Outreach - Customizing the Processes, Forms, and Profiles

Older sites may still be using the static built-in set of forms for maintaining outreach records.

This article focuses on how you can build dynamic replacements for the static ones.

Outreach records are also called Other Matters, Non-Client Matters, Projects, etc., on some sites. This articles refers to this module as Outreach.

Related: Allow copying outreach records.

In this article:

Notes
Convert from Static to Dynamic Outreach
Create a Form
Create a Profile
Add a Create Process
Add an Edit Process

Notes

The Admin > Outreach Settings page has a "Show edit this outreach link" option that allows administrators who have implemented dynamic outreach to turn off the static "Edit This Outreach" link.
Outreach records 'remember' the process used to create them. If your site has existing outreach records created with the static process, then those records will still be displayed and edited with the static forms, even after you create custom forms.
New records created with a dynamic process will use the profile you create (and select in the create process's Followup Profile field). Contact support@legalserver.org to have existing outreach records use your new profile.
The standard "New Outreach" link is automatically replaced with a custom link as soon as a dynamic create process is set to Active.
(You no longer need to use the Static Link box beginning 2024-07-05) The Static Link box element displays two links for adding an outreach event. Inactivating one of the values automatically inactivates the other as well, so both must currently be displayed if adding events is desired (ref: LS-38338).

Convert from Static to Dynamic Outreach

The following sections outline the steps to create a basic set of dynamic objects. References to links assume you are on the Admin > Processes, Forms, and Profiles page, and have changed the Module type to "Outreach". If you see processes, forms, and a profile on that page, then you do not need to create new ones, and can use this information as a guide for editing.

Create a Form

Click New Outreach Create Form in the side bar or Actions menu. Enter a name for the form, mark it Active, and select to add a continue button. For Process Types, select Outreach Create and Outreach Aux. This form will be used to create new records and edit existing ones.

A basic form might have the following elements:

Create a Profile Page

A profile page displays outreach records. Site administrators control how the outreach profile is organized, just as with the Main Profile for cases.

This example shows a profile with a single row of tabs and a standard Actions menu. Site administrators are not required to use this setup.

Create a Tab Block

Create the tab block first so you will have something to add to the profile when you create it. On the main administration page, click Actions > New Outreach Tab Block.

Create the Profile Page

On the main administration page, click Actions > New Outreach Profile. in this example, the Form Elements section is a single Tab Block element.

The Actions menu setup is shown below this screenshot.

A typical Actions menu setup on an outreach profile. The screenshot demonstrates how the optional Copy link and add new event link must be displayed with a Static Links element.

Add a Create Process

This process will display a link like "New Outreach" in the taskbar and determine which form a link displays. Although outreach create processes (like matter intake processes) can have multiple steps, we assume here there is only one form, and thus only one step, in the process.

Click New Outreach Create Process in the Actions menu or side bar.

Here is an example process for adding an outreach:

The Name field sets the text for the link that will be displayed. To mimic the standard link, use "New Outreach".

The Complete field is a flag system administrators can use to indicate if the process is finished.

The Active field determines whether the link is displayed.

The Enabled Forms section will initially be blank. You drag one or more forms from the Disabled Forms up to Enabled Forms. Each form represents a step in the process to create an outreach. In the example, only one form is enabled, so creating the outreach would be a one step process.

In the Followup Profile dropdown, select the outreach profile that you created earlier.

Add an Edit Process

This process will display an edit link. Although not required, it typically uses the same form as the create process above.

Click New Outreach Aux Process: