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The System Parameters page contains a list of various adjustable settings of your SmartAdvocate system. Unlike the User Preferences panel, which only apply to the specific user ID for which any changes are made, the settings on this page apply to all of the users of the system. Because of the wide variety of settings that can appear here, and the occasional addition of custom settings for individual firms in answer to requests, the list of parameters in your system may not exactly match the one provided here.
Parameters not listed below generally should not require any user input or changes to their current settings. If you have any questions regarding any of these parameters, please contact the SmartAdvocate support team at support@smartadvocate.com.
Each parameter in the list below is presented in the following format:
[Group Description] Parameter Description: Explanation of what the parameter does.

The Parameter List

[Calendar] Warn about appointment conflicts (holidays, etc): If the parameter is set to True, when you attempt to set an appointment during either a holiday or an existing appointment of which one of the new appointment's attendees is also an attendee, a panel will appear informing you of the conflicts, and you will have the opportunity either to change the scheduling of the new appointment or to schedule the conflicting appointment anyway. If the parameter is set to False, no panel will appear and the conflicting appointment will simply be scheduled.
[Calendar] Warn when appointments are scheduled in the past: If the parameter is set to True, when you attempt to set an appointment that begins earlier than the current date and time, a panel will appear informing you that the scheduled appointment is in the past, and you will have the opportunity either to change the scheduling of the new appointment or to schedule the past appointment anyway. If the parameter is set to False, no panel will appear and the past appointment will simply be scheduled.
[Calendar] Warn when appointments are scheduled outside of work hours. (before 8am, after 6pm): If the parameter is set to True, when you attempt to set an appointment that either begins before the office opening time or ends after the office closing time, a panel will appear informing you that the scheduled appointment is outside of work hours, and you will have the opportunity either to change the scheduling of the new appointment or to schedule the off-hours appointment anyway. If the parameter is set to False, no panel will appear and the off-hours appointment will simply be scheduled. Note: the parameter description does not change even if your office hours are changed (see the next two parameters), however the functionality will change to reflect the office hours as set under Office closing time and Office opening time.
[Calendar] Office closing time: The time of day your office closes. This is used if your system is set to warn you about off-hours appointments, and it is also used in certain calendar views; the office hours of operation are shaded slightly differently than the rest of the day.
[Calendar] Office opening time: The time of day your office opens. This is used if your system is set to warn you about off-hours appointments, and it is also used in certain calendar views; the office hours of operation are shaded slightly differently than the rest of the day.
[Case Settings] Contacts to appear in all cases as available To and From selections: Every contact selected in this parameter will appear in the To and From dropdowns when attaching documents or generating a barcode, for every case. This is useful for contacts that may be involved in many cases, or send or receive correspondence about many cases, but would not necessarily be included in any of the areas in SmartAdvocate that would automatically add them as case contacts. For example, regularly used per diem attorneys may be selected in this parameter.
[Disbursement] Default case disbursement limit: The disbursement limit for all cases where the disbursement limit has not been manually set, nor automatically set in association with the case's estimated case value.
[Critical Deadline] Max Days to Serve Summons and Complaint after Filing: When you enter a date in the Date of Filing S&C field in the Add/Edit Defendant SOL panel in the Critical Deadlines page, the Last Date to Serve S&C field will automatically be set to a certain number of days after that date. This parameter sets the number of days between those two fields. Any setting in this parameter will be a default for the system, however the default can be overridden by entering a different number of days in the States Picklist.
[Case Setting] Show pending activities in reversed order (from future to past): If the parameter is set to True, the Pending Appointments area in the Case Summary page will show the appointment farthest in the future at the top of the list, going back to the earliest appointment date at the bottom. If the parameter is set to False, the list will have the earliest date at the top and the latest date at the bottom.
