Overview

The value of integrating a Cloud-Native DMS with your PMS 

As law firms grow and evolve, managing documents and workflows becomes increasingly complex. Many firms find that their current case management systems simply can’t keep up with modern demands for scalability, security, and integration. This is where a dedicated Document Management System (DMS) integrated with your Practice and Case Management System (PCMS) can make all the difference.

Go back 10 years and selecting a new practice and case management system (PCMS) was a fairly straightforward process. Numerous suppliers were offering a complete practice & case management system which did pretty much what any mid-sized law firm needed; and some. For most firms back then, it was usually a case of out with the old and in with the new, but in the main, what they were implementing was an updated version of the system they were replacing; sometimes even from the same supplier. 

The larger law firms in the Top 100, were doing things rather differently. They had an approach known as “Best of Breed”. This meant they would be running multiple systems catering for different requirements across the firm. Having IT teams larger than most mid-sized law firms enabled them to present a seamless experience to the end users, but a lot of their time was taken building integrations in the background to support the user experience and ensure a single data repository; although this latter challenge wasn’t always successfully achieved. 

Nowadays, the best of breed approach is becoming much more commonplace in mid-sized law firms too. There are several reasons for this as follows: 

1. Modern solutions have open APIs; enabling much easier integrations with other applications and minimal; if any, need for these to be managed by the law firm. 

2. The spectrum of requirements looking to be addressed by firms has widened significantly meaning that a typical, one size fits all, PCMS is no longer capable of satisfying all of these. 

3. Firms have realised that different solutions address different requirements across the firm and thus best satisfy user demands. A single PCMS will undoubtedly mean some compromises as it can’t possibly address the specifics of all the differing requirements of a modern law firm. 

4. Firms who are not yet ready to change their PCMS but want to introduce business-specific applications to support their users’ requirements will naturally create a best of breed environment. This is something we fully endorse and assist our clients with at Accesspoint. Not only does such an approach address those business-specific requirements, it also creates a user environment which relies much less on the core PCMS; thus minimising any disruption to the majority of users when the PCMS is eventually swapped out. 

The emergence of Document Management 

During the last decade, one of the trends that started to emerge amongst mid-sized law firms was the adoption of a dedicated Document Management Solution alongside their existing PCMS. Typically, the firms adopting a DMS were offering commercial work types which lend themselves much more to a DMS than a Case Management system (CMS).  

Lawyers would argue (not always justifiably perhaps!) that their type of work doesn’t conform to a process which can be handled by a workflow. They would also cite the volume and frequency of email generated in these transactions as being a major challenge given that a CMS generally lends itself to filing emails one at a time. Their most common complaint about a CMS was that they wanted to work within MS Office and not have to go separately to the CMS to do stuff. 

In response, some CMS vendors added functionality which had previously been exclusively available in a DMS. Version control, improved email filing, and being able to save documents directly from Word into the CMS certainly helped for a time, but once again, the PCMS was always going to offer compromises unlike a dedicated DMS which is 100% focused on what the lawyers need for managing documents. 

For those firms who had adopted DMS back in the day, there was generally one choice; iManage. (Ok there were others out there, but iManage was the Microsoft of the DM world back then.) The problem for any mid-sized law firm who wanted to implement the iManage solution was the sheer amount of infrastructure and associated cost required to run the solution; never mind the cost of the software itself and the onboarding. 

The arrival of NetDocuments into the UK 

By the time NetDocuments entered the UK market, it had already established itself as a trusted document management solution for law firms across the US for over a decade. With its innovative, cloud-native platform, NetDocuments offered robust functionality and a cost-effective, scalable approach to document management. Its arrival in the UK brought a unique advantage for mid-market firms: a fully cloud-native solution that delivered powerful features without the need for expensive infrastructure, making it an attractive and affordable choice for firms looking to optimise their document management systems. 

At Tikit, we were offering NetDocuments to our clients and prospects; both in large law and the mid-market.  

In large law, sales took off fairly quickly; whether that was to a greenfield site or to a firm looking to swap out of their existing DMS. These firms were familiar with DM solutions and already knew the benefits they provided to their users, even if they were adopting a solution for the first time.  

At the time, NetDocuments offered a real USP compared to other DMSs. NetDocuments is the only truly cloud-native document management system – unlike other solutions that may only be ‘cloud-enabled,’ NetDocuments offers unmatched scalability, flexibility, and security. 

Despite this, sales into mid-sized law firms were very different. Tikit even created a dedicated sales role to talk to clients about the NetDocuments solution, but that didn’t make a material difference.  

The reasons? 

Firstly, the mid-sized law firm market was generally much less familiar with document management and invariably the question being asked was, “Why do we need a DMS when we’ve got a CMS?” 

