Setting Up Chronolator Documents
Sample Covering Email / Letter
This is some sample text you might want to use in a covering letter or email. If you want to preserve the links and formatting in it, use the 'Keep Source Formatting' or similar option when you copy it into another program such as Word or Outlook.
Please find attached the Serious Case Review document as discussed at the recent panel meeting.
It is a special Word document which has been produced using Chronolator, the Chronology Tool.
The first thing you should do is to save it in a suitable place on your computer or network.
If you would like to watch a brief tutorial about using Chronolator, please go to the Web page at www.chronolator.com/tutorials/quickstart01-chronology-recipient.
Chronolator uses Word ‘macros’, and if you are prompted about them when you open the document you should ensure you allow them to run.
When you do, Chronolator will create a toolbar on the Add-Ins tab of the Word Ribbon.
If the toolbar does not appear, please check Appendix A in the Using Chronolator Documents manual (see www.chronolator.com/documentation/version-5.0 if you have not received a copy) for possible causes.
If for some reason you cannot enable macros, you can still update the document but you will not be able to use basic Word Save (you will get a message about macros being disabled). In that case, you should save your changes either:
The first pages of the Chronolator document give you background to the case and instructions about what details to enter in the table and where to put them.
The table itself is pre-set with the columns agreed by the Case Review panel. Fill in the cells in the usual way using Word.
The document is a Word document, so you can change the font, the column widths, the shading and other cosmetic formatting, but you must not add or remove columns or change the column headings as Chronolator will be unable to check and process the table. If you do so by accident, you can create a suitable blank table at the end of the document by pressing Admin > New Table on the Chronolator toolbar.
You can enter events as the records come to hand, and use the Sort Tables button on the Chronolator toolbar to put them in date order. You can enter dates and times as they appear on the original records, and use the Format Dates button to put them into a consistent format.
Every time you close the document, Chronolator will check that the table conforms to the specifications made by the Case Review Administrator, and that it is in chronological order.
All problems are flagged with the symbol ⌧. Non-blank invalid entries are highlighted in turquoise, and dates and times of out-of-sequence events are highlighted in yellow. If you rest your mouse on the ⌧, a description of the error is displayed.
You can scroll from one error to another using the video-like buttons on the Chronolator toolbar.
A full list of errors is also created at the end of the document. If you click on the ⌧ next to an error in the list, Chronolator will go to it in the document.
CAUTION: Do not write anything after the error list as it will be deleted the next time Chronolator checks the document.
Please ensure that all errors are corrected before returning this document.
You can get Chronolator to check the table at any time by pressing the Check Tables button, and it also has many other features which you might find useful.
If you want to devolve responsibility for data collection to a number of other people, you can forward this document to them and then use Chronolator to merge their individual chronologies. The Using Chronolator Documents manual contains information about this and other features, together with some useful general tips about using Microsoft Word tables.
The Using Chronolator Documents manual contains more information, and also some useful tips about working with Word tables. There is also a set of video tutorials at www.chronolator.com/tutorials.
If you have any problems please contact Marion West@berrick-LSCB.gov.uk, who will be able to advise you.