Appointment Groups optionally allow you to group an appointment with any number of other appointments for the same attorney. Each appointment has a tab called Associated Appointments where you can add this appointment to a group, then see a list of all the appointments in this group, allowing for a quick shortcut between these appointments. The main left-side navigation menu also has a screen in Cases > Appointment Groups where you can manage your office's groups in one place.
Appointment Groups Do...
- Allow you to jump between appointments in the same group as a shortcut in the Associated Appointments tab. Groups can contain open and closed appointments.
- Give you the option to automatically update a child party's information throughout all appointments in the same group after revisions. (This must be for the exact same child appointed to the same attorney and part of the same group.)
- Give you the option to filter the Cases > Office Activities screen for that group, allowing you to find activities across the group rather than searching one appointment at a time.
Appointment Groups Do Not...
- Billing Policies & Procedures reminder: There is no split billing among the appointments in a group (or any appointments)—you still need to choose one appointment at a time from the group to enter activities. See the Billing Policies section Billing Information and Requirements by Case Type > Prioritization of Billing Activities for more on this or contact your OCR staff attorney for guidance.
- Appointment groups do not show in reports—they are tools to help organize, navigate, and streamline CARES data entry, so they do not have a uniform/formal meaning in reports.
Read on or jump to:
- Starting an Appointment Group
- To update Child Party data throughout a group
- Shortcut for creating multiple appointments with the same child party
Starting an Appointment Group
- On any existing appointment's "Associated Appointments" tab, click "Add to Appointment Group." If you already have any groups, you may select one or "Add to New Appointment Group" to start a new group. If you do not yet have any groups, you will be asked to name this new group.
- Visit "Cases > Appointment Groups" as another way to view and manage your office's appointment groups.
To update Child Party data throughout a group:
This will replicate a Child Party's Private Info throughout your Appointment Group. This can be a great time-saver, but do bear in mind that CARES cannot judge or warn you about the quality of your update--you could inadvertently update your group to a worse version of the child party data if you move too quickly. The update will apply to open and closed appointments in the group. Visit "Cases > Appointment Groups" if you need to adjust the appointments included in the group before starting. To propagate child party updates throughout the group:
- Update one appointment's child party data thoroughly—make sure the child party's Private Info including history of placements and schools is exactly how you will want it on all the cases in the existing appointment group.
- Click Save on the child party—you will see a message asking if you want to replicate this information on the other cases in the group.
- Click "Apply changes to associated appointments." You will now see the exact same child party information on this child throughout the group.*
*The only things that cannot be propagated throughout the group are dates and attorney roles (e.g., Best Interests Start Date, Client-Directed Start Date, Representation End Date, etc.) as these are the foundation of individual appointments, or blank placement data as placements are required in some case types. CARES will not replace existing placement data in one appointment with blank placement data from another in the group, nor will it update role start/end dates across appointments.
Shortcut for multiple appointments with the same child party:
If you have, for example, several delinquency appointments with the same child party, or the same child party in an OCR-Assigned case who later gets a court case number, knowing that you can group them and apply child party updates across the group may save you time:
- Create each appointment, be sure to select the same existing child party for each, but enter only the bare minimum child party data and accurate dates/attorney role for each (those are not auto-updated). If a placement is required, select any quick information, knowing you will replace that with accurate data on the last appointment you create.
- Add each appointment to the same Appointment Group as you go. If you're asked whether to apply Child Party updates throughout the group as you go, either answer (yes or no) is fine (you'll do the main update in the next step).
- After saving and adding the last appointment to this Appointment Group, return to its child party data and complete it fully and accurately, including the correct placement information. Upon saving this Child Party, CARES will ask if you want to apply these updates to this child party throughout this Appointment Group. Do so, and all of the appointments with this child party in the group will be updated with the child party data you just entered. (Remember that the only things that cannot be propagated throughout the group are dates, attorney roles (GAL/CFY, etc.), and blank placement data.)
- Remember you'll still need to close each individual appointment later on when the court does so.