A Case Study

This article reports the experience of one law firm's Director of Finance when she and her firm decided to switch software vendors rather than upgrade. If you would like to share lessons from your own firm's story with A&FP readers, please contact [email protected]. For a detailed analytic discussion of why a firm might want to switch vendors, see 'Time to Replace Your Accounting Software?' in A&FP's May 2005 edition.

A few years ago, Kennedy Childs & Fogg, P.C., a law firm with offices in Denver and on the Western Slope with 42-plus trial lawyers, had reached a crossroads when it came to our time, billing, and accounting system: either spend a significant amount of money upgrading to the next version of Thomson Elite (around $120,000), including adding multiple SQL servers with ongoing maintenance issues, or convert to a newer system with the same ' or better ' features that would be both easier to use and less expensive. The firm chose the latter.

The Decision Process

Not quite as easy was deciding which financial management system was going to work best for the firm. In September 2004, the firm evaluated four products based on their ease of use, user interface, and key features such as time entry, reporting, etc. ' LSI, Omega Legal, ProLaw, and Tabs. Omega Legal truly had the best look, the most robust software, and appeared to be the easiest to use on most fronts. We also liked that Omega Legal requires only a single server regardless of how large the firm might grow, meaning less initial investment and less costly maintenance. In addition, no additional third-party tools are required, which saves on software and annual maintenance fees.

To help make ' and validate ' the choice, we surveyed other firms within the Denver area. As we expected, Omega Legal stood out as one of very few that every firm was pleased with across the board.

In addition to being easy to use, these firms also appreciated that Omega Legal came with:

• Quality Customer Support. Omega develops and supports its own applications ' no finger-pointing or multiple phone transfers to third parties. This means questions were answered faster and issues resolved sooner;
• No Hidden Upgrade Fees. Upgrades are included in Omega's annual maintenance fees; and
• More Reporting Options. With Omega Legal, there are myriad ways to generate reports without the need for any special expertise. As a result, even attorneys can access reports from their own desktop when they want them.

Conversion Made Simple

Once we had decided on Omega Legal, we immediately began working closely with the Omega project manager to outline the specific definitions and needs of our firm. Based on these requirements, Omega designed the foundation of the software, setting up all of the firm's timekeepers, defaults, firm-wide rules, etc., creating a custom-configured system.

While this was taking place, my staff of three and I began participating in Omega's education program, Omega University, with virtual, yet highly interactive, training from our desktop computers. We also had our associates and paralegals begin training as well, either one-on-one or in small groups to ensure it met their schedules and to let them feel comfortable asking questions as needed.

To facilitate the conversion process, we took things slowly and in steps. We first began converting Accounts Payable and General Ledger data from the previous 25 years. (Any transaction after implementation was directly entered into Omega Legal.) Since we did not have internal expertise with SQL, Elite's database, we hired a third-party consultant who could extract the required data from Elite and then work with Omega to convert it into Omega Legal.

I had feared the conversion was going to be tough. All of the firm's Matter IDs are alphas, not numeric, so my biggest concern was how to make the alpha IDs fit Omega Legal's numeric Matter IDs. Omega made it possible for us to continue to use our Alpha IDs, proving its customer service was above and beyond many vendors with which we've worked. This showed us that Omega was going to give us the kind of customer service that would make our everyday work processes as worry free as possible.

Living Up to Its Name

Time entry is so easy with Omega Legal that we now have all associates and paralegals entering their own time, whether into Omega Legal directly at their desktop or from their computers at home. It actually became a requirement for them last May. While change is hard, especially for those that have been with the firm for many years, most have been pleasantly surprised by how easy it is, how much more time they are able to capture in more detail, and how much more time they are able to devote to billable work. In addition to increasing productivity for our attorneys and freeing administrative staff to work on other projects, entering time into Omega Legal on a weekly basis is helping us project our monthly revenue so we can ultimately increase firm profitability. Now if we could just persuade the partners to enter their time as well.

Another added convenience of the firm's financial management software is the ability to create 'explode-a-codes' or macros, whereby attorneys and paralegals can enter three letters that automatically provide a detailed description of the task performed. The description can later be amended to include specific detail to the case. The language is consistent with carefully crafted descriptions that our clients understand and do not question, such as to whether a paralegal or secretary did the work. That's a relief for us all.

Monthly financial reporting has improved from what we could do on our old system. To be fair, we were on a fairly early version of Elite, only a step above DOS, making it very hard to get to the data we needed to help manage the firm. Now we can find out billable hours for an attorney or how much the firm billed on a single matter with just a couple clicks and simple search criteria; a vendor's name, for example, doesn't have to be all capitals or all lower case. I can search by anything that's stored in the demographics file, such as relationships, nicknames, custom fields, etc. We also feel confident that the data we are looking at are accurate and only minutes old, not hours or days.

