Major RB9 update brings everything together
The September 1, 2024 RB9 update changes a lot of the ways you interact with your reporters and OMTI. That’s because this version incorporates the Customer Portal from OMTI.com and the agency side of ReporterBase.com into RB9. ReporterBase.com is now for your reporters only with a simplified interface that works as well on mobile devices as on computer screens.
Moving all of this functionality to RB9 means that instead of having to log into different websites to work with RB’s Digital Signature Proxy, manage your RB account, look up contact info for other agencies, or suggest improvements through the Idea Collaborator, you can access all of that and more inside RB9.
The moved functions retain their features but are more convenient and have been further streamlined for added efficiency so once you get used to their new locations you will save time using them.
New functions & system preferences
The relocated features of ReporterBase.com and the Customer Portal were moved into different modules of RB9, depending on their purpose. You will find them in Setup, Tools, Help, and your personal section.
Added functions
Several functions from the other sites are now stand-alone functions in RB9:
- Send Invitations for Signature Proxy: Invite reporters to join ReporterBase.com and get their free digital signatures for you to apply to their RB-PDF Transcripts (in Tools). RB9 only.
- Signature Proxy Usage: Track how many times you applied each reporter’s digital signature to RB-PDF Transcripts in any time period (in Tools). RB9 only.
- RB Network: Formerly RBXchange in the Customer Portal. Look up contact information for other RB users to share work with (in Tools).
- FAQ/KnowledgeBase: Look up solutions to error messages and other problems plus find step-by-step tutorials in this function that combines the KnowledgeBase from the Customer Portal and RB tutorials from the Help Center on OMTI.com (in Help).
- Report Issues: Support Tickets from the Customer Portal have been integrated into RB9 (in Help) and renamed.
- Suggest Ideas: The Idea Collaborator from the Customer Portal has been integrated into RB9 (in Help) and renamed.
For information on what these functions do, visit RB9 Primer, which has lessons on each of these new functions. You can find them at the top of the list of Latest Lessons at the bottom of any page in the site. For directions on how to use them, check the latest RB9 user guide or click the Help button inside RB9 or RB Lite.
Added system preferences
Other functions were moved to System Preferences in the Setup module:
In General > License Info
- Use Edition options to request an upgrade to Standard/downgrade to Lite editions of RB9. This feature is only available to Administrators.
- View your billing history, pay invoices, and register credit cards to pay for your RB subscription automatically.
- Increase or decrease the number of Named User Licenses for your RB9.
In Production > Signature Proxy
Add your agency’s digital signature, customize the invitation to join ReporterBase.com, and select users who are notified when reporters transmit their signature proxy to you.
NOTE: If the email that was previously set to receive these notices on ReporterBase.com is not in an RB9 user’s profile, you must set up a user or users to notify.
In Tools > RB Network
Add or update your company information that appears in the new RB Network function.
Personal preferences
Finally Email Subscriptions moved to User Preferences. This is where you select which RB emails you want to subscribe to: newsletters, update notifications, and/or new idea notification emails.
More update features
In addition to this major integration, there are efficiency and security enhancements in this update:
- You can pay directly from the log in screen when the system is locked down due to payment issues.
- Captcha has been added to the Reset Password screen to prevent misuse by bots.
- You can change how your name appears in RB9 and update your email address in the new My Profile section in User Preferences.
- You can turn details on/off in all Preview Invoice screens. Previously this was available in only 3 functions. This feature is now available in:
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- Production > Turn In > Edit Turn In
- Billing > Post Invoices
- Billing > COD Invoices > View Invoice
- Billing > COD Invoices > Edit Invoice (new!)
- Billing > Send Invoices > Preview Original Invoice (new!)
- Billing > Send Invoices > Preview Current Invoice (new!)
- Billing > Send Invoices > Print Original Invoices (new!)
- Billing > Send Invoices > Print Current Invoices (new!)
- Inquiry > Invoice Inquiry > View Invoice (new!)
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- When you merge business units (BUs), RB logs the date, which BU was merged, and the user responsible in the Remarks field of the merged-into BU.
- The Save button in the Setup > Tracking Steps > Edit Tracking Step screen has been changed to Save & New/Save & Close. RB9 only.
- In System Preferences, you can set the next job number in Calendar > New Job and the next invoice number in Billing > Invoice.
Listed under Communicating with resources, Customizing RB9, RB Lite, RB9, RB9 update, Saving time