Add a Note workflows

The Add a Note workflows, accessible from the Answer screen, and individually from the Answer menu list in the header bar, are:

• Note – adds a note to the History of this question (usually to inform other staff of issues or delays).
• Action plan – adds a note to the History that is clearly labelled as an Action plan for researching the question.
• Search Criteria – adds a note to the History that is clearly labelled as a Search criteria, highlighting where the response to this question was found.
• Record conversation – adds a note to the History that is clearly labelled as a summary of a conversation (such as a phone call) with the client.

These workflows work similarly to the Contact client workflows, except that they do not create any correspondence – just History notes.   

In the History tab of the Summary screen there are tools to easily find particular types of History entries – handy when a question has a very long history.  To find any of the Notes created by “Add a Note” workflows, use the View parameters shown in the screen print below.  Note that the type of Note is clearly shown, making it easy to find the historical information you are after.

Further general usage tips about workflows are provided in the previous section about Contact client workflows – be sure to also read that section.

Note workflow type

Use the Note workflow to add a note to the History for the benefit of other staff members.  If you add a Note to a question and another staff member then tries to work on that that question, the Correspondence tab will be highlighted with an exclamation mark to let them know that the question has been update by someone else and so the History/Correspondence should be reviewed.

When entering Notes (and in fact any “Add a Note” workflow) you can choose to Leave the question open, or Close it.  If you choose to close the question it will offer to send the Draft answer out as the final answer (so the Answer division will display so you can see the current status of the Draft Answer). The Client contact confirmation box will display to clearly indicate that you can decide not to send the Answer out, if that is necessary.

Action plan workflow type

Use the Action plan workflow to add a note to the History for the benefit of other staff members about how you or they should go about researching this request.  The Note will be added to the History clearly marked as “Action plan” so it is easy for them to find.

Search criteria workflow type

The Search criteria workflow allows sources of information, that were useful in creating your answer, to be recorded. You can cut and paste the useful URL’s (and any required search terms) directly from your research browser window back into the Workflow notes field. Saving the locations from which useful information was found, in this way, allows these sources to be easily reused should this answer need updating at a later time e.g. if a similar question comes in and a search of the RefTracker database finds this question and answer, a Search of the question’s History to find the Search criteria may find sources that can be reviewed for more up to date, or more relevant, information.

Exercise

Search criteria is a good type of Note workflow to try out!  Choose the Search criteria workflow. Search for the information that you need using your normal search tools. When you find some relevant information copy and paste the URL of the useful information into the Workflow notes field, and type in any other information that needs to be added so that someone else can find this same source of information again at some future time. To save your work, enter any Time used as required by your library, choose a How complete value from the drop down box – not “Close” as that indicates the answer is complete and, for this exercise, we don’t want it to go out just now, then click on Save/Send. Save/Send will save all of the work you have entered into this screen so far, e.g. any changes to the Draft answer text, not just perform the Search criteria workflow.

You will then be presented with your current home page. Click on Answer, in the Question actions bar so we can try the next RefTracker function. By clicking on Answer again we are going back into the same question (because its question number is the one showing in the box in the Question actions bar any actions you choose form that bar will operate on that question). 

Record conversation workflow 

To ensure that other staff are fully informed, use the Record conversation workflow to record details of other contact that you might have with the client, about this request – such as recording a summary of a phone call that you might have had with the client.  The client can never see details of the Notes that you record using these workflows!

Client contact hyperlinks and the Record conversation workflow

The Client contact line of the Answer screen shows the key contact information available for the client who asked this question followed by [. . . ] that can be clicked to see further contact information, as determined by your System administrator.

Email contact is managed directly by RefTracker, however, where a contact method can be performed using another electronic contact mechanism, and your library supports communication using this method, and your permission level is Probation user or higher, the contact method will be shown as a hyperlink.

Communication products that are currently supported for outgoing communication in this way are as follows but more may be supported in the future:

– Skype

– SMS/Mobile TXT using SMS to email conversion

If you click on the electronic communication method hyperlink, and you have the appropriate electronic communication product loaded on your PC, the conversation window of the electronic communication product will be automatically brought up, ready to communicate with the client, with their appropriate address information already loaded. As shown for Skype in the screen print above, all you have to do is enter the message you want to send and Enter, or click the Call button.

Note that the the purpose of the RefTracker Answer screen Conversation Workflow type is allow notes about of conversations held outside of RefTracker to be made. Use it to make some notes about this external conversation, in order to keep all other staff fully informed of the progress of this response. If appropriate, you can do this by cutting and pasting from the Skype conversation log window into the RefTracker Workflow notes window. 

This manual does not cover how to utilise the electronic products that you might link to from the Client contact line. Skype is currently the only VoIP product supported by RefTracker (but any VoIP product that can be instigated via a URI can be integrated).  There is a section about using Skype together with RefTracker for an online reference service at Using RefTracker with Skype.

Mobile phone information is currently linked to the RefTracker Reference by SMS product only, but others can be integrated by contacting Altarama. The Reference by SMS link prepopulates an email window with the client’s mobile phone number associated with the email to SMS email address so that all you need do is enter your message and click on Send. At this stage, any reply form the client via SMS will come in as a separate question, so this feature is best used when a reply from the client is not important.