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Integrations

SOP Configuration

The Service of Process (SOP) module in Tracker is an integrated system for managing all your service of process activities. Users can manually input SOP records or automatically retrieve them from your registered agent. If your company does not plan to retrieve an automated download of SOP records from a registered agent, no system setup is required to use the SOP functionality.
Tracker integrates with the following SOP agents:
  • Corporation Service Company (CSC®)
  • CT Corporation
  • Corporate Creations®
To have the Service of Process module made available, contact your Client Success Manager.
There are three steps to setting up your SoP integration:
  1. Configuring your service of process parameters. In this step you configure basic information about the SoP vendor and configure certain technical parameters and define the users who will be responsible for monitoring incoming records.
  2. Creating SoP types. Legal Tracker provides four default SoP types. You can add next SoP types, or edit existing ones.
  3. Creating the rules that determine what happens to incoming SoP records.

Step 1 - Set up the SOP Configuration

In this step you set up the connection between Tracker and the SoP vendor.
  1. Select
    Settings
    in the left navigation.
  2. In the Integrations section, select
    Service of Process Configuration > Service of process configuration
    .
  3. Fill in the fields as applicable.
    Field Reference
    Field
    Description
    Service of process vendor
    Use the dropdown to select an SoP vendor. A Tracker database administrator manages this setting, which selects the registered agent and makes the other setup features available. Customers must configure the setup information, including the login information and password. Thomson Reuters does not maintain SOP login information.
    Enable download of SOP records
    Initially this field is set to
    No.
     This enables your law department to configure the service of process module before receiving service of process documents. Once the setup has been completed, your law department must change this field to
    Yes
    , which then triggers the download of data from your SOP vendor.
    Enable Plaintiff / Case Number Auto Routing
    Select
    Yes
    if you want Tracker to automatically route the record to a matter based on the plaintiff name and case number.
    Details
    When an SOP record is downloaded Tracker first checks to see if it can be automatically routed to a matter based on the plaintiff name and case number.A record can be automatically routed to a matter if:
    • There is a matter in which the Case Number and Plaintiff in the record match the Case Number and Plaintiff in one or more SOP records in the matter
      or
    • The Case Number in the Service of Process record matches the Case Number in the Tracker matter profile field, and the Plaintiff in the SOP record matches the Plaintiff in one or more Service of Process records in the matter (case insensitivity) and there is no other matter in which there is a Service of Process record with the same Case Number and Plaintiff(s).
    The reason for this rule is that this saves your company user time if the matter has already been created. To maximize the likelihood of finding matches, Tracker checks the case number against the Tracker field in the matter profile and the case number in the SOP record because the original SOP record may not have a case number, but it has been entered in the matter profile.
    Disabling automatic routing
    Some companies have a policy that all SOP records must first go to an SOP Intake User. In some cases, this automatic routing feature was causing SOP records to be sent directly to a matter. Although at that point the SOP responsible person would be the lead company person in the matter, the company still wanted the SOP Intake User to first receive the SOP record. By changing this setting to No, this will cause the system to automatically send SOP records to the Default SOP Intake User (or to the SOP Intake User specified for the SOP Type, which can be automatically assigned when the SOP record is downloaded).
    Enable Checksum Validation
    If you enable automatic download of service of process records, Tracker can validate whether all SOP records received by your SOP vendor have been downloaded to Tracker. The system compares the number of records that the SOP vendor has indicated it has received in the last 30 days with the number of records that have been downloaded into Tracker. This is the vendor checksum. If this number does not match the number calculated in Tracker, Tracker generates an error message.
    Details
    For CSC, the vendor checksum is the number of SOP records that were served within 30 days of the date that the batch was run. For example, if the batch was run any time on January 15 (eastern time), the date range for calculating the checksum is December 17 - January 15.
    For CT Corp. the vendor checksum is the number of SOP records that have a Date Created within the past 30 days (counting up to midnight of yesterday).
    We recommend that you wait at least 30 days after SOP is set up to enable checksum validation to minimize false checksum and retrieval errors. During the 30 days, continue to receive your SOP records using your original method. After the 30 days, you can enable checksum validation and the calculations will be accurate.
    Alert if No Attachment
    When you receive automatic downloads of data from an SOP vendor, by default Tracker generates an error message if there is no attachment accompanying the download.
    If your company intends to manually input SOP documents into Tracker, you can select
    No
    to disable the error message that occurs if there is no attachment.
    Date of last SOP retrieval
    CSC:
    You do not need to enter a date or do anything with this field. Whenever Tracker attempts to download SOP records from CSC, Tracker retrives all SOP records that CSC has made available, regardless of the date shown in this field. When setting up the system with CSC, the key issue is to make sure you tell CSC from what date they should make available SOP records for download.
    CT Corp
     Enter the date after which you want all SOP records to be downloaded. For example, if the download is turned on in the middle of the day on January 2, but the company wants all documents in January, you would enter December 31.
    The date must be entered in the following format: mm/dd/yy. You cannot enter a date more than 30 days ago. If you leave the field blank, the system automatically fills in yesterday's date. If you designate a date more than five days ago, the system will download only 5 days at a time.
    Details
