Help & Guides

Getting Started

There are three kinds of accounts:

• Platform admin — runs the whole system; creates agencies and their admin accounts.
• Agency admin — the agency owner. Opens investigations, manages clients, billing, settings, and the team.
• Investigator — works assigned cases only: logs field activity, uploads evidence, reports in on tasks.

Opening & Running an Investigation

1. Go to 🗂️ Investigations → ＋ New Investigation.
2. Fill in the title, type, due date, retainer, synopsis (what it's about) and objectives (what the client wants established).
3. Pick an existing client or create one right in the form.
4. Add the subject(s) — person, vehicle, address, phone, or business.
5. Choose the lead investigator and save. The case gets an automatic number like DIL-2026-0001.

Click any case card to open the case file: status buttons, client, team, subjects, evidence vault, activity log, report and billing buttons all live there. Investigators only see cases they are assigned to.

Field Logging (phone)

Tap 📱 Field Mode (or go to /field.html). Pick your case, then:

• Choose the entry type (surveillance, interview, service attempt…), confirm the time, and write your narrative — times and locations in the text, e.g. "0912 hrs — subject exited residence…".
• Use ▶ Start timer when a session begins; stopping it fills the duration automatically (feeds billing later).
• Attach photos/video — they go straight into the encrypted evidence vault, tied to your entry.
• GPS is stamped automatically when your phone has a fix.

Evidence Vault

• Upload from the case file (Evidence Vault section) or from the field app. Big video files upload in chunks automatically.
• Every file is encrypted at rest and fingerprinted with a SHA-256 hash at upload — proof it hasn't been altered since collection.
• Every view/download is recorded in the chain-of-custody log (🔗 Custody button).

Devices (cameras, trackers) — full walkthrough

The Devices module tracks every remote device your agency owns — game/trail cameras, CCTV units, GPS trackers, dash cams — through its whole field lifecycle: inventory → deploy → scheduled checks → retrieve. Nothing gets forgotten in the woods with a dead battery.

1. Build your inventory

On the 📷 Devices tab, add each device with a label you'll recognize in the field ("GameCam #1"), its make/model, and serial number. A device must be Available in inventory before it can be deployed.

2. Deploy to a case

• 🚀 Deploy Device → pick the device and the investigation it's working for.
• Describe the placement ("fence line facing driveway, 1420 Pine St") and tap 📍 to pin the exact GPS spot while you're standing there — the pin puts the device on the Deployment Map.
• Set the check interval — how often someone must physically visit it (batteries, SD card, repositioning). 3 days is typical for game cams; adjust for battery life and case tempo.
• Legal authorization is required on every deployment. Tracking and recording devices are regulated (Washington restricts tracking devices in particular). You must affirm a lawful basis — property-owner consent, client authority over the location/vehicle, public vantage point — and note it. That affirmation is permanently recorded in the case file and protects you if the evidence is challenged.

3. The map and the Checks-Due queue

• The 🗺 Deployment Map shows every active device with a GPS pin: blue = on schedule, amber = due today, red = overdue. Click a pin for the device, case, and next-check date.
• The red banner and the dashboard's "Device checks due" counter tell you the moment anything is overdue.

4. Log every service check

✅ Log Check each time you visit: battery %, storage/SD status, condition notes. Upload any media you pulled from the card in the same step — it goes into the encrypted vault, chain-of-custody logged, tied to that exact check. The next-check date advances automatically.

5. Retrieve

📦 Retrieve closes the deployment and returns the device to Available. Every deploy, check, and retrieval writes itself into the case activity log — so the client report automatically reads "Deployed device… Service check, battery 71%… Retrieved" with no extra writing.

Documents & AI

The 📄 Documents tab is the document-management layer over the evidence vault: every file uploaded to any case, in one place, tracked by type and relevance.

• Classify: set each document's type (police report, court record, contract, correspondence, financial record, ID document, medical record, receipt, photo evidence) and relevance (high / medium / low / irrelevant). New uploads start as unreviewed — triage them so the important material stands out.
• Upload from anywhere: add documents straight from this tab (pick the investigation and drop the files) or from inside a case file — either way they land in the same encrypted vault.
• ✍ Add text (manual): type or paste a document's contents yourself. This makes it searchable and available to case analysis — no AI required.
• ✨ Digitize (AI OCR): for images and PDFs, one click has the AI transcribe the full text verbatim, summarize it, suggest a document type, and pull out key entities — names, dates, addresses, phone numbers, plates, amounts. Illegible parts are marked, never guessed. The digitization is recorded in the file's custody log. This is the automatic version of "Add text" above.
• Search inside documents: once digitized, the search box matches the contents of documents, not just filenames — find every document that mentions a name or address in seconds.
• 🤖 AI Case Analysis: from any case file, run an analysis that cross-references the synopsis, subjects, activity log, and digitized documents. It reports key findings, connections between items, timeline gaps and inconsistencies, open questions, and evidence still worth collecting. Every analysis is saved to the case with who ran it and when.

Tasks, Calendar & Reminders

• 📅 Calendar holds court dates, depositions, meetings, surveillance windows and deadlines. Case due-dates appear automatically.
• Assign an event to a team member and it becomes a task in their "My Tasks" list (dashboard and field app), with optional email reminders before start.
• When the work is done, tap ✓ Report In and add a note — the task clears and your note is logged into the case file.

Client Reports

1. Open the case → 📄 Generate Report.
2. Pick a title (Investigation Report, Surveillance Report, Summary, Status), an optional date range (for weekly interim reports), and whether to embed photos and the evidence appendix.
3. The report opens print-ready — use 🖨 Print / Save PDF.

The report assembles itself from the case: letterhead from Settings, the chronological narrative with photos, investigative hours, and the SHA-256 evidence inventory. Nothing is written twice.

Billing

• Open the case → 💰 Billing. Hit ⏱ Import time from activity log to turn logged durations into billable time (no duplicates, ever).
• Add expenses — for mileage just enter miles; the amount is computed at your agency rate.
• Record retainers received; the balance shows how much retainer remains or is owed.
• 🧾 Generate Invoice makes a print-ready invoice with line items.

Rates are set in ⚙️ Settings (agency admin).

Security Notes

• Two-step sign-in. After your password, we email a 6-digit one-time code. It expires in 10 minutes and works once. This is on because case files hold evidence.
• Automatic sign-out after 15 minutes of inactivity; sessions expire after 12 hours.
• Five wrong passwords locks the account for 15 minutes, and you get an email about it.
• Login attempts are rate-limited (5/minute).
• Evidence is AES-256 encrypted at rest; each agency has its own key.
• Investigators see only their assigned cases; agencies never see each other.
• New team members receive an emailed invite with a temporary password (when email is configured) — have them sign in promptly.

FAQ

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