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Process improvement initiatives don’t have to cost money! Remember, technology isn’t a panacea; it’s a useful tool for making your work easier and more efficient. Ideally, it should be able to do routine tasks for you, so that you can concentrate on the bigger things. In the spirit of “using what you got”, my continuing series on DYI improvements:

Initiative # 6: Integrations!

Integrations are thoughtful intersections of workflow and automation. Fundamentally, technical integrations should be built to share information and propagate data within the framework of a well-thought-out data ownership model. By this, I mean that you should review all of your enterprise systems, and designate systems of authority for key data elements.

For example, law firms typically use their Accounting/Time and Billing system as the owner of data relative to client names and numbers and matter names and numbers. The HR system might own timekeeper information. And, of course, the IP system will own all Matter docket information (among others).

So why integrate? For one, there’s a lot of merit to the data entry model that says “enter data once, and never enter it again.” It’s a very efficient model, to be sure. But it’s also a compelling risk mitigation model. Entering data once and propagating it to all systems that need to use it ensures parity across systems. Multiple entries open the possibility, and probability, of multiple errors.

Finally, data integration and information synchronization are a “boots on the ground” way of creating workflows and policy enforcements. I often recommend to my clients that they create and manage Client and Matter information in one system – typically the Accounting System (although, I am a strong proponent of the Case-centric information universe; more on that later). By building integrations that synchronize client and matter names and numbers with ancillary systems , you can control when and if those systems get access to that information. So, by proxy, no work can be done for a client or a matter until that client or matter is pushed into the business application.

Conclusion: Use data ownership models to enforce policy.