Digital White Papers

DOCUMENT FACTORIES: BUILDING DOCUMENT AUTOMATION TOOLS automation projects, it is important to select projects carefully to maximize value from the time invested. Usually, the ideal documents for automation will be apparent — you will likely have identified the documents you want to automate before deciding upon a development tool. The most fundamental consideration is whether a document is used frequently. Also look at areas where efficiency and speed are of particular importance to the legal service provider and the client. Once you have identified candidates based on these basic parameters, assess the degree to which automation will result in gains in efficiency and speed, in addition to other benefits. While document automation typically would be expected to result in some benefits, look carefully at the incremental benefit provided — sometimes, existing processes might be efficient enough that using document automation is not warranted. The benefits associated with document automation are often enhanced when the documents subject to automation are interrelated and reasonably complex, particularly if that would increase the potential leverage associated with the questions (i.e., the extent to which a single question controls multiple or expansive outcomes in the documents). In contrast, the efficiency benefits of document automation are less significant where there are limited or discrete variables and minimal leverage in the questionnaire. BEGIN WITH HIGH-QUALITY FORMS The quality of your document automation tools will depend in large part on the quality of the forms (i.e., the number of alternatives in the forms, the range and depth of the annotations, etc.) that are being automated. If you do not already have high-quality forms, you will need to invest appropriately to develop them. Consider, however, that creating forms could in itself be a substantial undertaking. Factor that into your decision-making and timing regarding any document automation initiatives. If you do not already have forms, think carefully about whether you can muster the support to get them done (and accepted across your organization). Because of the uncertainties associated with creating forms, it would be prudent to defer any decisions regarding document automation until after the forms have been created. Even if you have forms, you may find they are not extensive enough to accommodate the full range of choices you want to present for your document automation tool. Anticipate spending at least some time enhancing your forms. BUILD AN EFFECTIVE TEAM Document automation projects will typically require legal subject-matter expertise, the technical expertise associated with installing and updating the software, and expertise with using the development software to automate the forms. Legal subject-matter expertise usually will be provided by attorneys, and software installation and maintenance will typically be performed by your information technology department. The challenge can be in finding the right person to automate the forms. Technical staff might have more familiarity with the tools and logic involved in building the templates, and a dedicated technical team would benefit from the experienced gained from working on multiple projects. However, there is a risk of significant delays when the persons automating the documents are not the subject-matter experts that created or are otherwise familiar with the forms, particularly for documents that encompass several technical legal issues and require more complex automation, such as multibranched alternatives and nested logic. Technical staff may not understand the logic of the form or how to phrase questions appropriately or organize the questionnaire, and the legal experts may not be readily available to answer questions or otherwise assist developers in automating the forms due

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