[Intake Wizard] Add empty defendants for all possible defendant roles if no default defendant selected: If the parameter is set to True, then if a case type has no default defendant, and no defendant is added at the time the case is created, then every defendant role associated with the case type will be added as a defendant in the case, with no contact associated. This will make visible in the case file all of the possible defendant roles for that case type, and all of the possible SOLs associated with those roles; however, you will need to delete the empty defendants manually when you enter the real defendants in the case. If the parameter is set to False, this behavior will not occur.
[Intake Wizard] Show Plaintiff/Defendant in another case warnings: If the parameter is set to True, then if you attempt to add a plaintiff in the Intake Wizard that is already entered as a defendant in some other case (or if you attempt to add a defendant that is already entered elsewhere as a plaintiff), a warning will appear. If the parameter is set to False, no warning will appear.
[Intake Wizard] Show Defendant tab on Intake Wizard: If the parameter is set to True, then the defendant tab will appear when entering a new case in Intake Wizard. It will not be necessary to complete this tab, if shown, however. If the parameter is set to False, no defendant tab will appear in Intake Wizard. Regardless of this setting, defendants can be edited and added to a case from Defendant > Summary > Add Defendant.
[Case Alerts] Critical Alert for Defendant Exists as Plaintiff: If the parameter is set to True, then if a defendant in some case is listed as a plaintiff in another case, when a user visits the Case Summary page of either case, a Critical Alert will appear notifying the user of that fact. If the parameter is set to False, that situation will not cause a Critical Alert to appear.
[Documents] Network path to store documents created during Mass Mail generation: The location of a folder in the network file structure. When a user selects the Open or Download option after generating multiple documents using the Mass Mailing tool, SmartAdvocate creates a single document consisting of all of the generated documents, one after the other. This single document does not belong to any one case; the folder location in this parameter is where such documents are stored after they are created. (The documents are separated into folders within that location based on the user who generated the documents.)
[Documents] Default direction for attached documents: The default selection in the Direction field when attaching a document. If the parameter is 1, Incoming is selected by default. If the parameter is 2, Outgoing is selected by default. If the parameter is 3, Memo is selected by default. If the parameter is anything else, nothing is selected by default.
[Documents] Default direction for Barcoded documents: The default selection in the Direction field when generating a barcode. If the parameter is 1, Incoming is selected by default. If the parameter is 2, Outgoing is selected by default. If the parameter is 3, Memo is selected by default. If the parameter is anything else, nothing is selected by default.
[Documents] Use SmartAdvocate Document Handler for opening documents: The SmartAdvocate Document Handler component can automatically download document when you need to open or edit them. This is particularly useful for SmartAdvocate Cloud users by making it easier to eliminate the need for manual download/upload of documents. It can also be used by remote users who are not using VPN or by whole law firms who want to eliminate the need to share CMS\Case Documents folder.
The Document Handler can be set for all users (instead of using the Document Launcher) globally in the System Parameters admin page, by setting the item with Parameter Description "Use SmartAdvocate Document Handler for opening documents" to True, which is useful for SmartAdvocate Cloud customer. However, for SmartAdvocate Server customers, who may occasionally access the system from outside their firm's network, you don't need to use the setting in System Parameter if you don't want to change it for local users, who are already able to access documents normally using the Document Launcher. Individual users can utilize this feature by going to their User Preferences (click their name in the upper right of any SmartAdvocate page and click User Preferences) and selecting the "Download documents for editing" item in the Documents And Emails section.
Either way, when a user with that setting tries to open a document for the first time, a popup will appear prompting the user to download the Document Handler application package. The user should then open the downloaded package, run the setup.exe file in it, then click the Open Document button in the prompt on the Documents page (and then the My Document Opened button so the popup doesn't always appear in the future). If prompted with an "Open SmartAdvocate Document Handler?" prompt, users should click the Open option (and can optionally select "Always open these types of links in the associated app", which may prevent that prompt in the future).