Our attorneys also appreciate being able to research for themselves how much time they've billed on a particular matter, how much WIP is with the client, what the recent receivables are for the client, etc. With our previous system, they would have to put in a request to the accounting department for reports, which could take hours or even days because everyone else was requesting reports as well. With Omega Legal, they can find out the information they need when they need it, which can be extremely valuable when they're talking to clients.

Suggested Additions

One drawback with Omega Legal, however, is the inability to globally change a description of a charge, which we were able to do before. For example, our billing clerk used to be able to change a list of 50 time entries to 'no charge' simultaneously. In Omega Legal, the clerk has to change each time entry, which can occasionally make time to billing a little slower.

Another feature we would like to see in Omega Legal is the ability to drill down to get check numbers in WIP costs. We understand that it is not included because Omega Legal instead gives us the ability to bill a client before we actually write a check to a vendor on the same matter. In any case, we have learned that both of these issues are resolved in the newest release of Omega Legal.

Tips for an Easy Transition

• Don't fear the change. If you prepare ahead, expect a smooth transition;
• Look for hidden fees, such as upgrade costs, additional support fees, and customization fees;
• Evaluate customer service as well as the product. The product won't do you much good if you can't get the help you need to use it properly;
• Do your homework beforehand: 1) know your business processes and the exact types of reports you want before you even start looking for a new system; and 2) know what you want to get out of the product. The better you can define your monthly financial reports, for example, the more easily your vendor can give you what you want;
• Take the conversion slowly;
• Work closely with your vendor during the conversion ' and after ' to be sure you are always up-to-date, and in agreement, about what it is doing for you.
• Agree on what data need to be converted.
• Try to speak the same language as your vendor. For example, Omega says 'hours relieved' when we say 'billed hours';
• Get partner buy-in on any major changes to your financial processes, especially related to requiring attorneys to enter their own time. Only those at the top can direct the attorneys to actually follow these new demands;
• Do personalized training ' either one-on-one or in small groups ' to ensure all involved feel comfortable to ask questions and will focus on learning.

You don't have to do it the way 'we've always done it.' Omega Legal is especially flexible in supporting a firm in how it does business, but now is the time to evaluate if how you are currently doing your work is still the most efficient and the best way to do it.

This article originally appeared in A&FP's sister publication, LJN's Legal Tech Newsletter.

This article reports the experience of one law firm's Director of Finance when she and her firm decided to switch software vendors rather than upgrade. If you would like to share lessons from your own firm's story with A&FP readers, please contact [email protected]. For a detailed analytic discussion of why a firm might want to switch vendors, see 'Time to Replace Your Accounting Software?' in A&FP's May 2005 edition.

A few years ago, Kennedy Childs & Fogg, P.C., a law firm with offices in Denver and on the Western Slope with 42-plus trial lawyers, had reached a crossroads when it came to our time, billing, and accounting system: either spend a significant amount of money upgrading to the next version of Thomson Elite (around $120,000), including adding multiple SQL servers with ongoing maintenance issues, or convert to a newer system with the same ' or better ' features that would be both easier to use and less expensive. The firm chose the latter.

The Decision Process

Not quite as easy was deciding which financial management system was going to work best for the firm. In September 2004, the firm evaluated four products based on their ease of use, user interface, and key features such as time entry, reporting, etc. ' LSI, Omega Legal, ProLaw, and Tabs. Omega Legal truly had the best look, the most robust software, and appeared to be the easiest to use on most fronts. We also liked that Omega Legal requires only a single server regardless of how large the firm might grow, meaning less initial investment and less costly maintenance. In addition, no additional third-party tools are required, which saves on software and annual maintenance fees.

To help make ' and validate ' the choice, we surveyed other firms within the Denver area. As we expected, Omega Legal stood out as one of very few that every firm was pleased with across the board.

In addition to being easy to use, these firms also appreciated that Omega Legal came with:

• Quality Customer Support. Omega develops and supports its own applications ' no finger-pointing or multiple phone transfers to third parties. This means questions were answered faster and issues resolved sooner;
• No Hidden Upgrade Fees. Upgrades are included in Omega's annual maintenance fees; and
• More Reporting Options. With Omega Legal, there are myriad ways to generate reports without the need for any special expertise. As a result, even attorneys can access reports from their own desktop when they want them.

Conversion Made Simple

Once we had decided on Omega Legal, we immediately began working closely with the Omega project manager to outline the specific definitions and needs of our firm. Based on these requirements, Omega designed the foundation of the software, setting up all of the firm's timekeepers, defaults, firm-wide rules, etc., creating a custom-configured system.

