Enter an Activity

Activities—such as conducting research, attending meetings, or going to court—are the foundation of invoices and most CARES reports.  Please note, support staff with their own login in an office cannot use their account to enter activities on behalf of another user (i.e. their login does not allow them to enter activities as a proxy or delegate of another CARES user).  The activities each user enters using their own login will record their name and billing rate.  More on this

You can only enter activities on open appointments.  When the appointed attorney later closes this appointment, no one will be able to add more activities, but those with ongoing access can continue to find it for reference in Cases > My Appointments.  More on this

How to Enter an Activity

1. Navigate to Cases > My Appointments. Click on the blue case number.  This opens all the details of the appointment.  No cases?
   

   Reminder: Avoid costly case number errors. Because cases can be shared, CARES locks case information after creation: the year, JD, court/county, most case types, and case sequence cannot be edited later. Always check your case information before entering your activities.  See Case Number Errors for what to do before continuing if you observe an error.
   
   

2. Click on the Activities tab, then click the blue Add Activity button (pictured below):

   
   If you requested access to an appointment outside of your office, you will see fewer tabs than are pictured above.
   
   
3. Complete at least the red asterisked required fields, then click the blue Save and Exit button in the lower right.  Saving is not available until you have completed all red asterisked required fields:

Required Fields

Scroll down within the activity as needed to find:

• Activity Date—must be the date of service, i.e., the date the activity occurred.  Click here for help if you cannot enter the date.
  
  
• Activity Group and Type—choose a group first based on CJD requirements, then choose an activity type.  Click here for a list of all activity groups and types.
  • • If the activity type is Court, next select one or more Hearing Type(s).
      
      
• Amounts as needed, including for duration, mileage, travel/wait time, and more as applicable (these spaces are available within each activity depending on the activity type). The minimum duration of an activity is 0.1 (6 minutes). Click here for OCR's Billing Policies.
  
  
• Some activities require you to identify any child part(ies) in attendance.  Check the checkbox next to each Child Party in Attendance if applicable. The check mark indicates the child attended.  If the activity is Court or Mediation, use the drop-down menu to the left of each child to record if they attended (“Yes”), did not attend (“No”), or that this hearing “does not pertain to” them.

Other Fields

• Each activity will be pre-filled as "Billable"—you can change the Billable drop-down from "Yes" to "No" to make this a non-billable activity that will be excluded from invoices.  If you do this, be sure to check the box "I understand this activity is not billable" near the save buttons in order to save a non-billable activity.  More on this
  
  
• Optionally add note(s) and attachment(s) to this activity as described below. This is for notes/attachments that are specific to this activity; notes/attachments pertaining to the overall appointment can go in the Notes or Attachments tabs.  What Can My OCR Staff Attorney See?
  • • If needed, click Add Note to add a note specific to this activity. Change the date if desired.
    • If needed, click the blue Save button on the activity, then click Add Attachment. Change the date if desired. (As noted on the screen in CARES, you must save the activity before you can add an attachment—that's why there are two Save options.)  More on this
      
      
• Some activity types show a text reminder from OCR (the example below shows "Bill up to 0.1 per appointment" regarding Open Case activities).  View all activity groups and types

Manage Saved Activities

Each activity becomes a row in its appointment's Activities tab.  To view, edit, or delete an activity you created, select the checkbox to the left of that row, then click the View, Edit, or Delete Activity button.  Everyone in the appointed office can view your activities.  Note, you cannot edit/delete other users’ activities, and you cannot delete an activity that is on an invoice.  More on this

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