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Assigning staff members to a case

Assignments decide who works a case — and, just as importantly, who can see and document it. A staff member only sees the families and referrals they're assigned to.

Before you start​

Who can assign:

  • Practice managers and admins — anyone in the agency.
  • Supervisors — only their own direct reports.
  • Staff members — can't assign cases.

Assign a staff member​

  1. Open the referral and go to its assignments.
  2. Add the staff member and choose their role:
    • Primary worker — the main person responsible for the case.
    • Secondary worker — additional staff actively working it.
    • Observer — read access without being a working assignee.
  3. Save.
One primary at a time

A referral has a single active primary worker. If you assign a new primary, FCR automatically ends the previous primary assignment for you — so the responsibility is always clear. (Re-assigning the same person to the same role they already hold changes nothing — it's safe to do.)

Primary worker vs primary recipient

Two different things, both on the referral, and it's easy to mix them up:

  • The primary worker is the staff member responsible for the case. You set it here, in assignments.
  • The primary recipient is the client — the person the referral is for, and whose name appears on tasks and lists. You set that in Manage coverage (see Creating a referral).

Changing one never changes the other.

Reassigning a case​

When you move a case to a different staff member, FCR is careful with the departing staff member's work:

  • Their unfinished drafts stay with them — reassigning doesn't sweep someone's in-progress notes onto the new staff member.
  • Notes they already submitted keep routing to their supervisor for review.
  • Approved documents are locked and unchanged.

In other words, reassigning changes who works the case going forward — it doesn't rewrite the history or move authored work onto someone else.

Reassigning doesn't bring people back automatically

If a case was discharged and you later reopen it, staff members are not put back on automatically — you reassign them deliberately.

Who can't be assigned​

  • Staff who've been terminated can't be assigned to new cases.
  • You can only assign people within your own agency.

Cleaning up leftover drafts​

Sometimes a staff member leaves a case (or the agency) with a draft still open. On the referral page, practice managers and admins see a leftover drafts list — drafts authored by people who are no longer on the care team — each with a Discard option. The list only appears when there's something to clean up, so most of the time you won't see it at all.

FAQ​

A staff member can't see a case they should be on. Check the referral's assignments — they likely aren't assigned yet. Add them in the right role and it'll show up for them.

I changed the primary worker. What happened to the old one? FCR ended their primary assignment automatically when you set the new primary. If they should stay on in a supporting role, add them back as a secondary worker.

A former staff member's draft is still on the case. Practice managers and admins can discard leftover drafts from the leftover drafts list on the referral page.

Can a supervisor assign anyone? Supervisors can assign their direct reports only. For anyone else, a practice manager or admin handles it.

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