Secondly, at the time, there was no integration available between NetDocuments and the PCMS and firms were rightly concerned that they’d end up with two document stores; thus increasing the overhead in managing risk and compliance. 

So, what’s changed since? 

Fast forward to today, and the landscape has changed dramatically. 

The adoption of NetDocuments among growing law firms has surged, thanks to the seamless integration between DMS and PCMS. This integration offers a single source of truth, enabling firms to manage all documents in one secure, cloud-based system. 

A common misconception is that ‘all-in-one’ systems are more cost-effective than integrating a dedicated DMS with a PCMS. In reality, best-in-breed solutions like NetDocuments, when integrated with your PCMS, offer superior functionality, scalability, and user experience—often with a lower total cost of ownership over time. 

The adoption of NetDocuments among mid-sized law firms has really accelerated, with most firms now at least considering the benefits of a DMS when evaluating a new PCMS. 

The reasons for this are severalfold: 

1. Seamless integration with the PCMS now enhances the user experience and enables a single source of the truth across the business; i.e. one copy of a document in one location; whether it’s been created in the DMS or the PCMS. 

2. The adoption of a Cloud First strategy by law firms has accelerated their interest. In addition, the Accesspoint integration with their PCMS enables all of their documents; including those previously and subsequently created in the PCMS to be stored in the highly-secure NetDocuments’ Cloud. This not only serves to fulfil their strategy, but also removes a significant risk issue for the firm. 

3. Some mid-market firms have come to realise that the years of development they put into creating intricate workflows in their CMS were mostly wasted, with users generally finding work arounds to suit the real-world practicalities of running their cases. Frankly, if your firm isn’t doing highly process-driven work such as conveyancing or PI, then the potential benefits of workflow-driven case management are negligible. Many years of account managing hundreds of firms showed me that those who had purchased their new PCMS with all the good intentions of creating workflows throughout the practice had often given up; frustrated by the inevitable disconnect with the end users and the long delays between the ideas being agreed for the workflow and its implementation; by which time, things have moved on and the workflow was doomed from the off. (Clearly, there are firms who run very successfully with in-house case management workflows, but I’d hazard a guess that they are less than 10% of all firms and even that maybe pushing it).
   
   That’s not to say there isn’t a place for CMS in mid-sized firms; there most definitely is. Rather than building end to end workflows that are trying to cover every eventuality in a case type, it’s far more productive and in tune with end users to build mini workflows covering elements of the case such as file opening and closing plus events along the way wherein the same set of documents is always generated. Outside of these workflowed elements, users can select the document or action most appropriate to the circumstances; thus providing a much more flexible solution likely to see a much higher rate of adoption which ironically takes much less time to create and maintain. That’s what I’d call a win-win! For some firms though; even this is more than they need in practice and so, for them, a DMS is the ideal solution. 

4. Mid-sized firms are now much more aware of what a DMS can offer and can take a more informed view as to whether a CMS is sufficient or they need the additional functionality provided by a dedicated DMS. 

How do I know if my firm needs a DMS? 

Just in the last couple of months, Accesspoint has worked with two firms to implement NetDocuments. Both had selected a new PCMS, but following implementation, had realised that the native DM functionality was not sufficient to satisfy their lawyers’ needs.  

Whilst, both firms have now achieved their desired solution, how can you ensure that your firm avoids such a potentially disruptive and more expensive route to your required solution? 

Firstly, it’s important to ask the users what they need and then create a list of requirements before even embarking on the procurement process. Ideally, separate these out to identify the “must haves” and the “nice to haves”. This will then provide a checklist for the assessment of those systems you are considering for your new solution. You can read more details about this process and the whole journey for the selection of your new PCMS by downloading a copy of my previous blog post below.

How to select your next PCMS

An e-booklet by Richard Higgs.

Download for free now

It’s also important to understand the key differences in document management functionality between a PCMS and a dedicated DMS. The summary table below highlights those functions better-served by a PCMS or a DMS. 

Remember, the below table is highlighting which solution handles the stated functionality better as indicated in green. Functions highlighted in red are those generally not provided within that solution. However, those functions not highlighted in red or green are available in that solution, but are better handled by the other. 

There are, of course, integrations with 3^rd party apps provided by both DMS and CMS suppliers to help plug some of the functionality gaps, however, this introduces additional complexity and costs; whilst never being able to offer the same slick user experience available within a single application. 

For a more in-depth analysis of the document management functionality comparison between a PCMS and a DMS, please click here.  

Conclusion 

The need for a PCMS within a mid-sized law firm is a given.  

Ultimately, the decision isn’t about choosing between a PCMS and a DMS; it’s about recognising the significant value that adding a DMS alongside your PCMS can bring. By integrating both, your firm can enhance its workflow, streamline document management, and improve user experience across the board. 

