UPVISE: The Best Case Management System I Know Of!

I'd like to revisit Upvise, it is a C.R.M. that I have used as a Case Management System for about 10 years now. Upvise has always served me well, it is economical, and it is an all inclusive system that a person can run any type of business they have from.

Upvise has come a long way since my last blog post, because the people that put it together are always updating it and adding new options to it. It is a well managed application, Upvise is well supported and always improving. 

Upvise is highly flexible, it can be used to run a business, or just simply used as an everyday "Life Management System".  There are so many facets to Upvise that it simply has a use for anyone. There is a free version for those that want to use it for personal use as opposed to professional use.

Upvise also has it own apps to work on Android, Mac, and Windows mobile devices. If you can get on the Internet, you can access Upvise, and if you have a mobile device with a data connection out in the field, you can run Upvise wherever you are.

I'd like to go over the many different things that Upvise can do for you. Upvise has many different options. Below are a list of the options on Upvise:

          

Calendar: Upvise has a fully integrated calendar for scheduling appointments, and reminders.

Contacts: Upvise allows you to store an unlimited number of contacts, with as much detail as you want.

Tasks: Upvise has a task managers that you can set up to allow you to be more productive.

Notebooks: Upvise has notebooks that you can customize and categorize any way you want.

Projects: Upvise has a section to set up projects, from simple projects to projects with multiple jobs.

Sales: Under sales you can send quotes, invoices, track your deals, see what stages your deals are in, inventory your products and services, and more.

Timesheets: Upvise allows you to tracks your time on each project, and your employees time on projects.

Debts and Credits: Upvise allows you to track spending and show your full financial accountability.

Expenses: Upvise allows you to keep track of your s[ending accurately and easily.

Shopping Lists: Upvise even has a section to set up shopping lists from anything from groceries to specific case equipment.

News: Upvise even has a News Reader that you can follow your RSS feeds on.

This is just to name a few options, this is not a full list of everything you can do with Upvise.

One of the things that Upvise does really well, is allow you to link everything together in a project, all of your tasks, notes, quotes, invoices, all stages of your project, a good accurate timeline on your project, so you are always ready to discuss your case.  Upvise also has a system wide search option, so you can search notes, contacts, invoices, projects, tasks, your calendar by key term within seconds.

Believe it or not, Upvise is far more expansive than any Case Management System that I have ever seen to even include GPS and Mapping options, for a fraction of the price. You pay under $200.00/per year for Upvise. 

Upvise is truly one of the best Case Management Systems, C.R.M.s, and Life Organizers that I have ever seen, everyone should be using this application get it here: UPVISE

Also, in the future RMRI, LLC. will be teaching a course on how to use Upvise as a Case Management System. Look for this course coming soon!

Economical Case Management

One of the tools that every Private Investigator needs is a good Case Management System. A Case Management System tracks your cases, gives you a billing and quote system, tracks expenses, keeps up with your contacts, and a good Case Management System links all of these tasks together.

I have used various Case Management Systems throughout my career as a Private Investigator. I have seen good Case Management Systems and I have seen useless Case Management Systems. I have paid a small fortune for Case Management Systems, and I have used free Case Management Systems. Here I am going introduce you to what I consider to be the best Case Management System that I have ever used, and the most economical Case Management System that I have ever used. This is a Case Management System that is always getting better and better due to frequent updates.

Introducing UPVISE!

Upvise was not designed strictly for the Private Investigation Business, it was designed to be a CRM (Customer Relationship Manager), but it just so happens that every single part of Upvise was designed in such a way that it is literally perfect for a Case Management System.

Below is a screenshot of just a few of the sections of Upvise that are useful to the Private Investigator:

And Upvise does not stop there. It has a section for Medical Records, Work Orders, Ideas, Quotes Of The Day, A Wiki, Time Sheets, and it even has search engine capability right from with Upvise. You can upload files directly to your cases on Upvise, even directly from Google Drive or Drop Box to Upvise. And everything is tied together and linked neatly for you to maneuver any part of the system for information on your cases. It is also securely cloud based, so you can use it from ANY Mobile OS, from iOS to Android to Windows Mobile to Blackberry Mobile, any tablet, any cell phone. It is one of the most well organized, user friendly, and beautiful Case Management Systems that I have ever used. It also gives the Admin full control of the system, so sections can be limited, or completely not accessible to members of your team; like the sales section, so you can keep your finances private.

Imagine all of these options for just $50.00/per user, per month? Not bad? Now imagine all of these options for $50.00/per user, per YEAR! That is the cost of Upvise, $50.00/per use, per year or under $5.00/per user, per month.  Personally, I have never seen a decent Case Management System that is as affordable as this. But this is not just a decent Case Management System, this is by far one of the very best I have ever used, and I have used A LOT of Case Management Systems.

You can even access your mobile phone camera directly from Upvise, take a picture or as many pictures as you want, and upload them directly to your case. The system is searchable by section, or system wide. It even does automatic back-ups for the user at any interval, and any time of day you choose.

