First, open your workflow main menu screen.
You will see your inbox and rejected folders on the left side of the screen, and the contents of your inbox displays on the right, broken out by identifying ID and case information. This was filled out by the caseworker before it was routed to your inbox. You can re-sort by any field by clicking on the blue field value at the top of the column.
Reviewing the Document
When you click on the ID number of the case you are ready to review, the Work Item Detail —Attorney Review screen will open. Your document will be on the right, topped by a toolbar and bounded on the left with other information.
Use the outer and inner scroll bars on the right to scroll up and down on the web page or the document page, respectively. These controls do not pan to the next page of the document.
Now, let’s explore the toolbar controls. There are two rows of buttons. The top row deals with the document as a whole, such as ways to change how it is displayed. The bottom row deals with annotations and signing —essentially, changes to single pages of the document.
Commonly used toolbar buttons
The first three buttons on the top left adjust height and/or width of the document display, so you can see more of the document at once.
The arrow buttons, midway across the toolbar top row, move between pages of the document.
On the bottom row, the second button from the left opens a text box for annotations.
About midway across the toolbar on the bottom row, the eraser tool lets you erase annotations and signatures in the document.
On the far right end of the bottom row is the rubber stamp, i.e. the control for adding your electronic signature.
Just inside that is the save button, to save changes to a page.
If you want to explore the rest of the toolbar controls, hover your mouse over the buttons and a tooltip will appear to tell you what they do.
Signing the Document
Review the document just as you would paper documents in a file. When you are ready to sign the document, find the signature line using the page arrows, click the rubber stamp button, and the rubber stamp list box will appear.
Click your U-number and click OK to select your signature.
This will activate your signature stamp, but only for the current document. You will have to repeat these steps for each document you open. Your signature stamp will also deactivate itself if you take other actions on the page, such as annotation.
NOTE: The Workflow application requires you to save your changes on each page before allowing you to move to the next page.
With your rubber stamp activated, position the cursor, which now looks like a rubber stamp, above the signature line, and click. If you don’t like the positioning, you can click the eraser tool to remove the signature, or you can click the Move Arrow button (on the far left end of the bottom row of toolbar buttons) and reposition your signature.
Routing the Document
When all signatures have been added, you are ready to route your document using the Actions dropdown menu to the left of the document. If you have any instructions for the worker, add them to the Notes/Comments box under the actions dropdown menu before you route the document. When you finish a routing action, the item will be removed from your inbox on the Workflow Main Menu screen.
The Three Routing Actions
There are three actions you can take in the Attorney Review phase of E-filing.
Complete
Signifies that the document has been signed and approved for filing. Complete will route the document back to the person who initiated it for the remainder of the E-filing process. Set it to complete by selecting Complete from the dropdown menu and clicking the Submit Item button.
Route to Other
Allows you to send the document to a supervisor or trainer for follow-up on training issues addressed in Notes/Comments. Route to Other could also be used to send the unsigned document back to the initiating worker for minor corrections addressed in Notes/Comments. To Route to Other, select Route to Other in the dropdown menu and click the Submit Item button.
The Route to Other option will move you to the Route Item screen to search for and select the recipient of the document. If you know the User Number of the intended person, enter it and click the submit item button. Otherwise, use the fields to search for the person you want.
Reject
Signifies that you have found deficiencies that are significant enough that the document needs to be redone. Reject will route the document back to the person who initiated it. You must enter a rejection reason in Notes/Comments when rejecting.
Print this information
You may download a printable copy of Using OAH Workflow Directions for Attorneys. You might also want to read the articles about OAH Hearing Requests and the OAH Pro Se Packet.