Fireside State Case Notes & Activities

The Case Notes and History section of Casework is an extremely useful tool. You can enter notes about your interactions with case contacts, write reminders for yourself, or paste in information from emails or other outside sources.

To add a new note, simply click type in the Internal Note box and click save. Once you've saved a note it will show up in the Notes and Correspondence section.

Note Options 

In addition to text, notes have a couple of other functions.  

A note allows you attach files to a case. To add a file, click "Choose File," select any PDF, Word document, or any other file from your computer, and hit save. The case will update and you will see the file added to the files section on the right hand sidebar. This tool is most commonly used to attach a constituent's Privacy Release/Authorization Form to the case.

The second option is to set a reminder. Reminders might be the simplest way to keep your cases organized. We recommend always setting a reminder for your case including making a note to your self to describe the next action you want to take on that case. To add a new reminder to a case, click the 'Set a reminder' link on the right hand side of the case notes and correspondence section. A popup box like the one pictured below will appear where you can set a new reminder and make a new note corresponding with this to let you know what you're supposed to be doing with the case. All reminders will show in the same place you set them.

You can also set a default reminder date for all of your new cases. For example, if you set it as 7 then as soon as you create a case, a reminder will get created for one week automatically. To do this, have an account owner modify your administrator account to set the default number of days you'd like to receive a casework reminder on.

Additionally, you can add text to the casework reminders so that you have additional context when reviewing your reminders. This will help you seamlessly return to your work without having to review previous notes for context.

Case Details

How/Where to update case details:

1. Status (top righthand corner of a case):

   • New, Pending, Closed, Closed Favorable, Closed Unfavorable are the default case statuses.

2. Reassign (action button in the top righthand corner of a case):

   • If you change the case assignment, you have the option of notifying the new assignee and sending a note by email.

3. Agency (righthand sidebar on the people section):

   • You can add an agency contact from a different agency and then promote them to the primary contact on the case.

4. Reminder (to the right of the Notes and Correspondence section):

   • Set a reminder date for yourself. To see your set reminders, you can go to Casework > Reminders. An email notification will be sent to the case assignee on the morning the reminder date is set. 

Email/Letter Activities

Activities are what allow you to send letters and emails to both your constituents or agency contacts (or anyone associated with the case). Just click either "Add Email" or "Add Letter" to create the message.

When creating a message, fill in the following information:

1. Description:

   • This is just a label for the message.

2. Recipient:

   • Choose between the constituent, agency contact, or any other person on the case. Only people who are added on the case can be recipients of correspondence.

3. Template (email activities only):

   • This lets you choose the email template that will be used. By default, it will come from the Member, but you can create or select a personalized email template.

4. Start with a form letter:

   • Pick the form letter template for this communication. If you do not have a form, select "Blank Letter." Learn about form letters here.

   • Then just click the "Create" button. Once you have created the email, you can then add attachments. 

Editing Email Activities

If you want to make changes to the email form letter that you have assigned to the case, select the blue customize button to open up a text editor where you can make changes. Also know that you can now change the subject of an email you’re sending, and you can also cc anyone on the case(in addition to sending the email to a main recipient).

Once all changes are made, save and preview it. If the email is 100% good to go, you can select the "Send" button at the bottom of the email screen. This email will now be listed in the case history.

Editing Letter Activities

If you want to make changes to the letter that you have assigned to the case, you will need to make sure these settings have been updated on Internet Explorer. 

Select "Customize," which is located beside the form letter title. Your letter will open up in Microsoft Word. 

Make any edits in Microsoft Word. When you are done making edits, close Microsoft Word, save the document when prompted, and select the blue "Save" button in the system to pull the updates into the case.