The quarterly publication of the International Legal Technology Association
Issue link: https://epubs.iltanet.org/i/448505
All attorneys and staff were required by management to attend training prior to receiving new equipment. Case Management Workflows in the Cloud by Steve Ruhl of Lucid IQ Workflow software triggers an assigned task or deadline, based on the change in status of another, and tracks it in the system. Tracking your trial dates or discovery deadlines is a great start, but to really supercharge your case management solution, it's time to understand what workflow hosted in the cloud can really do for you. You moved to the cloud so everyone on your team can access the same data in your three offices. Good workflow prompts Sandy in San Francisco to review submitted medical records once Nick in Newark uploads them. Linda, a managing attorney in L.A., receives regular reports for her entire team that outline the latest tasks, next tasks due, all tasks due for a specified time, etc. Linda can reassign tasks easily when a team member is out of the office or if the workload becomes unbalanced. When a client calls Linda for an update, Linda has immediate access to case data and the exact status of each case in the system. "I'll get back to you" is a phrase Linda never has to utter again. Over time, Linda has gathered key metrics on turnaround times for specific tasks, and now her case budgeting is accurate. She submits new client proposals with confidence. Case management workflow software hosted in the cloud offers so much more than the ability to track court dates. When done correctly, everyone knows what they have to do and when they need to do it; tasks are easy to track and supervise; efficiency is dramatically increased; and the risk of error is drastically reduced. A WORK IN PROGRESS As a testament to how effective our design process was, we made only one design change during the rollout: the addition of an "All Documents" search. This enabled users to search through email messages chronologically as they did in their old version of Outlook. This did not change the structure of the design, it just assisted user comfort levels and adoption. Moving email messages into the correct location is a work in progress for older cases. However, the sharing of email messages, ideas and case data is much easier today. A WORK IN PROGRESS Accessing everything without leaving Outlook is a huge benefit for end users. The IDOL full-text index in FileSite is strong and captures everything except secured areas. The single repository and unified filing structure for all related material has resulted in our seven offices working together as a whole. The migration was an overwhelming success, and end users' contributions to the process were invaluable. With this new matter-centric model, dual screens in offices, improved speed of new computers, laptop portability, integrated operation of software and MDA seamless mobility access, we have seen the productivity of every attorney increase.