Version 3.0 "Ganymede" Released!

Today we released version Ganymede (3.0) of MerusCase. In the tradition of all previous releases, we've named this release after a planet or moon in our solar system.

We've been hard at work the past few months, and we are very excited to finally share a plethora of new features:

• Bigger tabs, more icons, and more consistency. We made the tabs and menus easier to touch for our tablet users. We've also opted to "show all features" as a general rule of thumb and simply disable some items, rather than hide features that are inaccessible. For instance, non-administrative users now see the same menu items administrators see, but they are "greyed out" and impossible to click or access. 
• Multiple User/Administrative Levels. In addition to the existing "General" and "Administrator" accounts, there are now several additional user levels with varying access permissions to  different Merus features and actions: Power User, Accountant, and Read Only. 
• New Messaging interface. The new message composition and viewing interface now supports cc: and bcc: and has a more compact aesthetic.
• Multiple Attachments. We've said for a long time that we split multiple attachments up and "duplicated" incoming messages so that each attachment could be attached to different cases or matters. You disagreed; we listened. Sorry it took a little while.
• Support Accounts are Hidden. We used to show them so that you could see when the Tech Support folks had accessed your firm. We checked, however, and that report has pretty much never been run, so we opted to clean up the user list for you instead. We still track that information, of course, so if you need it someday, it'll be there for the asking.
• IMAP Support. We now support IMAP in addition to POP3 for Inbox synchronization. Please be very careful and make sure you know what you're up to when using this new feature. Deleting a message in Merus will now delete it on your phone and everywhere else! And unlike POP3 or Merus-originating messages, we won't be able to undelete anything for you.
• Still More Jurisdictions. We've been making our way towards full and complete coverage of all California jurisdictions across all litigation types on a county by county level, totaling 3738 court forms as of today. Who knew Yolo county had so many Unlawful Detainer forms? And, of course, we've taken the time to map these forms to the parties on your case matters in our quest to save you time.
• Improved Handling of Secured Email. When you send an email message from within Merus, the recipient used to have a 24 hour window to retrieve the message and attachments once they opened it. This is no longer the case. Folks you converse with through Merus are now immediately granted their own "Guest" MerusCase account and can manage their own inbox in perpetuity. All messages sent and received through the Merus messaging system, as always, are completely secure. (Note that this feature is not available if you have configured MerusCase to use your own mail servers.)
• Simpler Version of Invoices. For those of you that use Merus to manage your accounts payable, there is a new, simpler invoice format that omits the "rate" and "amount" columns from the finalized version. This new optional layout can be turned on in Firm Preferences by a firm administrator.
• Declaration of Readiness DWC Filings are again JET-File enabled. The EAMS folks yanked the carpet out from under us a couple of months back to push their new lien filing requirements, and you've had to call us to perform the DOR submissions for you. We now support the new EAMS data schema and the DOR filings are back to normal. 
• Bug Fixes on iOS Calendar & Contact Sync. There were some edge cases where the phone number of an edited company record saved from an iPhone or iPad was reset. There was also a circumstance in the calendar where events with multiple attendees lost the secondary participants when editing from the phone. These issues have been addressed.
• Additional Date Range Selection options on Some Reports. It turns out that options like "Last month" and "Since the beginning of time" aren't quite perfect for everyone. And we thought we were so clever! We've added a customizable date range selection tool to a few of the most in-demand reports.

We hope you find these new features helpful, enriching, and exciting! Please don't hesitate to get in touch with us with any comments, questions, or concerns.

Thanks for being part of the MerusCase family. 

Upcoming Events: Summer 2013

Upcoming Events

We hope you can join us at the following events this summer.  Please click on the links for more information.

• May 9-12, 2013 - California Workers' Compensation Defense Attorneys' Association 2013 Annual Summer Conference.  (CWCDAA)
• June 27-30, 2013 - California Applicants' Attorneys' Association 2013 Summer Convention*.  (CAAA)          

                   (*We will be joined by Gemini at the CAAA Convention) 

2.9 Release Notes!

In this newest release we are pleased to introduce:

• Firm-wide Document Search - Simply type and search through thousands of your firm-wide case documents. See how it works here.
  
•  In-line editing capabilities for Hours in the the Ledger and My Billable time sections.
•  Two new Reports - These new reports are available in Tools > Reports.

• Recently Created Cases - A list of cases by date entered, within the the specified time frame. Includes court case numbers if available.

• Tasks Per Case - Displays a list of all open cases with the number of open (incomplete) tasks assigned.

• The death of Adobe Flash - We decided to give the axe to Flash and move to the much more stable HTML5. What this means for you: is a faster and more reliable user experience across multiple browsers while still enjoying the great features you've come to expect.

"Be gone, Shockwave Flash!"

2.8 Release Notes!

New in this release...

• After receiving a lot of feedback from clients, we have dramatically improved the way MerusCase refreshes when gathering and displaying new data.
• Three new Reports:

1. Billable Time: Full Detail - (Admin only) Displays full details on all time tracker entries, including staff member, date, case, description, rate, dollars, hours, and invoice number (if applicable) based on the specified date range and user(s).
2. Billable Time: My Hours - Displays full details on all time tracker entries, date, case, description, rate, dollars, hours, and invoice number (if applicable) based on the specified date range.
3. Billable Time: Summary - (Admin only) Displays a summary of time tracker entries, one entry per staff member, including dollars and hours, across the specified date range.

• Multiple assignees for events. You can now easily assign multiple assignees to events.
• Multiple document download. Easily download a group of documents from the Activity tab by simply checking boxes then clicking the "Combine Documents" button to download a .zip or PDF file.

2.71 Release Notes

Welcome to MerusCase 2.71!

We have a couple additional features added to MerusCase this release, along with a few fixes to ensure your workflow is streamlined and user friendly.

We have updated how MerusCase works with multiple tabs and windows.  You may notice a quick flicker of the screen when tabbing between pages, this is MerusCase checking for any new or updated content.  No longer will you have to rely on the refresh button to ensure you are looking at the most up to date data.  Working in a casefile and a colleague updates data?  No problem.  MerusCase will make sure you are looking at the most up to date information.

We've made a few changes to how MerusCase handles UTBMS codes, for those of you that utilize these when logging time.  When logging a call, MerusCase can now automatically fill in the name of the contact in the billing description, so long as you choose the proper UTBMS code.

For our Personal Injury case types, we have added Medicals and Settlements to the list of features.  You can add and edit case medicals and tie them together with settlements.

Lastly, to our Books section we have added a 'Date Posted' column to Paid Invoices.  This will show you the date posted of the payment received on a invoice.  This was available before the update, but you had to view the Invoice Details to see the date, now it is available for you in the table.

That wraps up our Release Notes for 2.71!