Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/37773
DELIVERING WORLD-CLASS EXTRANETS “The best candidates for owning the extranet are often paralegals.” their peers. The most important role of this individual is to educate peers about the technology and help identify opportunities for the extranet to be used. In a sense, this person becomes both a cheerleader and a coach as well as the primary administrator. • Start the project with a defined pilot group. This is important because if you select the right pilot group (the right attorney and the right client with the right disposition toward technology and with needs that are conducive to extranet collaboration--you know who they are and aren’t) you will automatically have a success story to propel the use of the system internally. Extranets are highly visible within the firm because they are client facing and have the ability to impact client relationships in a way that few other technologies can. The other advantage of maintaining a pilot process is that it permits the IT department to develop its best practices and internal procedures around the extranet before opening it up for more general use. This makes for a smoother and less stressful implementation all around and reduces the frequency and severity of user issues. • Develop defined policies and procedures to guide how the extranet is administered and used. As outlined above, these are best developed during the pilot period. • Make extranet deployment routine and scalable. This attribute requires the IT department to distribute the day-to-day administration to designated end users throughout the firm who are close to the users. The idea here is to make extranets a common www.iltanet.org Portal Platforms 11