If you find that adding DMS functionality alongside your PCMS offers substantial value—either immediately or as your firm scales—then the good news is that the seamless integration now available means you’ll be able to provide a unified solution that meets all of your firm’s document management and practice needs. 

On the other hand, if you determine that a DMS offers all the document and email functionality your firm requires, you can still implement the practice management features of your PCMS, leaving out the case management elements. For some PCMS solutions, this could result in licence cost savings, but more importantly, it will reduce implementation time and ensure the solution delivers exactly what users need from the outset. 

And for firms that aren’t ready to change their PCMS but have already recognised the need for a DMS, implementing that solution now will help you clarify what’s truly required in a future PCMS when the time comes to make the switch. 

Whatever your firm’s situation, if you need expert advice or hands-on guidance throughout the procurement process or the implementation of your solution, Accesspoint Legal Services is here to help.

Overview

​​​How to configure your Case Manager screens​ 

P4W’s Case Manager screen provides a high degree of personal configurability to suit individual users’ preferences.  

Over the years, I have seen some really “interesting” Case screen layouts with a shrunken Case History screen surrounded by over-sized, permanently open, additional Panes. Typically, the users were unaware of how the screen layout could be changed and were usually delighted with the new look after a few clicks of the mouse. 

So, let’s have a look at how you might change your own view of Case Manager. 

Depending on which Panes you have active, the initial view of the Case screen is presented as a set of multiple windows as below: 

One of the objectives for the Case Manager screen is to provide the user with a view of all the key information about the case without the need to open further screens of information such as Contacts. The above screen shot shows the default view which provides all of the panes available in “open” format. Although it is not particularly apparent on the view above, this even includes the File Viewer pane at the foot of the screen which can be set to provide an auto-preview of any selected document in the central Case pane or on a second screen for those who use one. 

In my own use of P4W, I’ve always found that the default view with open Panes looks cluttered whilst reducing the size of the most important screen: the Case History. Each of the active panes can be repositioned on the screen and or minimised using the pin symbol to provide a tab which can then be clicked on to temporarily reveal the information held in that pane. To move the location of a Case Pane, firstly it needs to be set to be always open via the pin. Drag the pane by pulling the title bar of the pane with the mouse and then; once in position, let go and the pane should then be anchored to its new location. Click on the pin again to minimise the Pane.

When moving the pane, if you want it to be along the vertical edge (left or right) of the screen, make sure that it previews as a vertical outline before letting go of the mouse. If it is horizontal, it will anchor itself to the top of the Case screen.

Once the user has selected a preferred view, this can be saved by accessing the Case toolbar at the top of the screen and selecting Panes\My Layout\Save Layout. This will then become the default view for that user whenever they access Case.

For users working on a single screen, the trick is to get the balance right between the amount of information shown to the user in the various panes versus the amount of screen space left for the core element of the case file; i.e. the chronology of items and actions carried out to date.  

When a pane has been minimised, if the user wishes to view the data in the pane, then they simply hover over it with the mouse or click on the tab as below. Here, we have clicked on the Contacts tab to reveal all of the Entity/Matter contacts associated with the case. By hovering over a contact, a display bubble revealing further details is shown as we can see with the Andrews Estate Agents example.  

Right clicking on a selected contact reveals further options as below: 

The right-click reveals functionality which has always been available on the standard view of contacts and, in fact, that view can be accessed either by selecting the “Open Matter (or Entity) Contacts” option or by double-clicking on any of the contacts displayed in this pane. You can also use a wildcard entry; e.g. %Andrews% or %Estate Agents% in the field at the top of the contacts screen in order to filter a lengthy contact list to find who you are looking for as below: 

The Case function icons are accessible via the Case toolbar at the top of the screen. In addition, access to related information such as the Financial Ledger is also available via the Case toolbar using the Launch option as below or, as I have, you can access these via a Launch Shortcuts Case Pane.

Any of these can be added to the Quick Access Toolbar at the top of the screen via a right-click option on the highlighted function.

For those of you who use multiple Progress Files (aka Agendas or subfolders), don’t forget to use the invaluable “Snapshot History” pane which provides a searchable, chronological view of all items held in the case file. The Progress File location is listed for each item plus you can go directly to the item or review it using File Viewer via a right-click on a selected item.   

Accessing Case Functions 

Whilst Case functions are accessible from the toolbar, it is worth remembering the useful shortcut keys available to invoke Case functions; which means that the user can work from the main Case pane without having to go to the toolbar each time. These include Alt S to Insert a Step, Alt F to insert a Freestyle Step, Alt T to take a Step, and Alt C to Complete a Step.  

