Keeping it Relevant:
What do I do with my new matter management system now?

By Louann Barnett

Finally, the months of planning, vendor selection, design and implementation for your new state-of-the-art matter management system are over. The excitement level is high throughout the department as you flip the switch on the new system. Finished…at last, right? Not if you want all of the money, time and energy that went into the system to pay off.

Corporations often make the mistake of pulling all of their valuable resources and attention away from the matter management system at this point so that they can focus on new projects. But if you want to keep the system relevant, you can’t stop here.

Opportunities vs Issues

In the beginning, new systems require attention in order to address the issues that are found once the users start accessing the system regularly. Even when every effort has been made during the system testing phase of a project, there’s really nothing like the reality of day-to-day use. Small data conversion errors need to be corrected and changes to screens or lookup values may be requested. Once these initial issues are addressed you must switch your focus to the opportunities that exist for enhancing your system instead of just waiting for the next issue to arise in order to keep the system relevant.

Integrate: Integrations from your matter management system to other systems can be very valuable to your department. They can increase productivity by decreasing duplicate entry of data into multiple systems. They can add consistency to cross-system reporting by ensuring that the same data exists in both systems. They can enhance management’s view of the entire department by bringing diverse data into one system.

Expand reporting: Consider your most frequent adhoc report requests. Put these into production so that users are empowered to answer their own questions without having to wait in line. Develop a strong set of production reports with flexible criteria so that the reports will appeal to a larger audience.

Respond to business: Once you’ve reached this point, many of the original specifications given for the system may have become stale. Have there been organizational changes or changes in departmental leadership? Is there a particular group or type of cases being handled now that did not previously exist? Has a fundamental change in the law brought on new requirements? By meeting regularly with practice area leaders and super-users, you can address these changes quickly within the matter management system. This prevents the development of new systems or costly manual processes.

Embrace new functionality: Vendors are constantly working to update their product with new and improved functionality. (That’s much of what you’re paying for with annual maintenance fees.) These updates are derived from frequently requested ideas of a broad client base and include enhancements as well as new features. By presenting these new ideas to your user base you may be exposing them to current best practices being adopted by legal departments that they are not aware of. New releases often include functionality to increase productivity or ease of use in the product which are quick ways to introduce new excitement about the application.

Maintenance

Another flaw in the human character is that everybody wants to build and nobody wants to do maintenance." - (Kurt Vonnegut, Jr). Maintenance is part of the daily grind that can really add value and longevity to your system by keeping it relevant.

Clean the data: Over time and despite all of your efforts to put safeguards in place, data can get dirty. Look for matters that are still open after years. Conduct fuzzy searches for duplicate contacts. Regularly check on invoices that have been sent for payment but have not received payment information back. Keep the data clean in order to keep confidence in the system high.

Review usage: During design, people are excited and making quick decisions regarding data or reports they want from the new system. They may ask for it all afraid that they won’t get a chance to make updates down the road. But, are they really using everything they asked for? Are they frustrated by the complexity of the new system? Review the usage of your system fields, lookup values and reports. Once you’ve identified items that are not being used, don’t be afraid to approach the users about simplifying.

Stay current: Stay on the current upgrade path. In addition to the new functionality that you will be missing out on if you do not upgrade, you may also be making it harder on yourself to receive support for any issues that occur. Most vendors only support a certain number of versions. If you do not stay current, you may be faced with a staggering number of updates when you run into an issue. Implementing all of the upgrades at once may cost you a lot of time as you attempt to address a problem.

Document: By thoroughly documenting your system and making updates to the technical and end-user documents as you make updates to your system, you are ensuring a smooth transition whenever you face design or personnel changes. You reduce your chances of making a change to one part of the system that will adversely affect other parts of the system. If there is a personnel change, a roadmap of decisions is left behind for the new resource.

Training

Train the masses. Training should not end the day the system goes live. Training should switch its focus in order to keep the system relevant as it ages.

Train new personnel: Don’t stop new user training once you’ve trained your current group of users on the system. Publish a training schedule for new hires and hold classes on a regular basis. New users often bring in fresh ideas for existing systems.

Offer refresher and advanced courses: Occasionally offer refresher courses that are quick sessions focused on topics requested by your user base. Train the most advanced users to write their own reports. This will make the valuable data gathered in your system more accessible to their practice areas.

Cross train: Select personnel to cross-train on the tasks that they perform on a daily basis. Choose a legal assistant to cross train on matter input. Ask a financial user to cross train on system admin tasks. Spreading the knowledge allows people to see and understand the full potential of the system.

Networking

It’s what you know AND who you know. Make contact with users from other organizations. Exchange ideas. Interact with consultants. In order to keep your system relevant you need to understand best practices and know the roadmap for your system in the future.

Attend user conferences: Most vendors hold annual user conferences. You will learn about upcoming changes and enhancements to the product and have the opportunity to interact directly with company representatives. You will also meet consultants and users from other organizations.

Create regional or industry user groups: Find other organizations in your area or industry to network with. Host a meeting at your facility where users can share new ideas or look for answers to problems they may be having.

You need to realize that your matter management system is like any other asset your company owns. If it is neglected, ignored or thought of only when issues arise its relevance will diminish over time. Help your department realize the full potential of its investment. Look for ways to keep your matter management system relevant.