    For example, if the download is turned on on January 11 with a date specified of December 31, the first download of documents will retrieve SOP records from January 1-5. The next download will retrieve SOP records from January 6-10. The next download will retrieve SOP records for January 11th (and at that point the system will be caught up and will only download SOP records that were received after the last successful download.
    Inactivity Days Notice:
    This setting is part of the backup processes in Tracker to minimize the risk that SOP records are not properly delivered into your system. This setting is applicable to a situation where the download routine appears to be working properly (in other words, there are no errors), but no documents have been delivered. In this field you specify the number of days when there have been no errors, but no SOP records. After this time the system will send an email alert to all Default SOP Intake Users (but not SOP Intake Users) and to all SOP Escalation Users.
    Details
    Most small law departments specify 5-7 days. For large law departments who receive many SOP records each day, they typically specify 3 days (SOP records are not downloaded over the weekend, but are counted as a "day" in the calculation, so you want to have a minimum of 3 days specified).
    Enter/Edit Login Credentials
    Enter the user ID needed to log in to the vendor site. Contact the SoP vendor if you need help obtaining these credentials.
    Important notes about your login information
    • Login information is specific to your account with the SoP vendor, and your organization is responsible for obtaining the login credentials from the vendor. Contact the vendor if you need help with your credentials.
    • Thomson Reuters does not enter or modify the login credentials; only law departments are authorized to enter or edit this information.
    • When you enter the login credentials, you do not see the values you entered.
    • Make sure you also record your login credentials somewhere outside of Tracker. Legal Tracker Support cannot retrieve your credentials if you forget the values that you entered.
    Testing your SOP login credentials
    Once you have entered all of the login credentials, click
    Test stored login credentials
    . Tracker will test the login credentials to make sure that they are accepted by the vendor's site.
    Default SOP Intake Users
    A Default SOP Intake User is responsible for
    • Resolving any downloading errors from the SOP vendor
    • Sending an SOP record to another SOP Intake User or a matter if it cannot be automatically routed when the record is downloaded. The Default SOP Intake User causes the record to be sent by assigning the SOP Type to the SOP record (the automated routing rules are specified in the SOP Type assigned).
    Generally, the person was responsible for the routing of paper SOP files should be a Default SOP Intake User. For most companies, the Default SOP Intake Users are paralegals or other staff, rather than attorneys. For larger law departments that have many SOP Intake Users, the Default SOP Intake Users should be selected to have overall responsibility for service of process in Tracker, and will manage the other SOP Intake Users.
    Responsibilities
    Whenever an SOP record is downloaded from your SOP Vendor, the system tries to assign an SOP Type based on the metadata provided by your SOP vendor, such as the nature of the service of process document, the entity served, and the location in which the service occurred.
    If the system can assign an SOP Type to the SOP record when it is downloaded, then the routing of the SOP record will be governed by the SOP Type. In other words, it is routed to a specific bulk matter or to the SOP Intake Users assigned to that SOP Type.
    However, if Tracker cannot assign an SOP Type to the SOP record for any reason, then the Default SOP Intake Users will be responsible for manually assigning the SOP Type, which will cause the SOP record to be sent to an SOP User or to a specific matter, depending on the automated routing specified in the SOP Type.
    Default Setting for Response Data Requirement
    This field specifies that response data is required if an SOP type was not designated for the SOP record.
    When an SOP record is downloaded from your SOP vendor, Tracker tries to fill in the SOP Type for the record based on your SOP Type assignment rules. The selection of the SOP Type is important because the SOP Type specifies whether response information will be required to be provided for the SOP record. However, if Tracker cannot fill in the SOP Type upon the download, it will be treated as "unassigned," and consequently response data is required by default.
    SOP Escalation Users
    SOP Escalation Users are primarily responsible for receiving alerts of significant SOP problems that have not been resolved by the applicable user(s).
    To designate a user, click
    Select
    . On the page that opens, click
    Select
    next to the names of the users you want designate as Escalation Users.
    Details
    An SOP Escalation User receives escalation emails from Tracker in the following situations:
    • The company has not received an SOP record from your SOP Vendor for a specified number of days (for more information, see the help topic about this issue).
    • An SOP record has is still on the SOP Intake Page (pending action by an SOP Intake User to move it to a matter) for seven days since the initial download of the SOP record (for more information, see the help topic about this issue).
    • A batch-level error or data issue has not been resolved by the SOP Intake Users within seven days (for more information, see the help topic about this issue).
    • Response data is required for an SOP record, and the response due date has not been entered by the seventh day after the SOP record was downloaded (for more information, see the help topic about this issue).
    • Required response data to an SOP record has not been entered, and it is one day before the response due date (this is the default setting, although it can be deactivated for individual SOP records).
    SOP Escalation Users also have access to all SOP records that are:
    • On the SOP Intake tab. These are the records that have not been moved to a matter.
    • The batch history page that shows the history of all downloads from the SOP vendor.
    Criteria for SOP Type Assignment Rules
    • Entity Served
      Your SOP vendor fills in this field. It is possible that the name may not exactly match the actual entity name. For that reason, you should try to use wildcards to minimize the number of characters you use in the field. For example, if your company name was Acme, Inc., enter Acme* .
    • U.S. State of Service
      Enter the full state name, not the state abbreviation.
    • Vendor SOP Type
       CSC and CT Corp have a predefined list of Vendor SOP Types. You can obtain this list from Support. You can run the Service of Process report to view all the prior Vendor SOP Types that you have received.
  4. On the toolbar, select
    Save & close
    .

