Trust Lives in the Boring Bits

Nobody gets into employment law for the account settings. A consultant with an hour to compare tribunal decisions would probably like to spend it comparing tribunal decisions. An unclear subscription can make a surprising dent in that hour.

Take an illustrative checkout. The payment goes through, the browser tab closes and the consultant signs back in. The workspace still looks locked. Would you click Pay again? Most of us would go looking for a receipt first. The account page ought to tell you what happened and what to do next.

We started with a database that made published decisions findable. Now we're rehearsing checkout and subscription changes. The database also has to keep track of workspace access, and a payment confirmation can arrive in the background after the browser closes. We're checking what someone sees when those events arrive out of order.

Before you put a research tool into regular use, open its account page. Find the next charge and see how you'd change or cancel the subscription. Check when that change would take effect. If your firm shares the workspace, find out who can make those changes and what they mean for everyone else's access.

We're spending time on those details now because the person paying the invoice and the person opening the research file may be two different people. They should be able to work out what's happening without forwarding screenshots to each other.