Text-Based Documents (Affidavits) in PSIMS Anywhere – Records Management System and Mobile Software

Author: Tom Doyle

Publisher: Cushing Systems Inc.

Date Published: July 29, 2022

Introduction

PSIMS Anywhere is Cushing Systems’ Records Management System and Mobile Product. It is a browser-based, NIBRS-compliant module that integrates with Cushing’s Computer-Aided-Dispatch product. The feature rich offering has been used by hundreds of agencies in 10 states for over 15 years. Within the last year we’ve added the ability for customers themselves to utilize an existing form (like an affidavit) and embed that into PSIMS Anywhere.

Specifically, PSIMS Anywhere allows a client to create a text-based affidavit to print or save as an attachment to a case. PSIMS already has many text-based forms within its product for customer use; however, new forms can be created by Cushing at a minimal charge and then embedded into the product.

This update has streamlined the process and a new menu item within the RMS menu has been created to allow the user to enter the information needed for an affidavit and create it to save in the case attachments.

This method allows the user to create an affidavit without first editing a case, selecting a crime and then choosing the affidavit.

Choosing Affidavit from RMS menu

The new Affidavit option will be in the RMS menu under Reports.

Once the user has chosen the Affidavit option in the RMS/Reports Menu, the form will load with the criteria for the affidavit.

Once the user has chosen the Affidavit option in the RMS/Reports Menu, the form will load with the criteria for the affidavit.

The fields for the form include:

CaseID: This field will accept any known case number in the format (YY-{ID} or YYYY-{ID}).

*If the user only enters the case number, it will default to the current year.

**It is important to note that if the user is selecting a case from previous years, they must include either 2 digit or 4 digit year, followed by ‘-‘ then the case number with no spaces before or after the dash.

Affidavit: This field is a dropdown box that contains a list of all affidavits in the database. Case Officer Name: This field will default to the use that is currently logged in, but can be changed to any user in the current database.

Subject: This field is disabled until a CaseID is entered in the CaseID field. Once a proper CaseID is entered, this dropdown will be populated with all persons named in the case.

Charge: This field is disabled until a Subject is chosen from the Subject field. Once the Subject is chosen, this field will be populated with any charges from the current case that are tied to the subject chosen.

Once the fields are filled out with the information for the affidavit, the user presses Submit and the affidavit will open in the case document edit screen.

Completing the Affidavit

After the user has edited the affidavit, there are three option located above the document: Print, Save, and Close. If the user selects Print, a print dialog screen will appear with the form in a printer friendly version. If the user selects Save, the affidavit will be saved as an attachment in the case. If the user selects Close, the page will go back one page to the previous page.

Additional Methods to Create an Affidavit

In addition to using the RMS/Reports menu to create an affidavit, the user may do so from within the case edit. When editing a case, the affidavits can be found in Edit Charge screen.

*The edit charge screen can be found by going to a person selecting the Charge tab and clicking the edit icon next to the charge. A faster way to get to the charge is to use the Jump To drop down above the save/cancel buttons near the top of the screen.

The user can click on the Affidavits drop down to see a list of affidavits and choose the appropriate document. The user will then be directed to the Edit Document screen.

Editing a Saved Text-based Document

If a user needs to edit an affidavit that has already been saved as an attachment, this can be accomplished by going to the Attachments tab.

Once in the Attachments tab, the user has the option to Download, Edit, or Delete the attachment. If the user choses to Edit the document, the user will be directed to the Edit Document page.

Once edits are complete, the user has the option to Print, Save, or close the document. If the Save button is pressed, the user will be prompted to Overwrite the document, or Add as new attachment.

If the user choses to Overwrite the document, the document will be overwritten, and the document title will include the words “EDITED” and the Case Log will contain an entry that the document has been overwritten.

If the user choses to add the document as a new attachment, the document will be saved as a new attachment and nothing will be entered into the Case Log.

For more information on Cushing’s PSIMS Anywhere Records Management System / Mobile software please contact Tom Doyle at tdoyle@cushingsystems.us.