Double-click the topic in this box OR select it and click the down arrow. The item will then appear in the 3rd box labeled Assigned.
  • Assigned: Whatever appears in this box is what you are tagging your New Case with. To remove an assigned topic, highlight it and either double-click, or click the up arrow.

Repeat these steps for as many topics as you wish.

Click Submit to post the case and you will automatically return to the New Cases page.

TIP: If the item does not appear on the New Cases page, it is likely that the Status was not set to Approved. Look for the item in your Admin Inbox > Awaiting Approval > New Cases list. If it is there, click its title to open its form, and scroll down to the Status box. Select “Approved”, and then click Submit.

 

Approving, Updating or Deleting a User-Submitted Case

Non-admin users are permitted (and encouraged) to submit cases of their own. However, such cases are not automatically published to the site; a user-submitted case will remain in the Awaiting Approval section of your Admin Inbox until an Area Administrator reviews and approves it. (See Admin Inbox chapter for more information about how the Admin Inbox works.)

To publish such a case go to your Admin Inbox. By default, all content “Awaiting Approval” should already be displayed.

Click on the link to New Case. A page with all the New Cases will appear, from there, just click on the case's title you want to review. Before approving, be sure to review or reformat the following:

  • Expiration Date
  • Description: Non-admin users do not have access to FCKeditor when submitting News items, so you should format accordingly.
  • Status
  • Shared
  • Give Priority
  • Access Restrictions
  • Topic(s)

Now switch the item's status to "Approved" and click Submit at the bottom of the page.

  • NOTE: The name and email address of content submitters displays at the bottom of each form. If you have any questions about the case, click on the email address to send a query.
  • TIP: If the case submitted includes a link to another web site, make sure you copy and paste the URL into a new browser window to check the link.

To make changes to, or delete, a live New Case, click on the edit image next to its title.

Make any desired changes, then click the Submit button at the bottom of the screen.

If you wish to delete the case, change its status to Deleted, and click Submit.

(The item will only disappear from the New Cases' live pages. It will remain in your Admin Inbox New Cases section under Deleted Items.)

  • NOTE: If the case was shared in from another area, the fields you may edit are limited to Status, Priority, and Area Topics. In addition, you can click the Settings tab to send the item to one or more areas' Admin Inboxes for possible publication. Everything else is fixed. See Appendix C for more information on Shared Content.

Remember, you can also view and manage all cases in the admin inbox as well.

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Embeddable Widget Generator and Content Sharing

Please click here for details about this tool's content sharing abilities.

The calendar and new cases embeddable widget generator allows a site user to generate a widget that dynamically (automatically) pulls calendar or new cases tool information from your probono.net site, and can be embedded on an external site.

The widgets allow partners and supporters to easily display a list of upcoming volunteer trainings or available cases on their own website, blog, or intranet. As trainings and cases are added to your probono.net site, the updates are reflected in real-time in the widgets embedded on an external website.

Admins can email support@probono.net to enable this functionality on either their calendar tool or new cases tool.

Accessing the Embeddable Widget Generator
Site users can access the tool by navigating to the calendar or new cases tools. In the upper right corner, they will see a “get our widget” link. When users click this link, they will be able to configure the widget for their site.

Settings – In this section users can title the embeddable widget, assign the number of events it displays, and select what state and topics the widget pulls data from. Users can also determine whether to pull in city data.

Dimensions – Here users can select the widget width and height.

Global Settings – Here admins can adjust the footer message of the widget, add an icon, or select viewer restrictions for the widget.

Admins can also configure default widget settings for embeddable widget.

There is an option to preview your widget before grabbing the embed code for placement on an external site. A preview can be seen on the right hand side of the screen.