Case management systems can deliver some or all of the following benefits when used in the right circumstances and in the right way:

• Save time
• Reduce risk
• Reduce costs
• Provide the management information needed to make decisions
• Enable you to provide a consistently higher level of service
• Enable to apply best practice and the knowledge of your best experts more widely and to better effect
• Enable you to meet client imposed time tables and quality or reporting standards
• Enable you to comply with industry, legislative or other regulatory requirements
• Enable you to support higher workloads without a corresponding increase in staff.

What types of work are suited to case matter systems?

Traditionally case management systems have been used for the high volume - low value work types such as residential conveyancing, debt collection and defendant PI claims.

These types of work typically have well defined workflows or paths that a given matter will follow and are therefore highly predictable and repetitive. They are therefore ideally suited to automation and to gaining the benefits from case management systems.

There is an increasing trend toward the commoditisation of legal services and as particular legal products move towards commoditisation, case management systems tend to player a larger part in their provision.

In some cases it would simply not be an option to provide a particular service without an appropriate case management system. Debt collection is a good example of this where you would simply not be able to compete without a case management system. This is essentially also the case with residential conveyancing and a number of other work types.

However, with the increasing sophistication of case management systems it has become possible to automate or at least partially automate many other work types which would not previously have been candidates for case management systems.

Most work types have elements of repetition or work that is capable of automation even if much of the work in-between is non-predictable and non-repetitive and undertaken/managed at the sole discretion of the fee earner. At the very least matter inception and the billing process can be automated.

Tools which offer the flexibility needed to help automate or partially automate the more ad-hoc legal work types are typically known as "matter management" as opposed to "case management" systems.

Some of these products are also suitable for the automation of non-legal back office processes within the larger modern law firm (e.g. form submission and authorisation processes such as expenses and holiday/training requests etc).

What is a case management system

Typically a case/matter management system has 4 core components as follows:

	Database	The database holds all of the information about your client, the matter you are dealing with and information relating to 3rd parties and others about which you store information. The database/file structure in most case management systems is fairly rigid, although in the better systems you can add your own fields in which to store information. The database in a matter management system tends to be a lot more flexible and can be modelled to suit the way information is represented in, and flows through your business.
	Document Production Facility	By using information in the database to populate standard templates; letters, legal forms and other documents can be produced, accurately, quickly and where appropriate automatically. If you to need to add further content manually or make changes then you can do this as well.
	Diary/Time Management	The diary system will manage key dates for the matter and provide a task/work list for the lawyer. Many will also record time and daily activities against the matter. The more advanced systems will manage team calendars.
	Process/Workflow Engine	This is the part of the system which has an understanding of the legal or business process which is being automated. It relies on information in the database and manages the calendar and document production according to its understanding of what should happen when and who should be doing it. This is the area where matter management systems differ most. Case management systems have traditionally be confined to automating fairly rigid and well-defined processes. Matter management systems on the other hand are able to cope better with add-hoc processes and the partial automation of processes.

In addition it is normally possible to add further components such as:

	Extranets/On-line Access	Many case systems have an extranet capability where clients can connect securely to the system to check progress on their matter. The more advanced case and matter management systems will allow the client to actively participate in the decision making necessary on the matter and so see more comprehensive status, financial and summary information. Others can let clients see copies of relevant documents and generate automatic SMS messages to notify the client when key events occur.
	Imaging	To help achieve a true paperless matter file , many systems allow the scanning of incoming documentation to the matter file.
	Integration	Both types of systems offer integration to varying degrees with accounts systems, marketing/CRM systems and other core business applications. The matter management systems tend to be much more capable in this area, often due to the fact that they are built on more up-to-date and open technology.
	Reporting/Business Intelligence	Most case systems offer basic reporting on a matter by matter basis only. Many of the matter management systems come with, or integrate with, business intelligence tools which let you pull out of the system the information you need to manage the productivity and efficiency of your business.

Type of case management system

Case management systems can be roughly split into 3 generations of system.

1st Generation

First generation case management systems tend to be limited to a particular work type such as debt collection or conveyaning.

