What we'll review:
Assigning Researchers to Search Types
Instant Data Searches
County Level Searches
State Level Searches
Report Level Searches
Assigning Researchers
Once you have created the researchers you need, navigate to Researchers -> Researcher Network. Then follow the appropriate steps below for each search type.
Keep in mind that some search types, such as Instant Criminal Providers, follow a different setup than what's described below. See the specific instructions for these search types for more information.
*NOTE* Changes to the Researcher Network are automatically emailed to the Information Resource Management department in your system for tracking purposes (found under System Settings -> Departments). These email notifications include information about the change that was made, as well as the Admin user who made the change.
Instant Data Searches
Data Divers (deverusdirect2), Innovative (Appriss), Themis, and Cleara are researchers included in your system who provide instant criminal data for Nationwide Instant Criminal, Sex Offender (Data Diver only) and certain Statewide searches.
Instant Criminal Network Search
1. In the researcher network, click go on the "Instant Criminal Database Search Network"
2. Choose to edit "Nationwide Criminal Database Search" if you would like to offer one option for end-users when ordering the instant criminal. This will enable the Data Diver researcher to pull all jurisdiction, sex offender and patriot data available, based on your settings. You can also configure individual states for the instant search, to allow clients a choice to provide instant data for that state. Each individual state enabled will provide the end user with a drop-down option in the ordering screen.
To see sources and settings visit:
Sex Offender
Data Divers and Innovative can be used for individual Sex Offender searches. Even though this data can be retrieved with the Nationwide Instant Product, you can choose to sell Sex Offender as a separate product and only pull back those results. Navigate to Sex Offender Network, enable deverusdirect2 and enable the instant product. Just like the Nationwide, you can enable each individual state to provide a client with a drop-down to choose from or run one Multi-jurisdictional search for all Sex Offender Resources.
County-level searches
If the search you're configuring is county-based, you'll see it listed at the top under County Searches. Follow these steps to set up the researchers for each county:
It is recommended to add a default researcher for every county in every state. If a County Criminal search is ordered for a jurisdiction that does not have a researcher, the search will receive an 'Unassigned' status and will not get processed.
To add a default researcher to every county, you may click Add researcher nationwide.
Choose a researcher from the dropdown list.
Enter a search cost (what the researcher will charge you); you can add 0 for internal researchers if you like.
Choose No preference for Information Chain Preference if the researcher is known and does not need to be tested.
Click the SAVE button. The researcher is now available for use for this county.
To make a researcher ACTIVE, choose the researcher from the dropdown menu under Change County Criminal Researcher: and click SAVE.
Configuring Researchers for Individual Counties
The deverus Researcher Network allows a CRA to configure individual researchers for each jurisdiction. To change researcher assignment for individual jurisdictions, such as County Criminal search types, navigate to the Researcher Network by going to 'Researcher' -> 'Researcher Network'.
Next, select the state from the dropdown menu, then click View entire state once the screen refreshes.
To choose a different researcher for just one county within the state, click the Details link for that county.
The next page will show the current researcher, as well as other available researchers for that jurisdiction. You may add another available researcher for that jurisdiction by clicking 'Add County Criminal Researcher'.
Changing the Default Researcher
To change the default researcher for a jurisdiction, select the new default researcher from the 'Change County Criminal Researcher' dropdown menu.
After clicking save, the new researcher will be shown as 'Active.'
Adding Researcher Exceptions
If you have a specific researcher for certain clients in a jurisdiction, you can assign that researcher to a specific Client or Client Type.
Choose the researcher from the dropdown menu under County Exceptions County Criminal Researcher.
Select Client or Client Type then select the specific client or client type from the dropdown menu. Click Add Exception.
You can also choose to apply this exception to the entire state by checking the box before adding the exception.
To remove the exception, select the radio button and click Remove Exception.
State-level searches
If your search is state-based, you'll see it listed near the top under Statewide Searches, although a few are listed under the Reports section (such as Driving History and Workers Comp searches). Follow these steps to set up researchers per state:
Click the GO button next to your search's name.
To add a single researcher to every state at one time:
Click on Add XYZ Researcher to every state at the top (where XYZ will be replaced with your search name).
Choose your desired researcher from the dropdown list.
Enter a report cost, which is what the researcher charges you. (You can enter 0 for internal researchers if you wish.)
Check off Active researcher to make this researcher the default researcher for every state.
Check off Enable currently disabled states to make sure that you offer the search for every state. (You can disable individual states later if necessary.)
Click Save to save the researcher as the default for every state.
Now, if you wish, you can add different researchers to specific states, or even disable specific states from being available to choose when someone orders the report (if, for example, you don't offer the search for specific states). Just click on the name of the state to manage it, then follow the steps below.
To add a new, different researcher for the state, click the Add XYZ Researcher to State link, where XYZ will be replaced by your search name, and State will be replaced by the state name. Then pick the new researcher from the list, enter your cost for using that researcher (even if 0), and save. Then use the Change XYZ Researcher pulldown to choose your new researcher, and click the SAVE button to make that the active, or default, researcher.
To disable a state from being available for ordering, at the bottom of the state-specific screen, uncheck the box that says Enable XYZ Reports for State, and click the Save button just underneath. That will remove the state from the pulldown of states your client will see when ordering this search.
***Note, Data Diver (deverusdirect2) and Innovative can be enabled for states with full coverage. Ensure you enable instant searches for the state where you would like to utilize this data.
Report-level searches
If your search is neither state-based or county-based, it will be listed under either the Federal, Verifications or Reports sections of your Researcher Network (you'll probably have to scroll down to see it). It is very simple to add your default researcher for this type of search.
Click the Go button next to your search name.
Click Add researcher to XYZ at the top (where XYZ is the name of your search).
Choose your desired researcher from the list, and enter the cost to you of using that researcher (you can enter 0 if you desire for internal researchers).
Click Save Changes to add the new researcher.
Back on the main researcher network screen for your custom search, look for the dropdown that says Change XYZ Researcher, and choose your new researcher from the list.
Click SAVE > > to save that researcher as your active, or default, researcher.
Afterward, you can repeat steps 2-4 to add backup researchers.
Truncate DOB/SSN
Researcher Side DOB / SSN Masking Per Report Type
You can now mask DOB and/or SSN on a search type basis for researches. We've modified the current Researcher Network page so that next to each search type there are two yes/no toggle buttons. One is to mask DOB for researcher notifications (removing year of birth), and the other is to mask SSN for researcher notifications (removing last four digits). These are global settings, so if you choose 'Yes' to mask SSN for county criminal searches, then all county criminal researchers will receive masked SSN in all email notifications from the system, as well as masking the DOB and SSN wherever else it appears in the researcher module.
Configuring Verifications, Custom Searches and Researcher Groups
Please see Researcher Groups to configure state searches, verifications, custom searches, and researcher groups. Researcher groups have a built-in load balancing technology to evenly distribute work.