Under Construction

eLaw

Email Monitoring Service - Ignore SA notification emails.

Email Monitoring Service - When the service connects to a mailbox for the first time, it will scan emails that are no older than the specified number of days.

Email Monitoring Service - 0-save email as one file, 1-save attachments from email, 2-save attachments from email and email as SA email.

[Email Settings] When set to True from field in the emails will use "FirstName LastName" format, otherwise "LastName, FirstName" format will be used: Determines the format of the From field in emails sent by SmartAdvocate. If the parameter is set to True, the field will be formatted like "John Smith." If the parameter contains anything else, the field will be formatted like "Smith, John."
[Dashboards - Intake Follow Up] Case statuses for Intake Follow-up Dashboard. Only cases in those statuses will be displayed on the Intake Follow-up Dashboard: This parameter imposes a limit on which cases appear in the Intake Follow-up Dashboard. Cases that are not in one of the statuses selected in this parameter do not appear in that dashboard.
[Login] Maximum number of user login attempts. Account will be locked if number of attempts is exceeded: If someone attempts to log in as a particular user more than a specified number of times consecutively with the wrong password, the user account will be marked Locked, meaning that no one may log in as that user, even with the correct password, until an administrator unlocks the account. (Unlocking an account is performed in the Users administrative page.) This parameter specifies the number of incorrect attempts before the account is locked.
[Medical Providers Lienor Types] Type of lienor to be used when copy bills to liens is used for individual providers: In the Medical Providers page, right-clicking on a provider or a bill will bring up options for copying the bill (or all bills from that provider) directly as liens to the Lien Tracking page, with the provider listed as the lienor. This parameter determines the lienor type automatically assigned to that lienor when the bills are copied, if the lienor is an Individual contact.
[Medical Providers Lienor Types] Type of lienor to be used when copy bills to liens is used for organizations: In the Medical Providers page, right-clicking on a provider or a bill will bring up options for copying the bill (or all bills from that provider) directly as liens to the Lien Tracking page, with the provider listed as the lienor. This parameter determines the lienor type automatically assigned to that lienor when the bills are copied, if the lienor is an Organization contact.
[Contacts] Maximum number of contacts that can be merged: When using the Merge Contacts mass action in the Contacts List Search Results page, if you attempt to merge more than a specified number of contacts you will not be allowed to do so and a message will appear indicating that you are merging too many contacts. This is meant to prevent accidentally selecting and ultimately losing more contacts than intended. This parameter specifies the maximum allowed number of contacts that can be merged at one time.
[Negotiation] Show No Fault carriers on Settlement/Negotiation screen: If the parameter is set to False, insurance companies of a No Fault type will not appear as options when selecting a company in the Negotiating with or Settlement with fields when adding a negotiation or settlement in the Negotiation/Settlement page. If the parameter is set to True, all insurance companies in the case will appear as options.
[Automatic Notes] Show added appointments as Notes: If the parameter is set to True, then when appointments are added in a case a note will automatically also be added in the case listing the appointment details. If the parameter is set to False, that situation will not cause a note to be added.
[Automatic Notes] Show critical comments as Notes: If the parameter is set to True, then when critical comments are added in a case a note will automatically also be added in the case including the critical comment. If the parameter is set to False, that situation will not cause a note to be added.
[Automatic Notes] Show added medical request documents as Notes: If the parameter is set to True, then when documents fulfilling a medical records request are added in a case a note will automatically also be added in the case listing the details of the fulfilled request. If the parameter is set to False, that situation will not cause a note to be added.
[Automatic Notes] Show negotiations as Notes: If the parameter is set to True, then when negotiations are added in a case a note will automatically also be added in the case listing the negotiation details. If the parameter is set to False, that situation will not cause a note to be added.
[Automatic Notes] Show sent and received Text messages (SMS) as Notes: If the parameter is set to True, then when text messages are sent or received through SmartAdvocate in a case a note will automatically also be added in the case including the text message. If the parameter is set to False, that situation will not cause a note to be added.
[Automatic Notes] Show completed tasks as Notes: If the parameter is set to True, then when tasks are completed in a case a note will automatically also be added in the case listing the task details. (This note is separate from the optional note that can be added by the user when a task is completed.) If the parameter is set to False, that situation will not cause a note to be added.
[Documents Postage] Cost of 1 oz package: When you generate a document for a medical records request, you have the option of also printing an envelope for the document, and of automatically adding the cost of postage for that envelope, based on the package weight you select, to the Disbursements for the case. This parameter determines the postage cost added if you select 1 oz as the package weight.
[Documents Postage] Cost of 2 oz package: When you generate a document for a medical records request, you have the option of also printing an envelope for the document, and of automatically adding the cost of postage for that envelope, based on the package weight you select, to the Disbursements for the case. This parameter determines the postage cost added if you select 2 oz as the package weight.
[Documents Postage] Cost of 3 oz package: When you generate a document for a medical records request, you have the option of also printing an envelope for the document, and of automatically adding the cost of postage for that envelope, based on the package weight you select, to the Disbursements for the case. This parameter determines the postage cost added if you select 3 oz as the package weight.
[Documents Postage] Cost of 4 oz package: When you generate a document for a medical records request, you have the option of also printing an envelope for the document, and of automatically adding the cost of postage for that envelope, based on the package weight you select, to the Disbursements for the case. This parameter determines the postage cost added if you select 4 oz as the package weight.
[Documents Postage] Default for "Other" package cost: When you generate a document for a medical records request, you have the option of also printing an envelope for the document, and of automatically adding the cost of postage for that envelope, based on the package weight you select, to the Disbursements for the case. If you select Other instead of a package weight, you can then enter the cost of postage manually. This parameter determines the default cost when you select Other.
[Case Settings] Case number format. y, yy, yyyy - one, two or four digits of the year; mm - month; ss - incident state; 00000 - number of positions for the case number (after year and month). Examples: yy0000, 000000, yymm000, SA-yy00000: This parameter contains the case numbering format used by SmartAdvocate's automatic numbering system. It is generally recommended that this parameter not be changed, because changing the parameter will reset the numbering, which can cause confusion and potentially duplicate case numbers. However, if you are certain you wish to change the numbering format, you may do so. Valid formats for this parameter consist of up to three components:

A series of zeroes with no other characters in it. The series may be any length. This part of the parameter will be replaced by the automatic numbering, with zeroes padding the left side to ensure that the total number of digits is constant. For example: if the automatic numbering is up to 12, then 00 would be replaced by 12, while 000000 would be replaced by 000012. This component should be in the parameter somewhere, and it is recommended that it contain at least four zeroes, or more depending on the number of cases you create.
A series of y's with no other characters in it. The series may be between one and four characters in length. This part of the parameter will be replaced by the digits of the current year, excluding the first digits of the year if there are fewer than four y's. For example: If the current year is 2016, then yy would be replaced by 16, while yyyy would be replaced by 2016. This component is optional but recommended for keeping track of the general age of the case.
Exactly two m's with no other characters between them. This part of the parameter will be replaced by the number of the current month. For example: If the current month is January, then mm would be replaced by 01. If the current month is December, then mm would be replaced by 12. This component is optional.

You may include any of these components in any order, but you may not include any of them more than once (for example, 00yy and yy00 would be allowed, but 0yy0 would not be). You may not include any character besides 0, y, and m.
[Case Settings] Restart the case numbering when year/month case prefix changes: This parameter causes the case numbering to reset to 1 (actually to 01, or 0001, or whatever format you have chosen) whenever the year or month case prefix changes. For example, if set to true, if the last case created in 2017 (assuming a yy setting was chosen) was assigned case number 171234, the first case created in 2018 would be assigned case number 180001. If set to false, the last case created in 2017 (assuming a yy setting was chosen) was assigned case number 171234, the first case created in 2018 would be assigned case number 181235.
[Case] Case name format: This parameter contains the format for new case names in SmartAdvocate. Changing this parameter will not immediately change the names of cases already in SmartAdvocate; however, when edits, additions, or deletions are made to the plaintiffs or defendants in a case on the Plaintiff Summary or Defendant Summary page, the name of that case will change to match the current format in this parameter. There are twelve placeholders that can be used in this parameter, which will be replaced by parts of the primary plaintiff's or primary defendant's name in actual case names; any other text in this parameter will appear as-is in case names. All of the placeholders, and the information they are replaced by, are listed within the parameter. The placeholders are:

PPR: If the plaintiff is an individual, this placeholder will be replaced by prefix chosen for the plaintiff (Mr., Ms., etc.). If the plaintiff is an organization, this placeholder will simply be removed.
PFN: If the plaintiff is an individual, this placeholder will be replaced by the plaintiff's first name. If the plaintiff is an organization, this placeholder will simply be removed.
PMN: If the plaintiff is an individual with a middle name, this placeholder will be replaced by the plaintiff's middle name. If the plaintiff is an organization or an individual with no middle name, this placeholder will simply be removed.
PMI: If the plaintiff is an individual with a middle name, this placeholder will be replaced by the plaintiff's middle initial (including a period after the initial). If the plaintiff is an organization or an individual with no middle name, this placeholder will simply be removed.
PLN: If the plaintiff is an individual, this placeholder will be replaced by the plaintiff's last name. If the plaintiff is an organization, this placeholder will be replaced by the plaintiff's full name.
PSU: If the plaintiff is an individual, this placeholder will be replaced by suffix chosen for the plaintiff (Jr., Esq., etc.). If the plaintiff is an organization, this placeholder will simply be removed.
DPR: If the defendant is an individual, this placeholder will be replaced by prefix chosen for the defendant (Mr., Ms., etc.). If the defendant is an organization, this placeholder will simply be removed.
DFN: If the defendant is an individual, this placeholder will be replaced by the defendant's first name. If the defendant is an organization, this placeholder will simply be removed.
DMN: If the defendant is an individual with a middle name, this placeholder will be replaced by the defendant's middle name. If the defendant is an organization or an individual with no middle name, this placeholder will simply be removed.
DMI: If the defendant is an individual with a middle name, this placeholder will be replaced by the defendant's middle initial (including a period after the initial). If the defendant is an organization or an individual with no middle name, this placeholder will simply be removed.
DLN: If the defendant is an individual, this placeholder will be replaced by the defendant's last name. If the defendant is an organization, this placeholder will be replaced by the defendant's full name.
DSU: If the defendant is an individual, this placeholder will be replaced by suffix chosen for the defendant (Jr., Esq., etc.). If the defendant is an organization, this placeholder will simply be removed.