As such they tend to be limited in flexibility and difficult to expand or adapt as the needs of the practice change. They also tend to be based on older and simpler technology which can make them difficult to integrate with other systems.

These systems tend to be the cheapest both in terms of initial purchase costs, ongoing support and maintenance and in the time input need from your own staff to keep them running.

First generation systems being the simplest and limited in terms of flexibility are however, usually the quickest to get up and running and the simplest to maintain. As such they are still ideal for firms that need a straightforward specialist system for a particular matter type.

2nd Generation

Second generation systems are inherently more flexible. They are better able to be adapted and changed as the needs of the practice change and can often be introduced to new work types with some minor customisation or additional development. A software toolkit is normally provided by the supplier to enable these changes to be undertaken by an appropriately trained end user.

These systems tend to be based on more modern and more sophisticated technology and this means that they are often more robust, scalable and able to integrate better with other systems within the firm. They are also often able to integrate with external systems such as those provided by the NLIS search providers.

Costs tend to be higher with 2nd generation systems compared to the 1st generation systems. Also the amount of time needed to get the system up and running and to maintain it properly will be greater.

3rd Generation

Third generation systems are often based on the latest technology and are essentially very flexible business modelling tools, able to adapt and be applied to most legal work types and also often to the non-legal back office processes that are undertaken by all law firms.

Being very flexible the systems require more time and effort to get up and running and maintain. They also require a higher level of technical skill from the person who is responsible for running them within the firm.

The potential for integration with other systems and producutivity gains through process efficiencies is the highest with 3rd generation systems.

The graphic below illustrates how the capabilities and features of case management systems evolve as you more through the generations.

Flexibility increases as you move through the generations as does the potential for the system to be deployed firm/enterprise wide given that the 3rd generation systems can be applied to more work types and to non-legal processes.

The technology gets more advanced a you move through the generations but the deployment time and time & effort needed to get up and running and maintain the system also increases.

Choosing a case management system

Choosing a case management system is a daunting task due to the variety of systems and suppliers available.

Not only are there a large number of dedicated case management systems available in the UK there are also case management offerings from the following sources which can be relevant to your decisions:

• case management add-ons to your practice management/accounts system
• products from overseas, particularly America
• products from non-legal vendors which may be suitable for legal work
• custom/bespoke development

One thing to be aware of is the at the market is highly competitive, somewhat volatile and likely to change further in the near future.

The competitive nature of the market is good news in that it means you can negotiate hard with suppliers for a good price. The volatile nature of the market means that the supplier you do business with today may not be around in the future or more likely may not be around in the same form.

For example, in the 2nd half of 2006 we have seen LexisNexis acquire VisualFiles, one of the leading case management vendors in the UK market. We have also seen the Computer Services Group PLC acquire AIM, Videss and Laserform who were all fairly strong mid-market players. It is highly likely that other vendors are up for sale to the right bidder given that the number of vendors in the market is quite high and they all have to compete for a slice of the same pie.

Therefore when looking for a case management system you must look not only at the functionality and technology on offer but also the stability and likely future direction of the vendor.

One key point to bear in mind is that there is not a huge amount of difference between some of the case  management systems on the market so there is little point in getting caught up in the minor functional and technical differences between them. The trick with case management is really in how you use it. If you have the most advanced system but fail to fully exploit it you will be at a disadvantage with respect to those that have more average systems but use them exceptionally well.

Paying for your case management system

Most case management vendors will still try and sell you a solution based on:

• a licence cost per user
• additional payments for particular modules (e.g. SMS integration) 
• an annual support charge based on a % of the overall purchase price

However, the market is now seeing other approaches such as:

• a cost per matter that goes through the system
• a monthly rental cost
• provision of a hosted service based on a monthly/yearly subscription

With increased competition and the new ways that software can be delivered we would expect to see more pricing along these lines rather than the traditional method going forward.

There are too many firms which are under using their case management systems and not getting the full benefit from their investment in them. This is often the fault of the firm rather than the vendor, but it is important that the vendor has a strong and direct interest in ensuring that any system they implement is a success for the firm that buys it. These new methods of pricing help ensure that this is the case.