Changing the Case History Screen 

There are a number of options available to customise the main, working screen within Case Manager. 

You can zoom in/zoom out (CTRL +/-) whilst viewing the case screen should you wish to increase or decrease the size of the displayed text. Once your preferred text size has been reached, if you exit the Case screen and open it again, the newly-selected text size should be retained. This should also be the case when you next login to P4W. 

The order of items in the case history can be amended; either by using the Alt and the up or down arrows option to move the highlighted step up/down or holding down the ALT key and using the mouse to drag the item to the desired position.  

It’s also possible to change the order of the columns visible on the Case History screen as well as remove those which are of no use to you; e.g. “Web” if you don’t use Legal Portal. This is done in Workstation Settings under “Case\Set-up” Column Control as per the screenshot below: 

To reposition a column, highlight the column title on the list and use the up and down arrows to the right of the drop-down list. To remove or reinstate a column, simply untick or tick the box next to that column header. Note the “Enable Workstation Column Control Override” tick box at the top of the list and tick this to ensure that your selections take precedence over the firm-wide settings. Once you’ve made your changes, log out of P4W and then log back in to see the results. Being a Workstation setting, this will only affect your view of the Case History screen. This facility is also available in System Settings for applying across all users. 

You can amend the width of each column by placing the mouse to the right of each column header box and dragging the margin to your preferred width. This enables a much larger width for accommodating the Description field; thus giving you the full detail for each item on first glance and saving further clicks. Once you’ve achieved the desired column widths, simply exit the Case screen and then open it again. Your new format should now be the default. 

Finally, you can drag your Case screen to fit neatly into the top left-hand corner; just to the right of the Task Panel tab and under the Ribbon Bar, and then click on the bottom right-hand corner to drag it out to the bottom right of the screen to appear as the example below. Once you’re happy with the sizing and position, close the Case screen with the “X” at the top right and that will then save your new size and position as your default. Test it by opening another Case file. This applies to any of the major screens in P4W: e.g. Matter Ledger, Time Ledger, Managing Partner (Custom Fields), so if any of these need resizing, just follow the same instructions as with the Case Manager screen. 

By reconfiguring the Case Manager screen to your desired settings, you should find it improves your user experience and increases your efficiency by reducing the need for further mouse clicks to get to the information needed. 

I hope this has been useful in helping you to configure a Case screen that best suits your way of working.

Please do check with your P4W supervisor(s) before making any of the changes to the Case screen layout as outlined above; just to make sure that these are accessible to you and approved for use. For any P4W supervisors reading this, you can establish a practice-wide default Case Panes view for your users which will be the standard for all within the firm unless you allow individual changes.

In case you missed it…

• What The F?! A Guide To The F Key Shortcuts in P4W
• The New You: Configuring your P4W Desktop to suit the way you work

More of a video/demo person? Watch No Pane(s) No Gain – How to configure your Case Manager screens video below!

Overview

Configuring your P4W Desktop 

Most of us arrange our working environment in such a way as to enable us to be both productive and comfortable. The aesthetics of the working environment are also important. We want to sit at a desk that is welcoming, comfortable, and familiar. 

It’s just as important to ensure that the software we use for most of the working day also conforms to these principles. If it doesn’t, we risk a poor user experience leading to inefficiency and frustration. 

This article seeks to provide suggestions as to how you might configure your P4W Desktop to create the best experience for you.

Start-up

You may find on your instance of P4W that several items are opened automatically upon start-up when you first login.

If you don’t need or use some or any of these, then you will start every P4W session by closing down these functions; which is both frustrating and time-wasting. 

Within Workstation Settings, go to the Start-Up menu to reveal what, if any, items are ticked to automatically fire up on login. As you can see from the screen shot, there are 4 potential options here: 

To add or remove any of these functions from the automatic start-up process, simply tick or untick to suit. Log out of P4W and then, when you next log in, the changes will take effect. 

The Ribbon Bar

Let’s start at the top of the P4W screen with the Ribbon Bar. There are a couple of useful options that determine how it is presented to you: 

1. Autohide: If, like me, you prefer an uncluttered desktop and a larger working area on screen, then minimising the ribbon bar when not in use is a great way of achieving both objectives. To do this, right-click anywhere on the Ribbon Bar and select “Minimise the Ribbon”.Once you’ve hidden the ribbon bar, to see it, just click on the ribbon bar heading that you want to open and it will come to screen for you to select from. Once the option is selected, it will automatically minimise again. To restore the ribbon bar so that it is always showing, just right-click on it and untick the “Minimise the Ribbon Bar” option.
   
