Creating and managing cases

Creating a case

Choose New case on your dashboard or the Cases page and fill in:

Case name (required): how you’ll find the case again.
Description (optional).
Case type (required): Surveillance, Background check, Insurance, Domestic, Skip trace or Other. You can set a default type in Settings, Workspace defaults.

Then choose Create case. New cases start in the Inquiry phase.

The case name and description are encrypted in your browser. The case type is not encrypted, so you can filter by it; the form tells you this. The case’s phase and dates aren’t encrypted either. See What PIToolkit can and cannot see.

Case reference

Each case gets a reference such as CS-2026-014, shown on the case page with a Copy reference button. It never changes, and it’s a handy way to refer to a case in emails or on paperwork without naming anyone. References can’t be searched.

Inside a case

A case has tabs for Overview, Contacts, Evidence, Notes, Time, Reports and Messages. Use Edit case details to change the name or description.

The five phases

Every case is in one of five phases, shown as “Phase 1 of 5” and so on:

Inquiry: a prospective case.
Active: you’re working it.
Report writing: the work is done and you’re writing it up.
Closed: finished.
Archived: put away. An archived case is read-only.

Only you move a case between phases. Use the next-step button on the case, or Change phase…. Every move asks you to confirm, and nothing on the case is removed.

Any open phase can move to any other open phase, or to Closed.
A closed case can be reopened to an open phase, or archived.
An archived case can only be restored to Closed.

Your clients see friendlier names for the phases in their portal, such as “Active Investigation” and “Preparing your report”.

Closing a case and retention

When you close a case, PIToolkit asks How long should this case be kept?: 1, 3, 5 or 7 years, or indefinitely. You can change it while the case is closed, but not once it’s archived. Reopening a case clears its closure date and retention setting.

What the retention period does today:

Your dashboard reminds you from 30 days before it ends (“Retention ends in 14 days”), with a Review retention link.
When it ends, your client’s portal access to that case ends. Your client is told the end date by email when you close the case.
PIToolkit doesn’t delete the case or its evidence when retention ends. Deciding what to keep, export or remove stays with you.

Notes and activity

Notes are your own working notes. Choose New note; notes save automatically and can be up to 10,000 characters. Clients never see them.
Recent activity records changes to the case: when it was created, phase changes, retention changes, reports published or removed from the portal, and edits to the case details. Evidence uploads and other actions are in your activity log; use Open in activity log.

Your dashboard

The dashboard opens with “Here is what needs your attention today.” It shows:

Quick actions: Start timer, Log time.
Needs attention: for example a case with no activity for 14 days, an unpublished report draft, time with no rate, an expired invitation, or a retention date coming up.
Continue working: the case you last opened and drafts to resume.
Active cases: cases in Inquiry, Active and Report writing, up to the 50 most recently active. Closed and archived cases are on the Cases page.

Finding cases

The Cases page shows cases in every phase, most recently updated first, up to 50. Filter by Status, Type and Last activity dates. (A client filter is shown but isn’t available yet.)
Search (the magnifier, or Ctrl + K / Cmd + K) finds a case or contact by its exact, whole name. Capitals and extra spaces don’t matter, but part of a name finds nothing. Because names are encrypted, the search uses a scrambled fingerprint of what you type, so PIToolkit’s servers never see the name you searched for.

The Free plan limit

On the Free plan you can have up to 25 active cases: those in Inquiry, Active or Report writing. Closed and archived cases don’t count, so closing a case frees a slot. Plan & usage shows “N of 25 active cases”, and you’re told when you’re close to the limit.

At the limit, creating or reopening a case shows You’ve filled your free plan. Paid plans aren’t open for sign-up yet, so for now, close a case you’ve finished to make room. Nothing you’ve already created is affected. See Plans, storage and billing.