Second Opinions

Upgrading from SoftSolutions on Novell

By Wells Anderson

SOFTSOLUTIONS devotees and others in ned of new document management systems face the difficult task of selecting one from four worthy contenders:

* PCDocs has long been entrenched in larger firms.

* iManage bristles with Intranet and Internet features in this Web-crazy world.

* GroupWise, long trailing the pack with flawed document management capabilities, is catching up with its latest release.

* Worldox continues its reign as the legal profession's favorite.

Each touts its special features and advantages. Let's focus on what is best for the future of your firm.

How High?

In choosing one of these products, do you want to take a big step up, the higher-risk, higher-reward approach? Or do you want to convert as smoothly as possible to something simpler and easier?

A significant retooling project is detailed in "Migrating to iManage From SoftSolutions," by Eric Goldreich, Law Technology News, Oct. 1999. Not only did this multi-office firm convert from SoftSolutions to iManage, but they also switched from WordPerfect to Word, redeveloping scores of macros in the process.

To pull it off, they invested heavily in testing, a pilot site, training, a staged roll-out, and on-site support. Can you afford a major retooling? Can you afford not to take advantage of the opportunity?

The Web Edge

Focus on iManage and Worldox, especially if your firm wants to use the Web to change the way you work with your clientele and your people in remote locations. These products simplify the process of safely exchanging documents and information.

iManage is pursuing the most aggressive Web strategy, setting its sights on the broad e-business market as well as the legal profession. It integrates the organization, storage and sharing of information in many forms--word processing documents, e-mails, faxes, images, and more.

Before becoming too intrigued with iManage's capabilities, know that it requires a SQL database server. Setting up and maintaining the iManage database requires specialized resources. You will also need your own Web server, a good firewall, and experts to tend them regularly.

Worldox/Web matches iManage by enabling controlled access to documents and other files over the Web. Though Worldox does not offer as many Web features, it makes secure sharing of information easy for lawyers, clients and staff wherever they are.

Worldox and iManage do not force clients to have the same software used by the law firm to create documents, spreadsheets and images. They both automatically convert and display information in Web pages.

Each includes all the traditional document management features too, such as full-text search, document profiles, versioning, and check-in/check-out.

Practice Automation

Do your clients want faster, better, cheaper legal services? Of course. What if you could tie document management to the automated creation of documents using information merged from client records, matter files and calendar entries?

Currently the Time Matters practice management software works hand-in-hand with Worldox to streamline the creation, storage and retrieval of documents. For example, a user can merge detailed existing client and matter information from Time Matters into a Word or WordPerfect template. Clicking "Save" brings up the Worldox document profile screen already partially completed. The user picks a client and matter, gives the new document a name, maybe jots down a keyword or note, and the document is done.

Expect this process to be even more automated soon when Time Matters catches up to its higher-priced competitor, ProLaw, by completing tight Worldox integration. Then Worldox will "know" the names of the client, matter, and other document attributes, saving the user several clicks. Lists of related, hot-linked documents will automatically appear with each matter and each contact in Time Matters.

What about GroupWise document management? It would be the cheapest approach to converting from SoftSolutions if you already use Novell network software and GroupWise e-mail and calendaring.

GroupWise has overcome a major objection by allowing you to mirror documents to local disk drives like its competitors. This feature lets you keep working on documents even if the network goes down. You can now restore individual documents from a GroupWise backup, something the old version did not allow. But GroupWise still stores documents on the server as BLOBs, so you cannot retrieve them directly from the server if GroupWise is unavailable.

The GroupWise document management learning curve is shorter, but so is its list of features. It works extremely well with the rest of GroupWise, but integration with other legal software may fall short. If you don't want to make ambitious changes, it may be the way to go.

No opinion limited to the length of a magazine article can do full justice to each of these products or to your firm's particular situation. For more information, vendors' Web sites display some screen shots, feature lists and requirements. Don't overlook the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) in the support areas; they give insights into product limitations.

Ask other lawyers about their experiences in transitioning to new document management systems. Join an e-mail discussion group, and keep watching LTN for the latest news and detailed reports from the legal technology frontlines.

Wells Anderson is president of Wells Anderson Legal Tech Services, an independent consulting firm that serves the legal profession, based in Minneapolis.