Customer Service on Upvise is great, responses are timely, and if something get "broken" on Upvise the developer has it fixed very quickly. There is a blog with updates, and a forum on Google Groups for you to communicate with other Upvise users.

If I had to recommend only one tool for a Private Investigator, that would be the most useful to the Private Investigator; this would be it!

Hopefully, you'll take a look at this wonderful Case Management System. Try it out, you have nothing to lose, since the first month is absolutely FREE.

WeDoist: Make Your Clients Happy; Collaborate With Them

Today I want to write about a wonderful and economical on-line collaboration suite that I have been using for about 3 months now.

In the Private Investigation Business, keeping your client updates is very important. This can sometimes be problematic when your time is limited, and even more problematic when you and your client's time is limited. So, it is important to find a way to get your client current updates, and maintain a good, solid like of communication with your client. Email is one solution, but Email is limited. While you can put down what you want in email, and you can even upload a file in email, you can't chat in real time, and file upload size is a bit limited in most email programs.

Enter WeDoist! WeDoist is a wonderful, and economical way to keep your clients updates fast, and keep a line of communication open with them. WeDoist is also affordable, at $24.00 per month for unlimited projects, unlimited people, and 5 GB of space per project!

WeDoist is stripped down to only what you need to keep your clients updated, making is simple, user-friendly, and straightforward. One can upload a PDF Report, leave an update on the site, and created a "next task list" for the client to see in less than 5 minutes. Once can also chat lie with the client in a secure environment.

Below are some pictures of the four tabs that WeDoist has to Collaborate with clients:

WeDoist Update Tab

 

 

WeDoist Tasks Tab

 

 

WeDoist File Upload Tab

 

 

WeDoist People Tab

Below in the bottom right hand corner you will also notice a pop up chat box that you can bring up to securely communicate with whoever you have assigned to the project, if they are in the project. Below is a screenshot of the secure chat section:

I include a set of instruction in all of my projects for clients that are new to WeDoist to read. Below is the set of instructions that I include for my clients:

Everyone,

WeDoist is pretty simple, it is stripped down to four (4) straightforward tools for collaboration.

(1) Status Update: You can leave message on the Status Updates bar, like I am doing here. This acts as a bulletin board system for you to leave message at that I can pick up at anytime. Updates, case instructions, brief reports, etc., etc.

(2) Chat: There is a secure chat area here, as you can see. The site is supposed to be secure from top to bottom with SSL (Secure Socket Layer) Protection. It is also hosted on Amazon's Servers, which uses very high security standards. You can read about Amazon's Security here if you want, but it might be kind of boring: https://aws.amazon.com/security/ So far I trust their security.

(3) Tasks: Here you can assign tasks to me, or I can assign tasks to myself or my team. You can see the task, comments on the tasks, due dates, and you can correspond on those tasks by leaving messages linked to the task in the comment section of the tasks.

(4) Files: We get five (5) Gigabytes of upload for files and such. That is okay for starters, but as this collaboration site goes forward, if the people working on them work together on projects for six (6) months to a year, more space is needed. I am working with the WeDoist Team to get more space for file uploads.

WeDoist is designed perfectly for collaboration for Attorneys, Doctors, and Business Professionals. It is user-friendly, stripped down to just what is needed, and secure.

WeDoist will be merging in with ToDoist a personal Task Manager developed by the same company: https://todoist.com/ in the future. WeDoist is also working on Mobile Applications for Android and iOS Smart Phones and tablets, we should be seeing these rolling out in the near future.

WeDoist is also very economical, all of this that I have mentioned with unlimited users, unlimited projects, and a very innovative approach to development for $24.00 a month.

Enjoy!

Rick.

Feel free to copy these instructions if you would like, if you decide to set up WeDoist and use it for business collaboration.

 

SUMMARY

 



In the Private Investigation Business it is important to update your clients regularly. Sometimes it will be necessary to be able to document those client updates. WeDoist is perfect for being able to update you clients and document those updates. I have many cases (Projects) on WeDoist and it has not slowed down at all. WeDoist is reliable and economical. WeDoist is the perfect solution for any business that has a need to collaborate with clients; and especially useful for any Private Investigator that cares about getting timely updates out to their clients and keeping a secure line of communication open to and from their clients.

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3

Today I am going to report on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3. First let me say that while I will give a brief on the specs for the Samsung Galaxy Note 3; this post will be more about the user experience than the tech specs of the device.

Samsung has managed to pack a lot more into a lighter phone, and managed to increase the screen size slightly. The phone feels better than the Samsung Galaxy Note 2, a little less "clunky". I like the feel of the Samsung Galaxy Note 3, when I use it as a phone and when I use it like a tablet.