2. Hide unused icons: In its default view, the Ribbon Bar shows every available option in P4W; even if you don’t need or have access to some of them. This adds confusing, greyed-out icons to the Ribbon Bar which serve no purpose. To remove these, there is an option in Workstation Settings\User Interface\Show Disabled Ribbon Icons which needs to be unticked as per the screenshot. Log out and log back into P4W and you should be presented with a cleaner Ribbon Bar with the greyed-out icons removed. 

The Quick Access Toolbar 

Like other Windows applications, P4W has a Quick Access Toolbar. As the name suggests, this is designed to provide the user with one-click access to their favourite functions.  

By default, P4W comes with 3 items in the Quick Access Toolbar: 

1. New Profile. 
2. Case Manager. 
3. Find an Entity/Matter (aka Search). 

What a lot of users don’t realise is that you can change these and add as many others as you like.

To add new ones, simply go to the option on a P4W menu (either the icon on the ribbon bar or one of the drop-down items on a sub-menu). Highlight the icon or option, right-click, and select “Add to Quick Access Toolbar”. The item will then appear as a mini-icon alongside the existing options. Alternatively, you can click on the drop-down arrow at the right-hand end of the Quick Access Toolbar and select “More Commands” to open the window shown.  

In the above example, I am adding Slip Processing to the Quick Access Toolbar which would be handy for someone based in the Accounts Department tasked with approving posting requests. 

To amend the toolbar, right-click on any of the mini-icons and select “Remove from Quick Access Toolbar”. You can also do this with the default ones if you wish.  

You can also decide on the positioning of the Quick Access Toolbar, by right-clicking on it and selecting to show it above or below the Ribbon Bar. This is perhaps less important if you hide the Ribbon Bar, but it’s there if you want to use it. Note the tick box at the foot of the above screenshot to achieve the same result. 

Once an item has been added to the Quick Access Toolbar, you simply click on it to call up the function. So much quicker than trawling through menus to find it. 

Think about those functions you use regularly and whether they would merit being added to the Quick Access Toolbar. You’d be amazed how much time time one-click access to your regularly used functions can save over the course of a working day.

The Task Panel 

For me, this is one of the best innovations ever added into P4W.

The key objective of the Task Panel is to enable intuitive access into P4W via a number of launch options available in the various sections behind the buttons.

Let’s start with the visibility of the Task Panel.

Firstly, you need to ensure that the Task Panel is switched on. You can do this by checking the box in Workstation Settings as shown here: 

Once activated in Workstation Settings, you can choose to switch it off or back on again via the option on the Home Ribbon Bar as shown below: 

Like the Ribbon Bar, you can choose whether the Task Panel is always visible or disappears from screen until needed. You can do this by clicking on the pin icon when the Task Panel is on screen. Once clicked, the Task Panel slides off to the left of the screen. When you need it again, just hover over the “Partner Task Panel” tab at the left-hand side of the screen and it will slide out again. Once you’ve selected the required option, the Task Panel slides off to the left again.

If you accidentally hit the x in the Task Panel, which switches it off, just go the the Task Panel option in the Home ribbon bar and check the “Task Panel” option to reactivate it.

Please note that following initial login, if you have the Task Panel set to be hidden, it can take several seconds for it to appear for the first time. This is normal behaviour and only happens for the first use after logging in.

You can also adjust the width of the Task Panel by simply dragging the right-hand edge of the open panel to the desired width and letting go. Following this, the Task Panel will default to this width. This can be useful to avoid truncating client names and matter descriptions in the Task Panel.

Now let’s look at the different options available behind the Task Panel buttons:

1. Tasks: All of your outstanding tasks from Case Manager will be shown and can be accessed from here to take the user directly to the reminder in the relevant case. The default view is to show today’s tasks; including any which are overdue and highlighted in red.
2. Entities/Matters: Probably the most heavily-used function, this enables the user to add their own favourites from the following:
   • Entities: Clients and other parties you regularly access. 
   • Matters: Ditto matters; perhaps those most active at present and or nearing completion.
   • You can choose the order in which your favourite entities and matters are displayed by selecting the “Code Order” button above each list in the Task Panel. 
   • Steps: Documents held in Case Manager. Useful if you are working on a dynamic document which will be updated as negotiations progress. Steps can be ordered by Step ID number and or have a filter applied via the two options at the top of the Favourite Steps list.
   • The matters and steps options also have a “Recent” option; thus listing those matters and steps that the user has recently accessed; regardless of whether they are saved as a favourite.
   • More recently, an option to add Subscribed Entities and Matters into the Entities/Matters section of the Task Panel has been added. This enables a user to add other entities and matters for quick access that are not favourites, but need to be monitored. Useful for team leaders who wish to keep an eye on certain key matters and or clients being managed by their team.
   • A right-click on any of the above will reveal a sub-menu of options available as shown in the screenshot which can be directly accessed for the selected item.

