Setting Up Related Matter Types (Admin)

In this article:

• Setting Up Related Matters
  • Part 1: Identifying Which Matters Should Be Related
  • Part 2:  Mapping Related Matter Types
• Additional Considerations for Relating Matter Types

Sometimes you may have multiple matters that are closely related to each other. You can create "related matters" to help establish this relationship. Then, when you create a new matter and relate it to an existing matter, Actionstep can apply the settings of the original matter to the new one. This can help save time and effort. (For a detailed example of setting up related matters, see Additional Considerations for Relating Matter Types, below.)

Before you can relate matters to each other, however, an admin must define which matter types can be associated with each other. 

Setting Up Related Matters

Part 1: Identifying Which Matters Should Be Related

The first part of this process is identifying which matter types are closely related and then connecting them. 

To do this:

1. In Actionstep, an admin can go to Admin > Matter Types. 
2. Click Settings for the matter type you want to change. The Matter page appears.
3. Click Edit for the Related matter types section. The Related Matter Types page appears.
4. Click Add related matter type. The New Related Matter Types window appears.
5. Click the Destination matter type drop-down list and choose the matter type you want to relate to the Source matter type.
6. Click Save to save your changes. 
7. Proceed to Part 2:  Mapping Related Matter Types.

Part 2:  Mapping Related Matter Types

Once you've set the association between your matter types, you must specify what happens when a user creates a new matter and relates it to an existing matter. 

To do this:

1. Complete the steps in Part 1: Setting Up Related Matters to map the matter types. 
2. While viewing the Related Matter Types page, click Edit for the related matter.   The Edit Related Matter Types page appears.
3. In the Matter types section, review both the Source and Destination fields to make sure they show the two matter types you want to relate. (You cannot change this information.)
4. In the General settings section, complete the following:
   • Sort order: Enter a number to determine the order of relationships on the matter relationship panel. Lower numbers appear first. The number that you assign here will be compared to the sort order number on any other related matter type you create. A related matter type with a lower number will appear before a related matter type with a higher number.
     NOTE:  When you enter sort orders, use numbers that are multiples of ten (e.g., 10 for the first record, 20 for the second, etc.). This way, if you later create a new related matter type that you want listed between two existing related matter types, you have nine available numbers to assign to achieve this.
   • Destination 'matter name':  When you create a new matter from an existing matter, you can have the name of the newly created matter be filled in automatically. Any text that you enter this field will be used as the name of the new matter.
     NOTE:  You can use merge fields to pull information from the existing matter. For example, [[FullNameList|pt=Client]] - Litigation will name the new matter using the name of the client on the existing matter and add the word Litigation.
   • Copy the 'file reference': Toggle this option to on to copy the file reference on the existing source matter to the new destination matter. (Every matter has a file reference, usually an external reference ID that is associated with the matter —for example, a court reference for criminal prosecution or a claim number for an insurance case.)
5. In the Copy sales data section, toggle Enable pre-populating to on to see and select what sales data is copied to the related matter. Sales data is used to track the probability and the expected value of a sale. Using this, a firm can track potential clients they are going to engage with and the likelihood of engaging with them.
6. In the Matter parties section, toggle Enable pre-populating to on to choose which parties will be copied to the newly created (destination) matter. Then click the drop-down list for a role and choose its corresponding role. If you leave it set to Skip, that role will not be populated with any contacts.
   NOTE:  You can populate more than one role from the same existing role. For example, the roles "Defendant" and "Client" might both come from the role "Client". Your roles do not have to match in name to be mapped to each other. 
7. In the Data: [Name] section, toggle Enable pre-populating to on to choose with fields from a data collection will be copied to the newly created (destination) matter. Then click the drop-down list for a field and choose its corresponding data. 
   NOTE:  Some types of data fields will not map to other types. For example, a date-type of data field will not map to a money-type of data field. You can see what type of data field the field you are mapping is by hovering over the question mark icon next to the field's name.
8. Click Save to save your changes. 

Additional Considerations for Relating Matter Types

When you map one matter type to another matter type, you control what will be pulled from the first matter type and used in the second.

If needed, you can map one matter type to the same matter type. Then, when you relate a new matter to a matter of the same type, you control what will be pulled from the source matter type into the destination. In this case, you only need to do the mapping once.

Occasionally, you may need to map two different matter types twice—once where the first matter type is the source matter type and then again where the first matter type is the destination matter type. This is because you might map items differently depending on the types involved. 

For example, let's say Jim creates a matter type for tracking prospective clients that are referred to him. He calls this matter type Customer Relationship. Then, when Jim qualifies a prospect, he opens an Estate Planning-type matter, (which is the majority of the work that Jim does). When he does this, Jim finds he's spending a lot of time re-entering the details from the Customer Relationship matter into the Estate Planning matter. Since so much of the information shared between the two is the same, Jim can associate the two matters and map the details from the Customer Relationship matter type to his Estate Planning matter type. Specifically, Jim could map any contact information added to the prospect role in his Customer Relationship matter type to the client role in his Estate Planning matter type. Once this is set up, Jim can now open an existing Customer Relationship matter and from it, create a related Estate planning matter. When he does this, the prospect on the first becomes the client on the second.

To further the example, Jim soon finds that his clients start referring him new leads. At this point, he edits his Estate Planning matter type and relates it to his Customer Relationship matter type. He then maps the client role in his Estate Planning matter type to the prospect role in his Customer Relationship matter type. 

Even though the two matter types are both related, the mapping for each can be different to achieve different needs.

Related Articles

• Creating a Related Matter
• Matter Screen Overview
• Edit Workflow Step Screen - Related Matters