Step 2 - Define the Service of Process Types

Required role | Tracker Coordinator
SOP types can affect things like automatic routing, and reporting and the requirement for response data to be entered, The SoP type is required in every SoP record. You can set up own types, and some default SoP types are included.
The selection of the SOP type for each SOP record is a critical feature affecting the processing of SOP records in Tracker. You can edit or deactivate any of these types, or create new ones. Once the SoP Type has been assigned, any user who has rights to edit and SoP record can change it. Changes captured in the audit history and can be reviewed at any time.
Add a new SoP type
  1. Select
    Settings
    in the left navigation.
  2. In the Integrations section, select
    Service of Process Configuration > Service of process type list
    .
  3. From the toolbar select
    New type
    .
  4. Fill in the fields as necessary.
    Field Help
    Field
    Description
    Name
    Specify a name for the new SoP type.
    Require Response Data
    Specify whether a response is required. This is a critical field in the workflow of service of process records.
    • Yes:
       For any SoP record for which this SoP type is assigned, an alert will be shown and corresponding email notifications until a user has attached the response file and entered the date the response was made. If a law firm is responsible for the SoP record, they will not be able to post invoices if they have not satisfied the response data requirements. This is the default for most SoP types. This option lets law firms track whether responses have been made, and the response file and data are kept in the same record as the original service of process.
    • No:
       Reponse data is not required.
    Require Response File to be Attached
    Select
    Yes
    if you want a copy of the response to be attached as a file when a user documents that a response was made.
    Auto-route SOP from vendor
    Use the radio button to select where to automatically send SOP records.
    To SOP Intake Users assigned to this SOP Type
    This is the default setting. Tracker will prompt you to select the users. You can use the SOP Default Intake Users, or select specific users for this SOP type.
    To a Specific Matter
    . If you choose this option, you will be prompted to select a matter and an optional folder into which SOP records will be routed.
    Details
    Routing to a specific matter Many companies create a specific "bulk" matter in which they save all SOP records of a certain type. For example, you might create a matter called Garnishments-General, and route all matters with an SOP type of Garnishments to that matter. Companies typically create several of these bulk matters for SOP types such as subpoenas, foreclosures, and other types of high-volume types that don't need a specific matter.
    Routing to the SOP intake users The routing should be set up to be sent to the SOP Intake Users for any type in which it is likely that an individual matter needs to be created (for example a summons or complaint, which typically needs its own matter), or an individual must decide to which matter an SOP record is sent.
    SOP Intake Users
    Use the radio button to select either
    Use Default SOP Intake Users
     or
    Manually specify SOP Intake Users
    .
    Default SOP Intake Users
     sends all SOP records of this type to the default intake users for processing. The default users are listed at the bottom of the page.
    Manually specify SOP Intake Users
    requires you to specify at least two Tracker users. the system displays a section that prompts you to specify at least two Tracker users. Click
    Select
    , then on the page that opens click
    Select
    next to the names of the users you want to designate as intake users.
  5. On the toolbar, select
    Save & close
    .
Edit an existing SoP type
  1. Select
    Settings
    in the left navigation.
  2. In the Integrations section, select
    Service of Process Configuration > Service of process type list
    .
  3. Click the type in the list.
  4. Edit the fields as necessary.
  5. On the toolbar, select
    Save & close
    .

