The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/1065281
P E E R T O P E E R : I L T A ' S Q U A R T E R L Y M A G A Z I N E | W I N T E R 2 0 1 8 35 Commit to the fact that you want this. Ask for a database server and one database. Identify a key piece of data. This could be clients, matters, time entries, requests\answered questions from client intake, phone calls, or people though I'd avoid people as your first step unless you have a solid source for at least the basic information about people. Identify who can set up an automated data replication of that key piece of data between the source system and your master data database. This could be a data engineer or software developer in your firm or a consulting firm. If the 1 2 3 4 latter, ideally it would be somebody who specializes in the legal industry as they'll be more apt to understand legal data than a company that specializes in data warehouses in general. Use your master data database as the source for that information the next time somebody has a new requirement. If you copied a list of clients into the database and somebody says they need a list of active clients for a new piece of software, set up a replication from your new database to the new software instead of using finance-accounting or client intake as your direct source. Keep repeating this for other data sets and needs. 5 6 LEARN MORE Looking for an alternative? It doesn't have to be complicated. Let us guide you. Using a master data database in the legal industry can be a key piece to a law firm's strate for many reasons. Bryan Cave Leighton Paisner's experience getting a project done in under half the projected time should speak to all who are cost conscious, but having a database wasn't THE reason in itself. The firm had a history of being data driven and building a master data database built on that history. Being truly data driven begins to affect the entire firm, not just your information services department. All departments get in synch and projects of this type benefit from the efficiency. Whether you have a history of being data driven or not, building a master data database today is a great first step to getting you headed down that road. ILTA