FYI for November 2008

It’s about time! This month we’ll focus on ways to meet client needs more effectively using our award-winning TimeMap® 4 timeline graphing tool. When you need to visually demonstrate a series of connected events, TimeMap makes the task a snap. You can also connect TimeMap to Microsoft® PowerPoint® for presentations or CaseMap® fact and issue management software for polished reports.

Color Coding and Connect the Dots:
Not Just Child's Play!

Can a timeline illustrate cause and effect? Can it visually connect related events without looking like a complex spider web … or costing more to develop than a case is worth? Definitely—when you make the most of TimeMap® timeline graphing software.

Connecting Events in a Fraud Case

To illustrate a series of related fraudulent transactions, Bill Branscum, owner of the investigative agency Oracle International, used TimeMap to create a transaction chronology. He used color-coded flags to track deposits and withdrawals. Suddenly it was easy to connect the dots, showing how every so-called investment was quickly pocketed. His combined use of TimeMap and CaseMap enabled him to turn an investigative report over to the FBI and the IRS. The individuals who were engaged in the transactions have since been arrested and the group’s assets have been seized.

Was the approach cost-effective? Said Branscum, “You would have to pay a fortune to create the presentation that TimeMap allowed me to create almost instantly.” Read more about Branscum’s experience in the case study “Lone Investigator Helps Indict Group Accused of a Decades-Long Scam, Armed Only with a Software Program.”

You Too, Can Win With TimeMap

Here are some TimeMap tips to help you create meaningful timelines and presentations––whether your case involves fraud or other types of wrongdoing that occurred in a series of events.

Add Several Facts at Once

The Multiple Facts option really comes in handy. Go to the Insert Menu and choose Multiple Facts. A dialog box will enable you to enter multiple dates and their corresponding facts. Then just click OK. TimeMap will automatically generate a time scale and display your Fact Boxes in chronological order.

Edit Fact Boxes

Select the Fact Box you want to edit―or hold down the shift key and select multiple Fact Boxes to edit. Then double-click one of them, and you will see a Fact Box properties dialog box. From there you have the option of changing the style, color, font and date format used. You can color code your facts to represent different elements in your timeline and even drag the timescale to the middle to make comparisons.

Create a Microsoft® PowerPoint® Presentation from TimeMap

You can send TimeMap visuals directly to PowerPoint using the Send to PowerPoint feature. In just three mouse clicks, you can create a PowerPoint presentation that has all your Fact Flags on slides, each showing one flag on a timeline, front and center, and other facts around it faded back. TimeMap creates a title slide for your presentation and sends links to Windows files. Options permit you to fade flags and hide flags—for example, hide future flags.

Connect with CaseMap® to Create a Report

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Tips for Dealing with Overlapping Fact Boxes in TimeMap® 4

When you use TimeMap, it’s common to run into situations where the dates of the facts you’re charting are close together and cause Fact Boxes to overlap. We have listed some techniques for dealing with overlapping Fact Boxes below. If these tips don’t solve your overlapping problem, it’s possible that you’re trying to fit too much information into a single visual and you may need to use more than one chart to tell your story.

Increase the Width of the Time Scale

• Don’t try to fit more than 10 Fact Boxes on a page. A fact count appears in the status bar at the lower left corner of your TimeMap screen. Divide the fact count by 10 to get a sense of the number of pages wide the Time Scale should be.
• The Time Scale of a single TimeMap 4 visual can be up to 100 pages wide. If you have more than 200 Fact Boxes in a single chart, it’s definitely time to break the single chart into a series of visuals.
• To increase the width of the Time Scale: Use the Fit to Pages Wide option on the Time Scale menu.

Reposition Fact Boxes

• Fact Boxes can be moved up and down vertically and can face left instead of right. They can also be dragged to the left and right off the vertical line that connects them to the Time Scale.
• To reposition a Fact Box: Drag it to a new location.

Adjust the Height and Width of Your Fact Boxes

• Tinkering with the height and width of Fact Boxes often helps resolve overlapping.
• To adjust the size of a Fact Box: Select the box that requires width or height adjustment. Float your mouse pointer over the small square that appears on the side or bottom of the selected box. Your mouse pointer will display a double-headed arrow. Click and drag to the desired width or height.

