Case Studies
The Metropolitan Borough of Bury
The Legal Services Division of the Metropolitan Borough of Bury is a busy, 35 strong legal local authority department responsible for a wide range legal areas including childcare, land & property and litigation. A SolCase user for over 7 years, the borough has invested significantly in developing the system to be comprehensive, encompassing upwards of 16 separate case areas.
Andy Carlile, Practice Manager, holds responsibility for budget, business development and technology and was looking for a solution that would not only utilise the borough’s existing SolCase investment but would offer scope to increase productivity, extend functionality and streamline business processes.
What will Visualfiles Offer?
LexisNexis Visualfiles suggested that the borough upgrade the existing SolCase system to Visualfiles, the UK’s market leading case management system for the legal profession. Upgrading would ensure that the borough would further extend the advanced technology and business benefits already delivered by the existing SolCase system.
Selection focused on key criteria with system flexibility, configurability and ease of use high on the agenda. As a fast moving department with a pressure on processing cases as quickly and efficiently as possible, it was vital that a new system delivered. Every member of the department will have access to the Visualfiles system; however rights can be restricted dependant on the area of work and responsibilities, for example secretaries will have limited access. Visualfiles represents a solid, flexible choice: a system that will deliver from day one whilst offering scope to grow and develop in the future.
How will the Metropolitan Borough of Bury benefit?
Andy explains, “Above and beyond the standard benefits of Microsoft Outlook Integration, the ability to add case plans and comprehensive document management functionality, Visualfiles will lead to significant gains in a cross section of areas including business efficiency, management reporting and staff productivity.
We have a number of existing KPI’s with both internal and external monitoring mechanisms as well as holding ISO 9001 accreditation. We currently review 250 files a year with a required 95% pass rate. SolCase has and Visualfiles will continue to enable us to meet our required standards. For example we commit to sending a client letter within 2 days of a case opening and commit to starting work within x days. On a system that can, at any one time, have between 5,000 and 7,000 open cases, the automation of routine processes and standardisation of processes, wherever possible, is critical.
With Visualfiles, clients will continue to notice efficiency gains as a result. For example in the area of property purchasing, using SolCase, timescales have been reduced from days to a matter of hours as a result of workflow and document automation. Using Visualfiles, we are confident that this will improve further.Visualfiles will also enable us to avail of extensive management reporting which we will use to export key information. This will allow us to align skill set with work, alongside a complete analysis of the practice as a whole.
Fee earners are already looking to fully utilise the remote access capabilities of Visualfiles and we are delighted that home working will now become a reality. Other long term benefits include integration with other technologies.We are already considering integrating with the postal scanning system as part of our drive to automate where possible.
Ultimately, Visualfiles will enable us to greatly enhance the case management capabilities delivering benefits both internally and externally. We will also be able to archive redundant cases that currently reside on the old system (in the region of 25,000). It will also allow us to standardise processes across the board, which long term will result in the legal department becoming more streamlined, efficient and cost effective.
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