Our top tips for getting started on pinacos
This is a guide for anyone new to pinacos. Although our platform has more to offer than we can describe here in seven points, this article should give you a great head start in knowledge.
Let's go
Register with pinacos now. When you sign up, you will need to confirm your identity. To do so, click on the link sent to your email address. Then you are ready to go and ready for our seven tips.
1. Use the help functions
Learning a new application can be frustrating - but it doesn't have to be. pinacos has a built-in help function that supports you in every situation. We offer you two options: first, you can take guided tours around pinacos. In these tours, different elements are highlighted and explained so that you can quickly familiarise yourself with the interface without feeling overwhelmed. On the other hand, we offer you an extensive knowledge base that provides understandable information for every question.
Click on your profile button in the menu bar. Select "Get help". A dialogue will open where you can choose between a tour for the current view and a visit to the Knowledge Base. After you have taken the tours and read the Knowledge Base articles that interest you, you already have a solid foundation. Read the next tips to become a real pro at using pinacos.
2. To get started: use pinacos exclusively for a first case
pinacos works best when all case processing is done on our platform. It may seem unfamiliar at first, but once you get used to it, you won't want to leave. Instead of spreading your work across multiple apps, the single 'case' in pinacos provides a sole place for your work that is searchable, collaborative and secure.
Once you and your colleagues work on a case entirely on pinacos,
- everything you want is accessible to you and your colleagues, making collaboration easier and saving valuable coordination time;
- you get faster responses and don't have to wait for feedback on other applications;
- your files, correspondence and other documents are always at your fingertips, no matter where you are.
Moving a case to pinacos is easy:
- Create a new case and configure it according to your wishes.
- Create all the tabs you need for your personal organisation, e.g. a tab 'MANDANT'S CLERK'S OFFICE' and a tab 'COURT'S CLERK'S OFFICE'.
- Upload all the documents you already have into the registers.
- Add all users who are working on the case with you.
From this point on, only work on this case on pinacos: be it emails, letters or other document processing. Now that you have got to know pinacos, you should do the same with all other cases of this first client. After that, the other clients will follow. With this procedure, you will be able to work quickly, efficiently and safely with our platform.
3. Reach your colleagues with notifications
Collaboration is almost always based on feedback - a prerequisite for making good progress with your work. Whenever you want to notify someone about your progress, you can get their attention by using the "Notify users" feature. Users will receive a notification so that you can quickly get in touch with them without the hassle of composing a message.
If you have a document that you want to show to someone else, click on the "Notify users" button in the document annotator header. The notified users will then see a coloured dot next to the document search field.
You can leave an annotation on the document beforehand so that the notified user knows what it is about.
If you want to tell your colleagues something directly, you can also use the chat function or call them via the meeting button.
4. Create tasks for all important things
Task management is an essential part of any professional office - clients rely heavily on your reliability. Therefore, try to create a task for everything important. Instead of using pinacos only as an archive for documents, our platform also serves you for task management, creating a hub of productivity. While you have one of your cases open, you add a task via the task dashlet. Tasks can either be related to an entire case or just a single document. Fill the task with well thought-out information so that you really benefit from it:
- Give the task a meaningful name.
- Set a realistic term for submission
- Make realistic assumptions about the expected turnaround time.
5 Use document templates
Document templates give your productivity a huge boost. They free you from typical routine tasks, such as typing standard phrases into documents. Once you have set up your templates in the app settings, sending letters and emails is no longer a time-consuming task.
Document templates contain styling information and placeholders. The styling is applied to each document with that template and the placeholders are filled based on the metadata. This metadata is read from the case and contacts. Create a template by clicking on your profile button and selecting "Manage Application". Here are some placeholders you can use to get started:
@@participantAddress - the address of the recipient.
@@caseSubject - the subject specified in the case
@@date - the current date
@@city - the city of the sender
6. Adding your email configuration to pinacos
Working with clients almost always means sending and receiving emails. To make this more convenient for you, we offer you the possibility to add your own email configuration to pinacos. You will then receive all your incoming emails directly in pinacos and can edit them like in any other email application, only easier.
You can add your email configuration via the user menu in the menu bar. You will need a few technical details to do this, so contact us if you need help. What seems complicated at first is actually just filling in a few fields. Send yourself the pre-set test email - if everything is configured correctly, you should see the email in your inbox in a few seconds.
7. Transfer your contacts to pinacos
Contacts play an important role for many functions at pinacos. They can be used to quickly select recipients for emails and letters and are an essential basis for document templates. You can add contacts manually by clicking on the 'Contacts' button and selecting 'New Contact'. If you want an automated way to add many contacts, you can also upload a CSV file. To do this, select 'Upload contacts from CSV' in the above menu.