• To add items as favourites, do the following:
  • Entities & Matters: Click the star icon on the Entity/Matter profile screen for the selected entity/matter or the Entity or Matter Properties screen. You can also favourite an entity or matter from the results of a search by right-clicking on the relevant entry and selecting “Add to Favourites.” 
  • Steps: Right-click on the selected item in Case Manager and choose “Add to favourite Steps”.
  • To remove a favourite, right-click on the entity, matter, or step in the Task Panel and select the “Remove from Favourites” option. (You can’t remove an item from the Recents list for obvious reasons).

• To subscribe to an entity or matter, open the profile screen and select the green tick to the right of the entity code or matter description. You can also subscribe to entities and matters in your favourites via the right-click drop down menu shown in the screenshot under the last bullet point in 2 above.

3. Partner Shortcuts: In here, you will find numerous, one-click shortcuts into P4W such as Create Client and Create Matter. Please note that you can only access functionality that you are authorised to use and the shortcuts provided in this section cannot be amended other than adjusting the size of the icons and whether a double-click is required to activate them.
   
4. Applications: This is a great function for enabling quick and easy access to other, third party applications, network resources, or web-sites that you use. The applications available can be configured globally by your P4W Administrator in the “System Wide Link Options” as shown. Individual users can then have a tailored, sub-menu of applications made available in the Task Panel via the User Links function within Maintenance\Users\Users, select the user and then “Properties”.

5. Documents: The documents tab holds several functions as follows: 
   • Checked Out of Case: Where P4W Version Control is in use, this will show the user any documents that they currently have checked out for updating.
   • Post to Review: For firms who use P4W Postroom to allocate scanned items to matters, this will show the Matter Fee Earner any items that have been allocated to their matters. Each item shows the client/matter and is date stamped along with an identifier as to who scanned the item. Right-clicking on an item provides the following options:
     • Case Manager: Takes the user to the item within the Case file.
     • Mark as Read: This removes the item from the Task Panel.
     • View Document: Opens the document for reviewing.
   • Case ReviewTime: This will list all time spent in open Case Manager files in P4W. To activate this function, the “Show Case Panes Timer” box in System Settings\Case\CoreSettings will need to be ticked by your P4W supervisor. Once activated, time will be automatically recorded each time you work in Case Manager. Once captured, the time is held in the Task Panel\Documents area under “Case Review Time” for the user to review and decide whether any of the time captured needs to be added to their time recorded by other means. This acts as a useful prompt; reminding the user that they have been working on files, but may not have recorded any time. To convert the entry into a formal time record, simply right-click on the selected entry and “Add to Timesheet” to complete the process. To remove an entry, right-click and select the option. Items over 30 days old are automatically purged from the system when the period end process is run on P4W.
6. Alerts: The Alerts tab provides the user with various alerts triggered by applications and connected services including: 
   • Legal Portal
   • Infotrack
   • GB Group AML checks
   • The MOJ A2A Claims Portal 

Users of the Task Panel can select which buttons are shown via the “Add/Remove Buttons” option accessible via the drop-down arrow at the bottom right of the Task Panel. In addition, if you would prefer the Entities/Matters pane to have greater visibility, then select the “Show Fewer Buttons” option to extend your favourites list. The active buttons will then form mini-icons in a row at the bottom of the Task Panel. 

Changing the Style and Palette of your Desktop 

P4W has several “Styles” that you can select to change the overall look and feel of your instance of P4W. These can be selected from the “Option\Styles” drop-down menu at the top right of your P4W screen. The concept behind these was to enable users to configure their P4W experience to mimic the version of Office being used at their firm. 

You will note that the list finishes at Word 2016; being the last style update that was made to P4W in line with Microsoft stopping its changing of the aesthetics of each release of Office and the move to Office 365. 

Even so, you may find a style option that you feel provides a more pleasing aesthetic than the one you currently use. Word 2007 Blue has always been a popular choice and, to some, the one that best suits P4W. 

I adopted the Word 2016 style when it came out and was delighted at the positive impact that it had on demonstrations. Where previously, we often heard that P4W “looks a bit dated”, immediately prospective clients commented that it looked fresh and modern. It’s amazing what a lick of paint will do! 

Try them out for yourself and see what you think. Simply select an option and you’ll see that your P4W immediately changes to the new style. Don’t like it and want to try another? Just select another option and see how that one looks. Whichever one you choose, that will become your default style thereafter until you decide to change it again. 

Summary 

As you can see, the P4W Desktop has lots of useful configurability options designed to enable you to create an environment that works best for you. I have seen far too many cluttered and disorganised P4W Desktops when visiting client firms, but these were almost always the result of user ignorance. With a few clicks, you can potentially transform your experience of using P4W for the better, so if you’ve been struggling to get the best from the software, I hope that the tips above will help make a positive difference.

