One of the ways to make your firm's client portal most engaging is with Phase Mapping. Every project in your Filevine Org belongs to a phase, so creating informative, helpful, and exciting content for your phase descriptions is important!
We also want to make sure this process is as easy and simple as possible. Let's dive in to learn how we've been able to do that in VineConnect.
Note that this is related directly to Timeline Template, which is a requisite to Phase Mapping. If you haven't setup a Timeline yet, you'll want to do that first.
Phase Mapping is where you'll create rich text and media content that describe in detail what your project phase means. This content is display within the front end of the Client Portal that your clients will view and interact with.
Match Your Timeline
First you will select the Project Type you want to work with from Filevine, and match it to the Timeline you just created:
Fetch Project Phases
Map each Phase from your Filevine Project to the Timeline you created so the tab selected matches the stage your case is in. You do this by pulling the Phases for each Project Type in Filevine by selecting Fetch Project Phases:
Note that there's no limit to the number of Project Type Templates from Filevine you can map.
Map each Project Phase to a Category on your matched Timeline. Now, no matter what phase a client's project is, they will see both a unique Phase Descriptions and their spot in the Timeline.
A few things to note:
You do not need to map every Project Phase. If a Project Phase isn't mapped, when a client with a project in that phase logs in, they will see the most recent mapped phase in sequential phase order as you have it set in Filevine.
There's no limit to the number of Project Type Template you can configure for VineConnect!
If you are using one of our Pre-Built Timeline Templates, the Phase Descriptions will populate with the same content as the matched Timeline Category description for convenience.
Creating Phase Descriptions
Simply click Add Row to add individual phase rows. You can also click to Add All Phases to add all your Project Type Template phases at once. The teal Edit button on the right is a Phase Name override - if you do not want to display your phases as you have them named in Filevine, this override function is handy!
NOTE: Anytime you alter phases, such as changing a name, adding, or removing a phase, you'll want to click the "Fetch Project Phases" button to refresh the list of available phases to map.
Writing Phase Descriptions
Writing phase descriptions is the most time consuming step in configuring VineConnect, so here's a little guide to hopefully get you started (and, remember, our Timeline Templates are pre-built for various practice areas and they will populate the phase descriptions, so start there as a time saver!)
Who: Who are the people who typically work on the case at this point? What are they doing? What do they need to client to know?
What: What is the firm's responsibility at this point? What are the possible outcomes of the intake stage? What do you want the PNC to know or do during this time?
How: How does the process work in intake? How do clients do certain things, like upload or share documents, information, and other facts? Is there a form you want them to complete, or is the intake entirely by phone?
When: When does all of this take place? Over a day? Over three days? How long does the intake process take?
Variables
We offer a range of variables that can be used in your phase descriptions. Head to the Variables page from the left-hand side menu to see a list of all supported variables. Here's a sample list of the most commonly used variables.
[client_name] = Client first and last name
[project_name] = The full name of the project
[project_phase] = The current phase of the project
[law_firm_name] = This is the display name for your firm that you configured in the Client Portal Base Configurations settings.
Embedding Rich Text and Media
You can now use embedded media within your Descriptions! You can insert Images, Videos, Links, and Tables by selecting the Insert option:
You can then choose which you would like to action, be sure your cursor is in the spot you would like to insert this item.
Image
When inserting Images you can search for it locally or copy/paste the Source into the provided area. You can then provide an alternative description and resize the image if desired.
Link
When inserting a link you can copy/paste it directly into the URL area provided, or find it locally if you have it locally saved. You can adjust the text that is displayed for this link as well as indicate if you would like this link to open in a separate window for your clients when they click it.
Media
When inserting Media there are a few ways to perform this that allow for further flexibility!
General: Copy/Paste your source of media, this is usually a link to the video you want to insert.
Embed: Many platforms allow you to use the embedded code to insert media, this is as easy as Copy/Paste into the box provided.
Advanced: This allows for alternative sources to be inserted if desired.
Once you've got each Project Phase mapped to a Category on your Timeline and Phase Descriptions filled in, you're done 🎉 You're one step closer to launching your Client Portal!