How to get projects up and running smoothly
See how Microsoft Office and related technologies helped these firms collaborate and succeed
Updated: July 28, 2006
Like many law firms, Gunderson Dettmer used to spend considerable staff resources checking new clients and new business opportunities to ensure no conflicts of interest existed within the firm.
Thousands of times a year, attorneys for the Menlo Park, Calif.-based firm filled out “conflicts forms” using Microsoft Office Word, then e-mailed them to conflicts assistants who rekeyed the information into forms that could be checked against company databases and Web searches. That process worked, but was laborious and time-consuming.
Now, using a system developed by a Microsoft Certified Partner, one that employs newer Microsoft Office System and related technologies, Gunderson Dettmer has slashed the time it spends checking for conflicts. Today an attorney or staff member simply opens a new business form built using the Microsoft Office InfoPath 2003 information-gathering program, fills in the relevant information, and forwards the form to the conflicts department. There, the data is automatically entered into company databases. With a few keystrokes, the conflicts assistants generate a report for review by staff attorneys.
The system is fast, fits perfectly into Gunderson Dettmer’s workflow, and requires little training for quick adoption.
Launch your projects with the right technology
Providing the software behind Gunderson Dettmer’s time-saving conflicts-alert system is just an example of how Microsoft can help firms in the legal, accounting, and consulting worlds manage project initiation more effectively. Together with its certified partners, Microsoft can aid firms in launching projects smoothly and efficiently by enabling them to quickly assign client codes, determine the required workload, check for conflicts, and estimate fees. And if appropriate, that information can be shared almost immediately with a client through a client-specific extranet.
Moreover, improved project initiation procedures can help firms deal with some of these major trends impacting their workplaces:
| • | Ballooning information and content that overwhelms a professional services firm’s ability to absorb and categorize it |
| • | Demanding clients and pricing pressures that increasingly require firms to improve quality, timeliness, and efficiency of service delivery |
| • | New liabilities that require more control over service-related risks, as well as improved security |
Encourage better collaboration
Digitas, a leading integrated marketing agency headquartered in Boston, sought to improve productivity through a system that would foster and encourage collaboration from the very beginning of a project. Its existing workflow got bogged down as employees sifted through hundreds of e-mails and folders to find relevant documents needed to launch new work assignments or develop tasks for new clients.
Working with Microsoft Consulting Services and Internosis, a Microsoft Certified Partner, Digitas designed a system that creates a group workspace for each new client or business assignment. It allows employees to pool resources, improve collaboration, and reduce the use of e-mails for document exchange and storage.
Using Microsoft Office SharePoint Portal Server 2003 and related technologies, Digitas employees now can quickly create intranet sites that contain team storage areas for documents and marketing materials. Digitas teams say they are productive more quickly and have improved access to the materials they need to serve clients.
Microsoft technology makes it possible for professional services firms to enjoy greater productivity from the start of a client project. Creating shared workspaces that automatically gather appropriate documents and begin a scoping process can reduce the time needed to organize employee teams. Moreover, shared workspaces that have a standardized look and feel allow team members to more easily find and use the tools they require for a prompt response to client needs.
Increase productivity and control costs
By standardizing business processes and improving coordination when projects begin, a professional services firm can see significant cost savings and productivity improvements. Digitas, for instance, expects to save $325,000 each year in costs associated with managing and storing documents that previously flooded its e-mail system.
Even more significantly, Digitas anticipates savings of $675,000 each year in employee costs. Those savings come in large part from automating a business process—assigning billing codes to client projects—that is performed some 7,800 times each year. Now, instead of 30 client teams requesting billing codes by telephone, fax, and e-mail, team members simply fill out an InfoPath form that is routed to the finance department for quick code assignment. The system literally saves hours for each code, plus ensures better accuracy and reduces the risk of lost data.
Gunderson Dettmer is seeing similar savings from its new conflict-checking system. Its two conflicts assistants no longer have to rekey data into two different databases or type in a range of search terms. Data and search terms now are automatically forwarded to the appropriate database or entered into the appropriate form, so the conflicts assistants now are free to help with other projects. And staff attorneys report they are spending less time on the conflicts process because the InfoPath forms are filled out more quickly and with better accuracy than the old paper-based forms.
Improve liability management
Gunderson Dettmer’s expedited conflicts-review process is just one example of how Microsoft technology can help a professional services firm navigate an increasingly complex world of risk management and compliance.
Automating business processes with standardized data forms and shared workspaces can help reduce risk in other key ways:
| • | Automated processes encourage close adherence to a firm’s standards for executing client work so that even new employees consistently adopt a firm’s method for engaging clients, recording billable hours, and managing projects. |
| • | Shared workspaces establish role-based access to sensitive materials so that security is enhanced. |
| • | Automated document handling can help enforce document retention rules, improving adherence to document purging and archiving guidelines. |
Professional services firms nationwide are benefiting from the ability of Microsoft technology and Microsoft Certified Partners to design project initiation procedures that enhance service, cut costs, streamline procedures, and improve security.
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