Insert Time Scale Breaks

• Sometimes your charts may have long periods of inactivity due to gaps in time between facts being graphed. When this situation arises, consider inserting a Time Scale Break to eliminate much of the dead space.
• To add a break: Select Time Scale Break on the insert menu. In the new Time Scale Break dialog box, select the section of the chart in which you want to insert a break and click OK.

Reduce the Amount of Text in Fact Boxes

• Can the facts in your chart be rephrased or stated more succinctly? Giving your fact text a hard edit not only saves space; it also produces a chart that’s easier to read and understand.
• To edit fact text: Double-click the Fact Box.

Eliminate Non-Critical Fact Boxes

• Are all facts in the visual essential to the point the graphic is intended to communicate? Delete all facts that don’t meet this criticality test. You’ll minimize overlapping, and your chart will also be more effective.
• To delete a Fact Box: select it and press the Delete key on your keyboard.

Still Have Overlapping Problems?

• If your chart still has unwanted overlapping after you try the above ideas, it’s time to break it into a series of visuals rather than trying to get one chart to do the whole job.
• TimeMap makes it easy to send facts from one chart to another to jumpstart the process of creating a new visual. To send a group of facts to a new chart: Press Shift and click all the Fact Boxes you want to move to a new visual. Then select Copy to New Visual on the TimeMap Edit menu.

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30 Second Skill Tuning: Converting Outlook E-mails to PDF using CaseMap® 8 with DocPreviewer™

The DocPreviewer tool that comes with CaseMap 8 enables you to conduct self-managed e-mail discovery review in smaller cases where you may be short on time, budget and technical assistance. It provides a convenient way to import and convert e-mail messages to PDF and then auto-populate key players into your CaseMap Cast of Characters, significantly reducing data entry.

DocPreviewer is easy to use. All you have to do is go to the CaseMap Tools menu and select the DocPreviewer Email to PDF Wizard. The wizard will guide you through choosing an Outlook folder or folders to convert to PDF, selecting a folder for saving the PDFs, and importing the e-mails, senders and recipients into CaseMap.

1. Select the folders you want to convert from a list by checking the box(es).
2. Browse to a folder to receive the converted PDF files. If the folder already contains PDF files, they won't be overwritten―even if they were created from the same e-mails.
3. Review your selected conversion options. If they are okay, then click Next to start the conversion.
4. Select what you want to do with the converted PDFs and review the conversion summary data. Options are:

• Import the e-mails, senders and recipients into CaseMap.
• Bates stamp the PDFs. After Bates stamping, you'll have the option of importing the e-mails, senders and recipients into CaseMap.
• Do nothing.

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Training Schedule

Get a complete list of courses.

Ongoing CaseMap® Training

Please contact us at caseanalysisconsulting@lexisnexis.com or 904-373-2161 to reserve a seat in these classes, where you learn hands-on—and on your own laptop.

To register for the CaseMap and Concordance In-A Day classes, please fill out this registration form (e-mail or fax to us) or call 904-373-2161 with any questions you may have.

CaseMap Training Webinars

CaseMap FastTrack: This day-long session is designed to help new CaseMap customers become power users. It is not intended for clients who have been working with CaseMap for more than a year. Please bring your notebook computer to this hands-on session.

Class topics include Case Mapping Strategies, Sorting & Searching Techniques, Creating Great Work Product, and Using the “Send to CaseMap” Feature in Acrobat and Other Tools.

Certified Administrator: This two-day Case Analysis Consulting Group course is specifically for litigation support, practice support and IS professionals. It reviews how to deploy and support CaseMap case analysis software and TimeMap timeline software. Support Certification is a hands-on class—please bring a notebook computer with you.

Certified Paralegal: This one-day seminar for paralegals, legal assistants and other support professionals reviews best practices for inputting and extracting crucial case data. The seminar also covers how LexisNexis case analysis tools link with other applications you may be using.

Webinar Courses: Our Webinar courses are conducted in four two-hour sessions over two consecutive days. The times for these Webinars are noon – 2 p.m. ET and 3:30 – 5:30 p.m. ET on both days.

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