The SmartAdvocate Client Portal is a website that permits your firm to collaborate with your clients without requiring direct interaction with your staff. You can make documents, notes, and other information from SmartAdvocate available to clients, while clients can also upload information directly into their SmartAdvocate case file. No information from SmartAdvocate is automatically made available on the Client Portal; specific action is required by your or a staff member (for example, clicking on a checkbox marked "Share in Client Portal") in order for anything to be shared. (The only exceptions are appointments in which the client is a participant; these will automatically be visible to the client on the Portal.) Access to the Client Portal, what information is available, and how it appears, are governed by the Client Portal Administration page.
As of the writing of this Manual, the Client Portal is in beta and thus not generally accessible. It should be available to all customers in the next SmartAdvocate release. As a result, there may be modifications to the information in this Manual when the Client Portal is officially released. If you have any questions about the Client Portal, please contact our support team at support@smartadvocate.com.

The Structure of This Page

The information in Client Portal Administration is divided into five tabs. All five tabs are visible at all times, however the contents of only one tab is visible at a time; click the heading of the tab you want to access to bring up that tab's information. The available tabs are Registration Token Management, Password Reset Token Management, User Management, Case Statuses, and Look & Feel. There is also a date range field (with an Apply button), which filters the results in the active tab based on the date an action was taken.

Registration Token Management

Invitations to clients for accessing the Client Portal, including the generation of tokens, are accomplished in this tab.

1. Generate New Token button: Used to generate a token, which allows a client access to the Client Portal. Select the client to whom you would like to send an invitation. The contact must have their SSN number listed on their contact card, as the last 4 digits are required to complete their registration.

1. Registration Email: The client's email address, taken from their contact card. The registration invitation will be sent to this address.
2. Registration Token: The registration token automatically created for this. The token is automatically created by SmartAdvocate and cannot be edited.
3. Token Issued: The date this client's registration token was issued.
4. Token Used: The date this client's registration token was used to register for the client portal.
5. Name: The client's name.
6. User Name: The client's user name for access to the Client Portal (usually the client's email address).
7. #: The Action column. Until a client activates his or her token by clicking the link in the invitation email they receive, a Delete button will be available to delete the token and remove that client's access to the Client Portal. Once the token has been activated, the token can no longer be deleted and this column is empty.

Password Reset Token Management

In the event a client has forgotten his or her password for the Client Portal, a new token must be issued to that client. The process is identical to creating an original Registration Token, except the email sent to the client is for a password reset, rather than an invitation.

User Management

A client's current status on the Client Portal can be viewed and edited in this tab.

1. Name: The client's name.
2. User Name: The client's user name for access to the Client Portal (usually the client's email address).
3. Contact Card: The contact card to which this client is attached.
4. Last Login: The date on which the client last logged into the Client Portal.
5. Bad Login Attempts: The number of unsuccessful attempts the client has made to log into the Client Portal. After a set number of unsuccessful attempts, the client will be locked out of the Portal.
6. Is Locked: Whether the client is locked out of the Client Portal.
7. Is Enabled: Whether the client's login to the Client Portal is currently enabled.
8. Is Activated: Whether the client has activated his or her token to access the Client Portal.
9. #: The Action column. An Edit button allows the client's profile to be edited.

Editing the Client's Profile

The client's profile can be accessed by clicking on the Edit button on that client's row in the table.

1. User Name: The client's user name for access to the Client Portal (usually the client's email address).
2. Contact Card: The contact card to which this client is attached.
3. Bad Login Attempts: The number of unsuccessful attempts the client has made to log into the Client Portal. After a set number of unsuccessful attempts, the client will be locked out of the Portal.
4. Is Locked: Whether the client is locked out of the Client Portal. In the event the client has been locked out of the Portal, uncheck the Is Locked checkbox and click on Update to unlock the client's access. If the cause of the client being locked out of the Portal was having repeated unsuccessful attempts to access the Portal, it may be necessary to issue the client a new token for a password reset. See Password Reset Token Management for details.
5. Is Enabled: Whether the client's login to the Client Portal is currently enabled. Uncheck this checkbox to remove the client's access to the Portal.
6. Is Activated: Whether the client has activated his or her token to access the Client Portal.
7. Update: Button to save any changes made.

Case Statuses

The Case Status feature is more-or-less a timeline that shows the progression of the client's case. Although similar to the "regular" SmartAdvocate Case Statuses that are adjusted by the staff as the case moves forward, the status "Timeline" visible to the client in the Client Portal is different. Case Status in the Client Portal MUST be configured independently. Although you can configure the Case Timeline in Client Portal to correspond with the regular Case Statuses, it is generally more advisable to create "Statuses" for the Timeline that may be somewhat broader and more meaningful to the client. So, for example, we suggest you create Timeline Statuses such as "Initial Investigation," "Client Still Treating," "Submitted Insurance Demand," "Initial Court Conference Held," "Case Scheduled for Trial," etc. Furthermore, you generally do not need to create a corresponding "Timeline" status for the Client Portal for every "regular" status in SmartAdvocate. Multiple SmartAdvocate statuses can be combined and assigned to a single Client Portal status.

1. Add Case Status: Button to add a new Case Status for the Client Portal.
2. Case Status: The name of the Case Status for the Client Portal.
3. Case Status Order: The order in which the case statuses will be listed in the Client Portal.
4. SA Status(es): The SmartAdvocate status(es) that correspond to the Client Portal case status.
5. Show Start Date: Whether the date the case went into the Client Portal case status will be shown.
6. Show Finished Date: Whether the date the Client Portal case status ended will be shown.
7. Show In Progress Message: Whether a message will be shown in the Client Portal indicating that the case is currently in the case status.
8. Show Completed Message: Whether a message will be shown in the Client Portal indicating that the case has completed the case status.
9. #: The Action column. An Edit and Delete button.

Add/Edit Case Status

Click on the Edit button in the Action column to edit an existing Case Status, or the Add Case Status button to add a new Case Status.

1. Case Status: The name of the Case Status for the Client Portal.
2. SA Status(es): A dropdown with multi-select checkboxes that allow you to choose multiple SmartAdvocate statuses to correspond to a single Client Portal case status.
3. Case Status Order: The order in which the case statuses will be listed in the Client Portal.
4. Show Start Date: Whether the date the case went into the Client Portal case status will be shown.
5. Show Finished Date: Whether the date the Client Portal case status ended will be shown.
6. Show In Progress Message: Whether a message will be shown in the Client Portal indicating that the case is currently in the case status.
7. Show Completed Message: Whether a message will be shown in the Client Portal indicating that the case has completed the case status.
8. Update: Button to save any changes made to the case status.

Look & Feel

The Look & Feel tab allows you to customize the Client Portal for your firm, as well as your clients' user experience when accessing the Client Portal. A dropdown allows you to choose which resource you wish to alter. The available options are:
CSS File: This option is not currently available in SmartAdvocate, but may be utilized in a future release.
Sign In Logo Image: Allows you to add your firm's logo to the sign-in page of the Client Portal. Click on the File image to locate and upload your logo.
Dashboard Header Logo Image: Allows you to add your firm's logo to the dashboard of the Client Portal. Click on the File image to locate and upload your logo.
Spinner Image: Allows you to change the spinner image used in the Client Portal while pages are loading. Click on the File image to locate and upload your logo.