While this was taking place, my staff of three and I began participating in Omega's education program, Omega University, with virtual, yet highly interactive, training from our desktop computers. We also had our associates and paralegals begin training as well, either one-on-one or in small groups to ensure it met their schedules and to let them feel comfortable asking questions as needed.

To facilitate the conversion process, we took things slowly and in steps. We first began converting Accounts Payable and General Ledger data from the previous 25 years. (Any transaction after implementation was directly entered into Omega Legal.) Since we did not have internal expertise with SQL, Elite's database, we hired a third-party consultant who could extract the required data from Elite and then work with Omega to convert it into Omega Legal.

I had feared the conversion was going to be tough. All of the firm's Matter IDs are alphas, not numeric, so my biggest concern was how to make the alpha IDs fit Omega Legal's numeric Matter IDs. Omega made it possible for us to continue to use our Alpha IDs, proving its customer service was above and beyond many vendors with which we've worked. This showed us that Omega was going to give us the kind of customer service that would make our everyday work processes as worry free as possible.

Living Up to Its Name

Time entry is so easy with Omega Legal that we now have all associates and paralegals entering their own time, whether into Omega Legal directly at their desktop or from their computers at home. It actually became a requirement for them last May. While change is hard, especially for those that have been with the firm for many years, most have been pleasantly surprised by how easy it is, how much more time they are able to capture in more detail, and how much more time they are able to devote to billable work. In addition to increasing productivity for our attorneys and freeing administrative staff to work on other projects, entering time into Omega Legal on a weekly basis is helping us project our monthly revenue so we can ultimately increase firm profitability. Now if we could just persuade the partners to enter their time as well.

Another added convenience of the firm's financial management software is the ability to create 'explode-a-codes' or macros, whereby attorneys and paralegals can enter three letters that automatically provide a detailed description of the task performed. The description can later be amended to include specific detail to the case. The language is consistent with carefully crafted descriptions that our clients understand and do not question, such as to whether a paralegal or secretary did the work. That's a relief for us all.

Monthly financial reporting has improved from what we could do on our old system. To be fair, we were on a fairly early version of Elite, only a step above DOS, making it very hard to get to the data we needed to help manage the firm. Now we can find out billable hours for an attorney or how much the firm billed on a single matter with just a couple clicks and simple search criteria; a vendor's name, for example, doesn't have to be all capitals or all lower case. I can search by anything that's stored in the demographics file, such as relationships, nicknames, custom fields, etc. We also feel confident that the data we are looking at are accurate and only minutes old, not hours or days.

Our attorneys also appreciate being able to research for themselves how much time they've billed on a particular matter, how much WIP is with the client, what the recent receivables are for the client, etc. With our previous system, they would have to put in a request to the accounting department for reports, which could take hours or even days because everyone else was requesting reports as well. With Omega Legal, they can find out the information they need when they need it, which can be extremely valuable when they're talking to clients.

Suggested Additions

One drawback with Omega Legal, however, is the inability to globally change a description of a charge, which we were able to do before. For example, our billing clerk used to be able to change a list of 50 time entries to 'no charge' simultaneously. In Omega Legal, the clerk has to change each time entry, which can occasionally make time to billing a little slower.

Another feature we would like to see in Omega Legal is the ability to drill down to get check numbers in WIP costs. We understand that it is not included because Omega Legal instead gives us the ability to bill a client before we actually write a check to a vendor on the same matter. In any case, we have learned that both of these issues are resolved in the newest release of Omega Legal.

Tips for an Easy Transition

• Don't fear the change. If you prepare ahead, expect a smooth transition;
• Look for hidden fees, such as upgrade costs, additional support fees, and customization fees;
• Evaluate customer service as well as the product. The product won't do you much good if you can't get the help you need to use it properly;
• Do your homework beforehand: 1) know your business processes and the exact types of reports you want before you even start looking for a new system; and 2) know what you want to get out of the product. The better you can define your monthly financial reports, for example, the more easily your vendor can give you what you want;
• Take the conversion slowly;
• Work closely with your vendor during the conversion ' and after ' to be sure you are always up-to-date, and in agreement, about what it is doing for you.
• Agree on what data need to be converted.
• Try to speak the same language as your vendor. For example, Omega says 'hours relieved' when we say 'billed hours';
• Get partner buy-in on any major changes to your financial processes, especially related to requiring attorneys to enter their own time. Only those at the top can direct the attorneys to actually follow these new demands;
• Do personalized training ' either one-on-one or in small groups ' to ensure all involved feel comfortable to ask questions and will focus on learning.

You don't have to do it the way 'we've always done it.' Omega Legal is especially flexible in supporting a firm in how it does business, but now is the time to evaluate if how you are currently doing your work is still the most efficient and the best way to do it.

This article originally appeared in A&FP's sister publication, LJN's Legal Tech Newsletter.