As always, please do check with your P4W supervisor(s) before making any of the changes to the Desktop as outlined above; just to make sure that these are accessible to you and approved for use.

Overview

What’s this all about then? 

P4W has been around since 1998. In fact, many of you may remember us celebrating P4W’s 21^st birthday at the last Tikit NUG in 2019. In that time, a huge amount of functionality has been added and a lot has been forgotten about along the way.  

For firms newer to P4W, they will probably be unaware of numerous functions that can make a significant difference to the user experience whilst shaving off valuable time in getting to the information or functionality needed.  

Having worked with P4W for 20 years and always sought the best way to demonstrate its functionality, it’s fair to say, I’ve probably got as good an understanding of it as anyone else out there; especially from a best use case perspective. 

It was during a lunchtime conversation at the recent Accesspoint Innovators Forum that it became clear to me that even some of those firms who have been using P4W for most of its life were still unaware of some simple, but highly-effective functionality available as standard. As a result, we thought that it would be really helpful to the P4W community if we provided a series of short articles on how to make the software easier to use and Higgsy’s Handy Hints is the result! 

So, let’s kick off with some quick wins to get us going…

What The F?!

• F2: If you enter part of the client code into the relevant field when accessing a client record throughout P4W, F2 will list all the clients with codes starting with the letter or letter sequence you have entered from which you can then click on the appropriate client to fill in their details. (Please note that this only works with alpha-numeric client codes.) F2 will also display the live matters for an entity in Case Manager and on the Manual Timesheet once you’ve entered the entity code.
  
• F3: This function key offers different outcomes depending upon where you are in P4W as follows:
• In financial postings, F3 will enter the last client used on a new posting. 
• In time postings, the same occurs. 
• In Case Manager, F3 calls up the Bighand application to commence a dictation. (In light of the absence of any update to the Bighand API; thus limiting P4W’s integration to v4 of Bighand, I suspect most firms will have moved on to the later versions of Bighand and, therefore, this will have little use nowadays.)
  
• F4: In financial and or time postings will automatically enter the last client and matter used into the new posting.
  
• F5: This will refresh the Case Manager and Financial Ledger screens without having to exit that matter and come back to it. This is helpful if you want to see the latest position and have perhaps had one of those screens open on a matter for some time.
  
• F6: This is a great time saver as it will list the recent matters that you have accessed in P4W. The number of items shown on the list can be adjusted with 500 being the maximum. The default is usually 30, so if you’ve been using this, but would like a longer list, then just ask your P4W administrator to adjust this in Systems Settings: General\Matter Maintenance\Number of Recent Matters to Keep. In the same location, there is also an option to adjust the number of Recent Steps visible in the Task Panel. NB: These are System Settings so will apply to all users once adjusted. F6 can be used wherever you are being asked to enter a client/matter code in P4W; e.g. Time Recording, Posting, Partner Mail etc. Given that most lawyers and support staff will tend to work with the same subset of their most active matters, then this can be a real time saver. In essence, it’s the same as the Recent Matters function in the Task Panel, but a quick press of F6 is a much more efficient alternative; especially for those who don’t use the Task Panel.
  
• F7: This calls up the Quick Step function in Case Manager. For those of you who perhaps use Case Manager at entity level (as I did all the time at Tikit) please note that this function is limited to matter level Case Manager. Believe me, I did try!
  
• F8: Calls the Posting Slip screen from within Case Manager and pre-populates the slip with the current client/matter details.
  
• F9: From the Case screen, this opens a view of any Linked Matters that may exist; e.g. a linked sale matter to the current purchase matter open.
  
• F10: Calls the Data Mining function aka searching within Case. Again, if called via F10, the search will default to the current client and matter, but you can change this before running the search. Whilst I hear that firms are still experiencing issues with the Content Crawler engine in P4W, there is a lot of value from the other search tabs available in Data Mining and I will cover these in a separate searching article at a later date.
  
• F11: For users of the P4W Digital Dashboard with a saved set of reports, F11 will call the saved dashboard to screen and close it when pressed again.
  
• F12: This opens File Viewer against the highlighted document in Case Manager; enabling a quick preview of the document rather than opening it in its native application such as Word. It’s quicker and doesn’t add anything to the Step History audit trail. 

Recognising that for most people it’s difficult to remember all of these, an additional function was added to Case Manager some time ago to help. If you right-click in the white space at the bottom of the active Case screen, you will be provided with a list of the available F keys which can be used within Case Manager. These are also dynamic, so if you click on them, the function will be activated. The screenshot below illustrates and note the option to Display Client Balances: 

On a busy matter where the user has to scroll through several screens worth of transactions, it is sometimes a little challenging to find the white space at the bottom on which to click, but persevere and it’ll be worth it……or perhaps just print the list off and stick it on the side of your monitor! 

