Do you ever need to manage cases with many parties? This guide looks at how to set up a case and bring many different parties into the same space while maintaining the required communication, and access for individuals and groups. If you don’t already have your own MODRON Spaces account, we invite you to try the platform totally free, and without requiring a credit card for 14 days. Sign up here.

Step 1. Enter the Case Details

From within your account, you can create a new case manually at any time via the navigation. The first step of creating a case requires you to enter some basic details about the case. For testing and educational purposes, the content entered here is not vitally important.

Step 2. Enter the Team Details

The second step of creating a case requires you to create the starting teams for the case. All the various people involved in the case should be represented and grouped into their appropriate teams. In a typical scenario three types of teams would be created. These teams would typically include something like the following:

• Operations Team. This is the team that will manage the case.
• Party A Team. This is the team representing Party A.
• Party B Team. This is the team representing Party B.

Operations Team

In this example we will start by looking at the Operations Team which is created as a standard for each case. The case creator will be automatically included in the Operations Team as the first user. If you require additional people in your Operations Team, they can be added by clicking on the Add user… link and completing the relevant user details. When you add a user to a team, they will be sent an email invite link which will enable them to gain access to your platform and the newly created case. For this guide we will start with just the case creator as the user associated with the Operations Team and will go into more detail on adding users as we progress.

Note: Adding and removing users can be done at this point or any time after creating a case.

Party A and Party B Teams

After setting up your Operations Team, you can then add/edit/delete additional teams. In this example we will set up 2 additional teams, one for Party A which we will name Applicant, and one for Party B which we will name Respondent. When adding or editing a team, you can change the name of the team to whatever makes sense in your case.

We will also specify that the Applicant team will represent an individual and the Respondent team will represent an entity. We will name this entity "Demonstration Company".

Note: Teams can be added, edited and deleted at this point or any time after creating a case and there is no limit on the number of teams that you can create for a case. The Operations Team is the only required team for a case.

Adding users to your teams

To add a user, click on the Add user… link under the team you want them to be added to. You will then be presented with two options for the type of user to add, these are:

• New Party User. For a person that has not accessed your platform previously.
• Existing User. For a person that has previously access your platform. If you are unsure if a person has previously accessed your platform you can start with the New Party user type and you will be notified if there is an existing user account, in which case you will switch to adding an existing user.

Example Team Structures

Operations Team

• Mediator
• Registry Staff
• Supervisor

Applicant Team

• Primary party for the applicant
• Lawyer
• Expert witness 1
• Expert witness 2
• Interpreter for primary party

Respondent Team

• Primary party for the respondent
• Lawyer 1
• Lawyer 2
• Lawyer 3
• Expert witness 1

This is just an example structure, there is no limit to the number of teams and users you may setup for your case. When you are ready to progress, click Submit. Remember you can make changes to the case details, teams and users at any time after case creation as well.

Step 3. Check the summary of your new case

The third step of creating a case requires you to review a summary of the details you have entered so far. You can go back to the previous steps and make changes if required. If you are satisfied with the summary, click Submit.

Step 4. Setup spaces for your case and the people involved

After completing the first three steps you will have created your new case and you will be taken to what we refer to as case view. The case view gives you a macro view of a case and allows you to edit Case Details, Teams, Users, Spaces and some other functionality we will explore in future guides. For this next step we will focus on setting up MODRON Spaces for the people in your case.

Depending on what teams you have created for your case, you will find that suggested spaces have been created for you as a starting point. In this example we have the following spaces initially:

• Everybody. A space for everyone in the case to collaborate.
• Applicant. A space for Applicant and the Operations Team to collaborate.
• Respondent. A space for Respondent and the Operations Team to collaborate.

At any time, you can create/edit/delete spaces. In this example we will create two new spaces. In the Spaces section click on Create to start. The label of the space can be anything that makes sense and the same for the description. Under the Users section is where you determine who the space is for.

In this example we have added the following spaces:

• Lawyers. A space for lawyers for both the Applicant and Respondent to collaborate.
• Interpretation. A space for the Applicant and their interpreter to collaborate.
• The spaces you can create are only limited by your imagination and particular use cases.

Note: Users can only see the spaces they have been added to, other spaces will not be visible to those users.

Conclusion

If you have followed the steps, you will have created a new case that is set up for multiple people and groups. The people you have added to the case will automatically be sent email invites that will allow them to quickly gain access to your platform and the new case. In this guide we have shown some examples of different teams and spaces, however you can setup your cases in any way that makes sense for your particular use cases.

In future guides we will explore recommended steps you can take after setting up your case to commence a resolution or case management process.

If you don’t already have your own MODRON Spaces account, sign up for a free 14-day trial and see how easy it is to setup your own cases, your way. Try now.