Examples: If the primary plaintiff is John Zachary Smith and the defendant is The State of New York, the format "PFN PMI PLN versus DLN" would yield the case name "John Z. Smith versus The State of New York". The format "PLN, PFN PMN v. DLN, DFN" would yield the case name "Smith, John Zachary v. The State of New York," (for this reason, this format would be recommended against if you might have an organization as the plaintiff or defendant; see below). The format "The case of PFN against DFN" would yield the case name "The case of John against " (obviously also not recommended).
If this parameter is left blank, it will be treated as if it contained "PLN v. DLN". Because of the significant difference between the way individuals' names and organizations' names are treated in the placeholders, it is recommended that you use the default format or something similar if you expect the primary defendant (or plaintiff) will be an organization in some of your cases and an individual in others. You could change this format repeatedly, on a case-by-case basis, to account for the difference, but that is unlikely to be worth the inconvenience.
[Document Templates] Path to Document Templates Folder: The location of a folder in which document templates are stored within the network file structure. The folder location in this parameter should be where templates are saved when using the Word plugin; it is where the SmartAdvocate system will find them when you use a template to generate a document.
[Password Enforcement] Password complexity policy on/off: Whether the additional Password Enforcement parameters (see below) are enforced against a user's password. If set to False, the other Password Enforcement parameters will have no effect, regardless of their settings. If set to True, the other Password Enforcement parameters will govern the use of passwords in the system.
[Password Enforcement] Password expiration policy on/off: Whether a user's password will automatically expire after a set period of time. If set to True, after a password has expired, the user will be required to create a new password when accessing SmartAdvocate. If set to False, the password expiration policy will not be applied.
[Password Enforcement] Password expiration days value: The length of time a user's password remains valid. The first time a user attempts to access SmartAdvocate after the expiration of the designated time period, he or she will be required to create a new password. As noted above, this parameter will have no effect unless the Password expiration policy on/off parameter is set to True.
[Password Enforcement] Password complexity numbers on/ off: Whether the system will require that passwords include at least one letter and one number. If set to False, it will not be required that a password include a number. If set to True, a password must include at least one number. As noted above, this parameter will have no effect unless the Password complexity policy on/off parameter is set to True.
[Password Enforcement] Password complexity special characters on/off: Whether the system will require that passwords include at least one special character. If set to True, a password must include at least one special character. If set to False, it will not be required that a password include a special character. As noted above, this parameter will have no effect unless the Password complexity policy on/off parameter is set to True.
[Password Enforcement] Password complexity uppercase and lowercase letters on/off: Whether the system will require that passwords include at least one lower case letter and one upper case letter. If set to True, a password must include at least one lower case and one upper case letter. If set to False, it will not be required that a password include both lower case and upper case letters. As noted above, this parameter will have no effect unless the Password complexity policy on/off parameter is set to True.
[Password Enforcement] Password minimum length policy on/off: Whether the Password minimum length value parameter is enforced against a user's password. If set to True, a password must consist of at least the number of characters set in Password minimum length value parameter. If set to False, the Password minimum length value parameter will have no effect, regardless of its setting. As noted above, this parameter will have no effect unless the Password complexity policy on/off parameter is set to True.
[Password Enforcement] Password minimum length value: The minimum length required by the system for a password. This parameter will have no effect unless both the Password complexity policy on/off and the Password minimum length policy on/off parameters are set to True.
[Medical Providers Medical Records] SSN is required for medical records requests: Whether a client's Social Security Number is required when requesting medical records. When set to True users won't be able to request medical records unless the client's contact card has his or her SSN entered.

2F Authentication

Select 2 factor authentication type: A dropdown allowing you to select whether 2 factor authentication should be sent via email or SMS message.

Enable 2 factor authentication: A dropdown allowing you to enable or disable 2 factor authentication.

Enable 2 Factor Authentication for Mobile App: A dropdown allowing you to enable or disable 2 factor authentication when logging into the mobile app.

Re-request 2FA after x days on remembered devices: The number of days after which 2 factor will be re-requested after a user has marked the “Remember Me” option on the login screen.

Lifespan of 2FA token in minutes: The number of minutes a token is active for after it’s been received.

Appointments

Appointment Type for Adverse Exam: The default appointment type when creating an Adverse Exam appointment from the Adverse Exams screen.

Trial Appointment Type for TRIAL Merge Codes: The default appointment type that any merge codes referencing a Trial will refer to.

Association of SSD Critical Deadline Types

SSD Appeals Critical Deadline Type:

SSD Decision Date offset in day(s)

SSD Hearing Decision Critical Deadline Type

SSD Initial Critical Deadline Type

SSD Post Hearing Critical Deadline Type

SSD Reconsideration Critical Deadline Type