Step 3 - Set up Type Assignment Rules

Type assignment rules determine how Tracker assigns the SoP type to an SoP record when it is downloaded. Your SoP type assignment rules can eliminate the need to manually assign an SoP type.
It is important to understand how the assignment of the SoP type affects the routing of an SoP record. For each transaction downloaded into Tracker from the SoP vendor, one of three things can happen.
  • Tracker automatically routes an SoP record directly to an existing matter. Tracker analyzes the SoP record after it is downloaded to determine if the litigation already exists. If the case number and the plaintiff are the same in the SoP record and the matter in Legal Tracker, the record is moved to the matter.
  • TheSoP type is assigned, either automatically by Tracker or manually by the default SoP intake user, and the type causes the record to be routed into a "bulk" matter. Tracker attempts to assign the SoP type to the downloaded record. If the system was not able to automatically assign the SoP type, the record goes to the SoP default intake user, who manually selects the SoP type. The routing specified for the SoP type movesthe record automatically into a "bulk" matter.
  • TheSoP type is assigned, either automatically by Tracker or manually by the default SoP intake user, that type causes the record to be sent to the responsible SoP intake users, who then move the record to a matter. Tracker attempts to assign the SoP type to the downloaded record. If the system was not able to automatically assign the SoP type, the record goes to the SoP default intake user, who manually selects the SoP type. The routing specified for the SoP Type causes the record to be automatically sent to the SoP intake users assigned to the SoP type. The default intake user searches to determine if the matter exists. If it does exist, they move the SoP record into that matter. If it does not't exist, they create a new matter and move the SoP record into that matter.
Tracker can automatically assign one of the types using data from the SoP vendor. Essentially, Tracker tries to fill in the
SoP Type
 field by matching the assignment rules that you set up in this step with any or all of the following in the vendor record:
  • Entity served
  • The state in which service occurred
  • The nature of the lawsuit
Parameters for creating rules
  • Criteria are not case sensitive. For example, if the vendor type is Garnishments, Tracker catches incoming records that have garnishments, Garnishments, or GARNISHMENTS.
  • You can use an asterisk * as a wildcard character. For example, if the vendor type is summon* , Tracker catches incoming records that have summons and summons & complaint. It is possible that the name you specify may not exactly match the actual entity name in the SoP record. We recommend using wildcard characters to simplify matching between the incoming record and your SoP type.
  • If the vendor type is *complai*, Tracker catches records that have summons & complaint and complaint. But if you enter only complai*, Tracker will not catch summons & complaint.
  • Leaving a data field blank is the equivalent of entering a wildcard for the field.
Tip | Most companies use only the SoP data from the vendor record, and the default setting is that only the
Vendor SoP Type
is completed.
Example 1
An incoming record with an entity served of summons and complaint would be assigned a Tracker SoP type of Summons & Complaint.
Example 2
Any SoP record in which the US state of service was Georgia and the vendor SoP Type was garnishment will be assigned to your Tracker SoP Type of Garnishments - East. Since Garnishments - East is not a standard Tracker SoP type, you would have to add it as a type.
  1. Select
    Settings
    in the left navigation.
  2. In the Integrations section, select
    Service of Process Configuration > Service of process type assignment rules
    .
  3. Select
    Add assignment rule
    .
  4. Specify the values from the incoming SoP record that will determine how the record will be assigned.
    Field Help
    Field
    Description
    Entity Served
    The entity name from the vendor SoP record. The SoP vendor completes this field with the name provided by in the service of process.
    U.S. State of Service
    The US state from the vendor SoP record. Typically this field is used only by larger law departments that have multiple individuals managing service of process intake, and those individuals are organized geographically.
    Example
    You would check this state if one person is responsible for processing litigation in the Eastern United States and a different person is responsible for processing litigation in the Western United States.
    In that situation, you would have two different SoP types (Litigation - East and Litigation - West), and your mapping rules would be set up for each state. Small law departments or law departments with a centralized administration may not need to complete this field.
    Vendor SoP Type
    Essentially the nature of the action, such as garnishment, summons & complaint, subpoena, etc. Most law departments should complete this field.
    CSC and CT Corp have a predefined list of vendor types. There are several ways you can find this information:
    • Contact Support
    • Review the list from CT Corp
    • Review the list from CSC
    • Run the Service of Process report to view the previous vendor SoP types that you have received.
    Most companies use only the SoP data from the vendor record, and the default setting is that only the
    Vendor SoP Type
    is completed.
    Company SoP Type
    The SoP type (defined in SOP configuration) that the SoP records with the above characteristics will be mapped to.
  5. On the toolbar, select
    Save & close
    .

This article applies to:

  • Product: Legal Tracker
  • Audiences: Company