 

Below Is A Picture Of The Note 3 Beside The Galaxy Gear

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is very responsive and easy to maneuver. It comes with Android 4.3, which is the most current build to date. I have had about 2 reboots, and a few freeze ups on the phone; but I also put a lot more apps and files on my phones than most people do since I use my phone for business. The average user should not expect to have the same amount of reboots and freeze ups.

The display on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a Super AMOLED capacitive touchscreen, 16M colors multi-touch. That is to say that the screen looks really good, clear, and crisp; no noticeable blurring of text.

The camera is a 13 MP, 4128 x 3096 pixels, autofocus, LED flash, which takes good, clear pictures. The camera also has lots of options, and some very unique options on it. It is fair to say that this phone's camera is of a quality that I can se it for field work.

Below Is A Picture Of One Of My Vehicles Shot From The Phone Camera

 





Below Is A Picture Of A Plant In My Front Yard Shot From The Phone Camera

 



 



The processor on this phone is a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 (N9005, N9002)/ Exynos 5 Octa 5420 (N9000); which is to say that it is very powerful and the phone is very fast when opening applications and working in applications.

It is also worth mentioning that the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 has 3072 MB RAM (3 GB of RAM); which means that you can do more with it. You can have more applications open, and run more background processes. I should also say that no matter how much RAM a device has, it is never enough for me.

Battery life on the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is the one "not so good" rating for the Note 3. While the battery life is okay, it is nowhere near amazing or even impressive. You can work through an 8 hour workday with medium usage, without a charge. You will have to charge your Samsung Galaxy Note 3 once a day. The solutions is to buy a few chargers, 2 or 3 for home and office and a car charger. If you charge at every available opportunity you can easily go 12 to 14 hours with the Samsung Galaxy Note with a good amount of usage. BUY A FEW EXTRA CHARGERS!

Of course with the Android Play Store, you will never be lacking your choice of applications. In addition Samsung also has their own application market, with some very nice applications for free to cheap. Finding the right applications that are effective to what you want to do with your device is always key to how much you will get out of your device. The S Pen features are really nice and greatly enhanced since the Samsung Galaxy Note 2. The stylus seems to be better built, and the S Note Application is rich with useful features.

And now for another interesting part of the phone, yes the Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch. A really nice looking, elegant watch that is not clunky and fits well. Below is a picture of the Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch:

Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch

 

 



The Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch has a 1.9 Mega Pixel camera on it. The camera works very well, but don't expect to be shooting long distance telephoto shots with it. Remember, 1.9 Mega Pixels does give the Samsung Galaxy Gear some limitation. The camera works well for cover camera usage for objects that are up to 20 feet away. Below are some pictures shot with the Samsung Galaxy Gear:

 

 

This Is A Shot Of A Plant In My Front Yard With The Galaxy Gear In Good Light Conditions



 

A Shot Of One Of My Vehicles In My Front Yard With The Galaxy Gear In Lower Light Conditions
 



 

 

The Samsung Galaxy Gear Watch is also very responsive and easy to maneuver. The applications on the Galaxy Gear are well organized and easy to get to. There is lots one can do with this watch and Samsung seems to be adding more and more application for the watch all of the time. There is even a pedometer on it to keep track of your steps if you are a walker, there are some good fitness applications to add to the watch from the Samsung Gear Store. Evernote has an application for the watch which functions well. I have been able to shoot pictures, record video and record audio with the Samsung Galaxy Gear with great ease. I have also been able to receive calls and dial out on my Samsung Galaxy Gear with pretty good call quality thanks to the noise canceling Microphone that is on the watch.

 

The price for one of these devices is a little on the high side, but if your consideration for quality trumps price, this phone is worth it. You can expect to pay in the $750.00 range for one of these phones (although I got mine at a very good discount).

 

 

 

SUMMARY

 

The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a solid, reliable business tool that fits well in the Private Investigation Business. The camera is a good, quality camera that can be used in the field, which is particularly good when you need to get that quick shot that you may not be prepared for. The Samsung Galaxy Note 3 is a Work Horse, that is perfect for the business professional. There is not much that you can't do with this phone. This phone is a Private Investigator's dream come true!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 









Blog Introduction

 

The Name Of The Blog Should Explain It, But I Would Like To Elaborate A Little More

 

 

I have decided to start blogging about technology that we use in the Private Investigator Business. I am not going to limit this blog to just equipment used in investigative operations such as surveillance and digital forensics, however. I am also going to evaluate office equipment, communications equipment, travel accessories, and anything a Private Investigator can use in their day to day business.

 

Hopefully this blog will offer something to every working professional in the market. I am a Private Investigator and my company RMRI, Inc. I rely on technology to run my business. While I am not a professional beta tester, I think I will have some personal insights that will be very contributive to Business Professionals everywhere.

 

My Tech Guy will also be making some posts here on more technical issues. His name is Donald Warren and he has a very good background and lots of experience in electronic repair, programming, server and computer maintenance and repair, and digital forensics.

 

First up we will evaluate the new Samsung Galaxy Note 3. Look for that evaluation in the near future.