Business Intelligence

What is it? Why you need it

Mike Gallagher, Ford & Harrison
Doug Horton, Handshake Software, Inc
Business Intelligence
Rapid access to actionable information
Includes:
Financial Information
Contacts
Documents
E-Mail
Legal Research & More
Business Intelligence
Overlap & Convergence
Knowledge Management
Customer Relationship Management
(CRM)
Business Performance Management
(BPM)
Context of Information is Essential
Why Business Intelligence?
Better decisions with greater speed and
confidence
Recognize and maximize firms strengths
Shorten marketing efforts
Improve customer relationships
Align effort with firm strategy
Improve revenue and profit
Elements of Business
Intelligence
Data Gathering
Information capture
Analysis
Understanding the context of
information
Distribution
Timely delivery to the right people who
can act on it
Data Gathering
Existing Systems
cube approach
Data warehouse
Integration technologies
Analysis
Reporting Tools
Proprietary
Excel
Web-based
User-defined
Paper-based
Slice and dice
Distribution
Portals/Intranets
Microsoft SharePoint
InterWoven Worksite 8.0
LawPort
PlumTree Lexis
Custom Web-Pages/Intranets
Distribution
E-Mail
Proactive
Drill down analysis
Adobe PDF
Freezes the point in time
Paper
Why Business Intelligence Fails
Failure to recognize the breadth of the
problem (not just financial system)
No Top Down support
Lack of standardize procedures or
processes
Bad quality of information Dirty Data
Computer systems impede rather than
enhance BI efforts
Ford & Harrison LLP
Mike Gallagher
Director of Information Systems
Ford & Harrison LLP
National Labor & Employment Firm
Representing Management
11 Offices
Growth through mergers
Business Intelligence
Ford & Harrisons approach to
providing business information to
lawyers and staff.
What are the challenges in delivering
Business Intelligence?
Background
Financial System Aderant (CMSOpen)
Records Management
Document Management
Hummingbird PCDOCs document library in
each office location
Contact Relationship Management
Handshake
BI Software Objectives
Contact Relationship Management
High level of Integration
Provide access to financial information, documents,
emails, contacts, stored images and legal research
through a BI interface
Native Application Security
Familiar User Interface
Customizable Role and Matter Centric Views
Easy Deployment and Administration
Open Architecture
Road Warrior Accessibility
Real-time information
HandShake
Contact Relationship Management
Native Handshake Contacts and CMSOpen Contacts
Linked to Clients and Matters
Linked to Firm Members Known Bys
Affiliations
Activity Tracking
Attended Firm Seminar
Social Invitation
Mailing Activities
Change Audits
Representative Contact Types
Arbitrators, Alumni, Help Wanted, Prospective Client, Media-
Broadcast, Referring Attorney, Expert
Mail Lists Firm Lists & Personal Lists
Practice Group Newsletters
Legal Alerts
Contacts Screen
HandShake (continued)
Document Management System
PCDOCs profile information data warehoused
Matter Centric Email delivered through PCDOCs
Application Integration
Outlook contacts push/pull with Handshake database
Data exports to Excel and Word merge files
QuickImage PDF bills available through HandShake
HandShake Contacts available from within Word through Legal
MacPac Integration
Ecopy Images Adobe PDF files available through PCDOCs
integration
Internet Content Available through saved links
HandShake - Financial System
Static Reports
Access Produces
Custom Reports in PDF
format as a scheduled
task
Reports are refreshed in
PCDOCs maintaining
native security
One click access to
report from web interface
PCDOCs Profile Info
Static Reports
HandShake Financial System
Real Time Access to
Financial Information
Point & Click
Customize Data Fields,
Filter, Sort and Save Search
Drill Down to Low Level
Details
HandShake Financial System
Real Time Reporting
By By Reporting
Roll Band Totals Up or Down
Summary or Low Level Detail
User Selectable Report
Fields
Handshake Financial System
Integration with Excel
With Formulas!
Integration with
CMSOpen Records
Management Module
Delivery Challenges - Firm
Commitment
True or False All lawyers in the
firm embrace new technology.
To encourage buy-in for the new
technology we:
Involved key lawyers in the
requirements phase
Launched HandShake with a live
demo
Required lawyers to attend a one-
hour basic functionality training
session
Certified Training for CLE
credits where allowed
Supported champions of the
technology in their efforts to Spread
the Gospel
Surveyed users to see where to
focus training and how to improve
usability
Delivery Challenges - Data Integrity
Data, Data, Data
Cleansing Data
Hidden Financial Information EXPOSED!
New Fields and Relationships
Maintenance of Contact Information
Not a Project but a Way of Life
Delivery Challenges - Training
Can you have too much of a good thing?
Integration, Sorting, Filtering, Exporting, Drilling Down, Exploring,
Customization, and Learning about Financials can be Overwhelming
and Intimidating
Re-focused Training from generic navigation into granular Areas of
Interest requested in surveys
Teach in Small Chunks
Teach skills with a deliverable as a by product of the training
session.
Low tech lawyers started attending training felt comfortable
pointing and clicking to get on-demand information
Increased demand for related training
Exporting HS data to Excel created demand for Excel training
Delivery Challenges - System
Performance
Good News Bad News
Increasing acceptance of BI system
CMS financial server performance degrades to a crawl
Delivery Challenges - Best Practices
True or False All lawyers in the Firm endorse the
common good theory. What is good for the Firm
is good for me.
Firm Culture To Share or Not To Share
Private or Public
New Business Compensation Factor
I knew him first
Contact Responsible Attorney or Contact Clerk?
New Rules - Cross Selling
Contact Change Auditing
Is it worth the effort?
ROI - Administrative Improvements
Reduced redundancy in mailings saves postage
(and embarrassment)
Reduced labor and paper costs for financial reports
On-line financial information lowers number of calls to
accounting and increases lawyer efficiency
Better practices for data entry higher quality data
Better Collections
Is it worth the effort?
ROI - Client Development
Target Marketing
I.E. Hospitality Contacts in the Tampa Metro Area
Activities tracking (Whats Working Whats Not)
On Demand Access to Contact Information
Its all about relationships - Who do we know?
Is it worth the effort?
ROI - Client Service
Better Decision Making
Who is the best Arbitrator
Better Case Management
Fosters Collaboration
Who else is working on this matter?
What related documents have they created?
Are we in budget?
Do they owe us money?
Is it worth the effort?
ROI - Client Service (continued)
Personal Touch
You are my only client
I know everything about you - including who
else in my firm knows you
Better Communication
Email Legal Alerts
Management Updates
Seminar Invitations
Is it worth the effort?
Ford & Harrison Thinks So!
Business Intelligence helps meet more demanding client
expectations of faster service for lower fees
Business Intelligence helps support future firm growth
Our Future Plans include expanding BI
Detectives Alerting System
Developing More Reports in HandShake
Portal Integration
Full text Searching Capability
Refinements in User Interface and Content Delivery
Information Bridge Framework
Questions?
MGALLAGHER@FORDHARRISON.COM
DHORTON@HANDSHAKESOFTWARE.COM

THANK YOU!