JBCL Owl Database Help

Topics are:

Overview	Alter setups	How to Use for Wills and Deeds
Why useful for Contacs	Printing
How to use	Advanced Features	How to And Common Questions
Screen Setup Options	Future ideas

Overview

JBCL Owl Database

This program is a wonderful modern addon to the classic Beyond Database (also known as Stress and Strain). The main features of the database are:

Simple for users to add and reorganise which fields the database stores. This means you can decide to add an extra notes field, or a date field, you can add this to the database and give it a name that makes it obvious what it is for - eg GiftDate1
Entering data is very simple and streamlined
Data is checked as it is entered
You can store free format text notes for each record
You can store details or history notes for each record
You can get reports and listings or the data in the database - selecting and sorting on any fields, and arranged in almost any way.

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Altering Setups

There are two main types of options for hte Database:

1 - The options that apply when running the program just this time. These are the options on the upper left - By default it starts with showing data but you are not able to alter it until you choose the "Change Data" option.
"Change Data" allows you to alter the data stored for each client record.
"Admin/Remake" allows you to add new records, and also to add new fields for each record., or delete fields or alter their order etc.

2 - Permanent Options - You can turn on some of the extra features of the database - if you click on the "Show options" button you will see:

options

Free format text notes is the ability to have unlimited notes about one client record. This works the same as in Contacs Client text notes, but the notes stored here are different notes.

Details is to allow you to track history of changes relating to one record.

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Overview of using JBCL Owl Database with Contacs

These work well together for a number of reasons.

Client information such as Name, addresses, Payee details etc is entered in Trust. The information stored in Trust about a client is fixed and limited.
The Database allows you to store any amount of information about clients.
You can choose what fields to store, and can add and delete fields at any time.
This extra information is ideal to use for Wills, or Deeds, or Marketing.
Client information only needs to be added once in Trust - there is a smart export program that exports and updates the main client information fields to the database - the fields copied across are Code, Name, addresses, Phone, email, Bank account, Notes 1&2, Partner Code, Client Class., Marketing Class
The other fields you have added to the database can be viewed and updated there.
Firms can have one or more databases derived from the Trust ledger. You can combine Wills and Deeds and Marketing, or have them separate.
You can select to only export some clients - for instance many firms use the Marketing Class to indentify which clients are to be used for marketing, and only those clients are copied across to the Marketing Database.
Operators can work on the Database at the same time as others are working in Trust without each interfering with each other . In some firms some operators only work on the database, and not in trust, or vice versa, and some staff may have access to both.
You can add extra fields for each client - you can give these names that are meaningful to you, eg Gift Date1, Gift Date2, Packet No.
Fields can be text (Alpha), or numbers, or dates, or money amounts.
You can also store client notes in free format text - this works the same as the notes in Contacs, but are separate notes in the database.
The Database has its own quick and convenient program to look up information
You can look up the database information from the JBCL Contacs Inquiry by clicking the Owl button at the bottom right corner of the Client Details inquiry. This allows you to jump straight into the database for the same client - for instance to look up their wills and deeds information. - and then straight back to the Inquiry.

Below s an example of the JBCL Contacs Inquiry screen for client 11002 - note the Owl button at bottom right. Clicking this will bring up the Wills and Deeds information for the same client.
Client screen

Using JBCL Owl Database for Wills and Deeds

Obviously you should do the filing of wills and deeds information however best suits your office! Here are some suggestions for setting up a wills and deeds database:

Some manual filing systems are quite detailed and contain information not easily transferred to a database, such as recurring history information. I found this from looking at some firms very detailed card systems. So these have been added to the database!

Also the managing of many operators doing simultaneous database updates has been much improved. Now it should be simple to have anyone in the office updating these details directly and simultaneously - and it should not need to go through the Accounts department.

In a firm the secretaries could update wills or deeds details themselves without needing any access to the trust system or accounts department and without interfering with each other. If the secretaries know they could easily update this data themselves it can all work much more easily. Note this is how other firms operate, where many staff edit only the database.

You may want to show this on to who is in charge ot the Wills and Deeds filing - they may not know of all these newer facilities, and may find it now has all the flexibility they need. However they are doing the filing otherwise (whether cards or spreadsheets or documents etc) is likely to be less simple and comprehensive than this.

The main advantages of the database scheme is that you can get to it (either from the Inquiry screen or directly independent of trust) and the details can be seen all over the office. Also the staff can work on it anytime with no impact on the trust operations or each other.

The procedure to setup the Database or to remake the database is to first decide what field setups that best fit what you need, and then bring the trust client back in from Trust (these steps are all easy to do). The JBCL tools can help as well as better reflect the information you need to store about the wills and/or deeds packets.

Facilities that help filing wills and deeds:

1 - In the main details screen is the ability to add new fields for each wills or deeds record - eg an extra gifting date field, or contact name etc. This facility has always been there and is being made easier to use.

2 - Also there is already behind the scenes is an option to automatically track changes to main data fields in the database entered by the operators, and a change history can be printed at any stage. This facility just needs to be turned on. For instance you could find how the date in the field "GIFTING" (Gifting date) was changed if you need to, and what all the previous versions were.

3 - free format text notes, just like the client notes in trust. It works the same, but these notes are stored separately and can be kept in the wills or deeds database for any client.

4 - More formal details records can be stored for a client in the database. This is useful particularly where you want to log recurring information about say a clients packet - eg date taken out of storage and date put back in. (At present this is a date and two description fields, in future this can be expanded).

The simplest way to see how these work is to look at the screens:

In this screen below, the first fields from Code to Marketing are updated from the Trust ledger, so that information automatically appears here. The fields after this can be updated by operators here.

Text Notes screen - anything can be typed in here. These notes are separate from those seen in the Trust client notes, but work in the same way.

Details screen - ideal for history information of changes: - here for tracking of packets in and out of the filing.

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Advanced Options

Great features of the database:

You can setup which fields to store.
Find a record by any part of name (the "Identifier field") or code
Fast and simple to use
Data is checked as you enter it
Integration with Contacs Inquiry (Windows version)

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How-To and Common Questions

How do I find a client I don't the know the code for?
Type in the part of the name - it will show a list of matching records.

How do I change Data?
Click the "Change data" option on the left, and select the record you want to alter, and press Enter or double click it. Press Enter to save your changes (or Escape to cancel) for that field.
When you have finished for that record, press Tab to get back to the "Enter name or code" box. You will be prompted whether to save the all the fields in the record if it was changed. You can save or cancel at this point too.

How do I finish out of the program?
In the Enter Name or Code box enter 0 (zero) and the program will ask you if you are finished. Or click the "X" on the top right of the window.

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Future Ideas

Let JBCL know of which of these ideas you like, and any others that you have!

More Free format reports

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