publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/395170
ILTA WHITE PAPER: OCTOBER 2014 WWW.ILTANET.ORG 26 is our master list of all approvals. We now have over a year's worth of approvals in our SharePoint list. IDENTIFY THE FRUIT As we started to identify all AFA approvals, we needed the ability to report on the approvals that made it to intake. Taking advantage of our Web-based matter intake workflow system, built in AgilePoint, we created an AFA section which must be filled out for all matters. When a secretary is filling out the AFA section and indicates the matter has an AFA, basic fee identification types appear, along with a text box to enter further details. In addition, a czar's approval must be attached to the intake. Once an intake is submitted into the workflow, our records department uploads the intake information into Aderant Expert. Once a week, a SQL job runs through all new matters opened within the past seven days. If a matter is identified as an AFA, matter information is compiled and sent to the legal project manager via email. Using the email, our master approval SharePoint list is updated. Once a month, we filter the list to determine what approvals are still outstanding. For approvals over 60 days old, we send a message to the attorney to check on the status. Since implementing this process, we've been able to correctly identify over 90 percent of all AFA approvals from initial czar approval to new open matters. CATEGORIZE THE FRUIT, TRACK ITS CONSUMPTION We wanted to expand beyond tracking approvals by categorizing AFA matters and tracking their financial performance. Utilizing Aderant's Redwood, we pull our AFA matter information from Aderant Expert and display the data in a customized Redwood dashboard. The dashboard displays various financial metrics, such as realization, hours worked and billed, discounts, etc. The dashboard is dynamic, so the data can be filtered by AFA type, billing attorney, practice group, open/closed/temp matters and open date. Being able to slice and dice the data helps us pinpoint which matters are the bad apples. At times we might be asked to track down open AFA matters in a certain area of law. Our developers built a Web-based search portal (also based on AgilePoint) for all matters submitted to the new matter intake workflow. We are now able to search on almost all intake data. Within the intake form is a primary and secondary area of law topology. The topology makes classifying our matters much easier. The primary level is either transactional or litigation. The secondary level is much more granular and is specific for each practice group. If an attorney is looking for blended rate matters for wrongful termination labor cases, we are able to do so within the intake search portal. This granularity enables us to delve more deeply into the firm's intake information and provides more accurate reporting. SORTING APPLES: LET TECHNOLOGY MAKE THE MOST OF MATTER WORKFLOWS Being able to slice and dice the data helps us focus in on which matters are the bad apples.