Whilst in Case Manager, there are several other shortcuts available which are worth highlighting as follows: 

• Alt S to Insert a Step. Inserting a new document or action into the Case file. 
• Alt F to insert a Freestyle Step. Inserting a non-document, non-standard item. Typically used for adding a note and or an ad hoc reminder. 
• Alt T to take a Step. Process the highlighted action or document. 
• Alt C to Complete a Step. Complete the highlighted action or document. The difference between Take and Complete can sometimes be confusing to users and in fact, where a step doesn’t have a follow-up action, they are in effect the same thing. However, if taking the step invokes a secondary action such as a reminder, then completing the step will mark the reminder action as having been completed and, in workflows, the next action in the process will be triggered. 

So there you go. Hopefully, there’s something in here that you didn’t know about, but would be really useful for you and your colleagues. I certainly don’t profess to know everything about P4W, so if any of you know of any other useful shortcuts available that aren’t covered above, please do share in the comments. After all, we’re here to collaborate and learn from each other so we can all get the best out of P4W.

More of a video/demo person? Watch the What The F?! A Guide To The F Key Shortcuts in P4W video below!

Overview

A trip back in time…

If you’ve been around long enough, things from the past have a habit of making a comeback. Whether it’s flared trousers, space hoppers, or Britney Spears they’ve all had their turn back in the limelight.

Back in the early 90s, one of the key selling points of the Solomon II Practice Management software which I was selling to law firms was its ability to calculate deposit interest due on client money being held. Back then, it wasn’t unusual to visit firms who had hundreds of deposit accounts set up at the bank on behalf of their clients.

Not only were these a burden to administer, but the firms were also missing out on significant sums of interest to which they were entitled.

How could you use your Practice Management Software to earn more interest for your firm?

By pooling the client money together at the bank, firms could achieve a higher rate of return for the combined pot but were only liable to pay the client the interest that they would have earned had their money been held in a separate, designated deposit account. What’s more, under the Solicitors Accounts Rules, interest was only payable to the client if the individual amount held fulfilled the specific value and time held thresholds stipulated, so that, in many cases, no interest was payable to the client, yet their money earned interest for the firm in the pooled client account.

Think about it. Even in the 90s, it wasn’t unusual for firms to be holding several million pounds worth of client money. If they only managed to attract an additional 1% on the combined monies and held £1m in client account, then they would earn an additional £10,000 per annum. This alone was often more than enough to cover the investment in their new PMS.

Where will interest rates be in 2023?

Since the 2008 financial crisis, interest rates have remained at historic lows, so the benefits of this practice have been eroded to almost nothing. As such, managing client money in this way to generate additional interest has largely been abandoned.

However, following recent events, we are now back in an era where interest rates are rising fast; with predictions that they’ll hit 6% next year. In place of the thresholds, the Accounts Rules were updated along the way to stipulate simply that the client should be paid “a fair amount of interest”; although it’s still the case that no interest needs to be paid to the client if the amount earned is under £20.

This presents law firms with a great opportunity to once again generate income from the management of client money. At a time when the costs of running the firm are only going in one direction, this will come as a welcome boost to the bottom line of legal businesses.

How can you reap the benefits of this opportunity?

Without an automated system to manage this process, firms will struggle to implement and benefit from this opportunity. The administrative burden posed in ensuring that the firm keeps up to date records of monies held on behalf of clients whilst making sure that interest is paid when due will be significant and, for some, too much to consider despite the obvious financial benefits to the business.

Know how to use the tool in P4W

The good news is that P4W has always had a Deposit Interest Calculator; enabling firms to do exactly this. Given that it’s nearly 14 years since this opportunity was effectively taken away, there will be firms who have little, if any, knowledge of how to use the tool in P4W. In fact, Accesspoint were recently contacted by a large firm using P4W to ask how they could better manage their large number of client deposit accounts now that interest rates were rising. Once they realised that P4W has this ability built in, they were delighted that the functionality was already there having been braced for some bespoke development.

So, if your firm uses P4W and could potentially benefit from using the Deposit Interest Calculator, then don’t wait a minute longer to capitalise on this “interesting” opportunity.

As for those flares, they can stay in the back of the wardrobe, but I may just nip out for a bounce on my space hopper whilst listening to Oops!…I did it again!

Richard Higgs
Non-Executive Director
Accesspoint Group Holdings

Disclaimer: Information provided above is for general guidance purposes only and should not be misconstrued as specific advice as to how client money should be handled. Each firm should always seek professional guidance before adopting any changes to current procedures.