Checklist before your first Case

Before you create your first Case in NearbySpy, run through the checklist below. None of it is required to click Create Case, but each item makes the Case easier to run and easier to defend later if it ever becomes evidence in court.

Profile basics are done

• Profile photo and bio are filled in. Clients you invite will see them in their portal.
• License number and jurisdiction are accurate. Bad license info undercuts the rest of the work.
• Service area is set to where you actually take work. See Completing Investigator onboarding.

You know who the Client is

Have a clear answer to: who is paying you, what they want, and where to send Case updates. The Create Case wizard lets you invite the Client by email at creation time. See Inviting a Client when creating a Case. Decide before you start whether the Client should be invited now or later. Many investigators wait a few days so there is something concrete to show.

You know who your Subjects are

A Subject (also called a Person of Interest, or POI) is a person the investigation is about: the spouse in an infidelity case, the missing person, the corporate counterparty. Have at least their name and a rough description on hand. You can add Subjects during the wizard or later from the Case. See Adding Persons of Interest.

You know your team

If you have subcontractors or co-investigators who will work this Case, decide upfront who needs access and at what level. The roles are Owner, Admin, Investigator, Viewer, and Client. See Case roles. You can add team members during the wizard or after the Case is created.

You have a working Case number

NearbySpy auto-generates a Case number you can override during the wizard. If your agency uses a specific numbering scheme (matter number, file number), use yours. Whatever you pick is what shows on Reports, the Client portal, and any DocuVault documents you send.

You know the case type

Pick the right case type from the wizard: surveillance, infidelity, background, missing person, corporate, legal support, insurance, and so on. The case type drives default Operation suggestions and helps Reports come out cleaner. If your work spans more than one type, pick the one that best describes the dominant work product; you can mix Operation types inside the Case freely.

You have a rough budget

The Basics step takes an estimated budget in dollars. This is for your records and the Client's expectations; it is not a billing cap and it does not stop you from logging work. Setting a number now makes the post-Case retrospective much easier.

Your evidence pipeline is ready

Decide where you will pull source files from before the first Operation runs. Photos and video can be uploaded directly from your phone or laptop; cloud-stored material can be pasted in as a Dropbox or Google Drive link. Every Evidence item is hashed (SHA-256) at upload, so the integrity of the file is locked in from the moment it lands. See How Evidence upload and integrity work.

You're ready

Open Using the Create Case wizard and create the Case. The first one takes a few minutes; subsequent Cases are quick once you have a workflow.