Manage portfolios

Rather than typing your existing cases one by one, use Upload portfolio from the side menu, which offers three ways in under Choose your option. Portfolio Agents (Identify official agents) starts from your firm: you choose jurisdictions and identify the names under which your practice appears as official agent in the national registers, and Ignite finds the processes filed under them. Portfolio Applicants (Identify process holders) starts from the holders of the rights: you identify applicants in the registers, such as your clients or your own company, and Ignite finds the processes recorded in their name. Load files (Load process files) starts from a spreadsheet of processes you already have, using templates you can download. All three end the same way: you choose which processes to bring in, give the GDPR approval for the personal data they contain, check a summary and choose Finish. Ignite then confirms that the selected processes are now being loaded into this account portfolio. Loading runs in the background, and how long it takes depends on how much you load. Each plan includes a number of free uploads of processes from official institutes, and the number of processes your account can hold also depends on the plan. Loading processes requires the Contributor or Admin role.

The Portfolio Agents wizard builds your portfolio from the registers by finding the processes in which your firm is the official agent, in a series of steps. In Identification of jurisdictions you choose the jurisdictions to search, moving them from those available to be selected to those selected. In Identification of official agents you search the registers of those jurisdictions for the names under which your practice is recorded as agent; include former names, spelling variants and individual attorneys, because registers often record the same firm in several ways. In Validation of agents you confirm which of the names found really are yours, so that another firm's processes are not brought in. In Process validation you see the processes found and choose which to load; this is where the load is counted against the free uploads from official institutes included in your plan, and Ignite warns you if you go beyond them. In GDPR approval you give the approval for the personal data the processes contain. The Resume step summarises what will be loaded, and Finish starts the load, with the message that the selected processes are now being loaded into this account portfolio. While it runs, Ignite shows progress by country: the countries processed, those still processing and any that could not be loaded.

The Portfolio Applicants wizard works like the Portfolio Agents wizard, but it starts from the holders of the rights rather than from your firm. It suits a rights holder loading its own portfolio, or a practice bringing in the portfolio of a particular client as recorded in the client's name in the registers. The steps are Identification of jurisdictions, where you choose the jurisdictions to search; Identification of applicants, where you search the registers for the applicant names, including former names, subsidiaries and spelling variants, since registers do not always record a company the same way; Validation of applicants, where you confirm which of the names found are the right ones, so that a namesake's rights are not brought in; Process validation, where you choose which of the processes found to load, counted against the free uploads from official institutes included in your plan; GDPR approval, for the personal data the processes contain; and Resume, which summarises the load before you choose Finish. Ignite then confirms that the selected processes are now being loaded into this account portfolio and shows progress by country while the load runs in the background. If some of a client's rights are handled by other agents, review the list carefully in Process validation and load only those your practice should manage.

Yes. In Upload portfolio choose Load files (Load process files). Begin with Download Templates, which offers a Simple and a Complete spreadsheet, each either Empty or as a filled Example showing how each column should be completed. Typical columns are the type of right (trade mark, patent or design), Country, Type, File Number, Designation, Description, Owner, Request Date, Class, Image, Mnemonic and GDPR. Keep the columns as they are, leave no empty rows and do not use single quotes in the text. The load then goes through File Upload, File Conversion, Editing and Reviewing Entries, GDPR Selection and Resume. Ignite checks the file as it converts it and tells you plainly if the file is not valid, if a column is missing, if no data could be found or if there are empty lines. In the review step each entry is marked, for example Processed, Not Processed or NOT FOUND, and problems such as an invalid date or an invalid character are flagged so that you can correct them on screen, or add entries with Add Line; entries missing essential information are ignored and counted. Where an uploaded value differs from what is already on file, Ignite warns you and keeps the value on file. After the GDPR step and the summary, the processes are loaded in the background, and the free uploads of your plan apply.

Because the records you are about to load contain personal data. IP files name people: individual applicants and holders, inventors, representatives and the contacts of companies. Under the General Data Protection Regulation, personal data may only be processed when there is a lawful basis for it, such as a contract with the client, a legal obligation or a legitimate interest, and an organisation must be able to show that it has considered this. The GDPR approval step, which appears in the Portfolio Agents and Portfolio Applicants wizards and, as GDPR Selection and GDPR Approval, when you load files, asks you to confirm that approval for the processes and parties you are bringing in. Ignite records the approval with the load, so your account keeps a trace of when and for what the personal data was brought in, which is useful if you are ever asked to account for it. Data that is already public in the official registers is still personal data under the GDPR, which is why the step appears even when the processes come from the registers. If you are unsure whether you can give the approval for some records, leave them out and load them later, once you have checked with whoever handles data protection in your organisation. Questions about how Techframe handles personal data can be sent to its data protection contact.

Loading runs in the background, so you can carry on working while it proceeds, and how long it takes depends on the size of the load: a few processes in one jurisdiction appear far sooner than thousands spread across many. While a wizard load runs, Ignite shows its progress by country, listing the countries processed, those still processing and any that could not be loaded; if a country fails, contact support from the Help Centre with the details. Once the processes are in, you find them in Portfolio Management with Search Processes. Dashboard figures that depend on them, such as the performance indicators and the map, are prepared overnight, so they reflect a new load the next day. Your plan shapes how much you can load in two ways. Each plan includes a number of free uploads of processes from official institutes: 100 on Free, 250 on Core, 1,000 on Prime and 5,000 on Corporate. If a load goes beyond the free allowance, Ignite warns you before going ahead: on the Free plan you are asked to change your plan to import more, and on the other plans further imports are charged. Separately, each plan has a maximum number of processes the account can hold, which you can check in Subscriptions.