Overview
Bell & Co Solicitors is a practice engaged in processing legal matters for individuals, principally accident and housing matters. The company had been a leader in automation but it’s internal systems were ageing and proving difficult to develop and maintain.
After discussions over a three year period with a number of IT suppliers Bell and Co choose Village Software to redevelop their systems.
Village’s advanced development strategies combined with latest .NET technologies created a flexible an reliable system giving immediate tangible gains and offering flexibility for long term support and development.
Case Management Systems
Bell’s new System is an example of a case management system. Village have developed several of these over the years often using some of the same building blocks. The Case Management System often reflects the detailed working practices of the professional firm using it, these are rarely the same. Offering a bespoke package allows automation to be added while keeping staff on board. Villages experience and components library keep quality up and costs down.
Standard features of this type of package exemplifies in the Bell solution are:-
- Client Management
- Automatic Document Creation
- Task Reminders
- Automatic Chase Letter Generation
- Disbursement Management
- Integration with various document management systems.
- Secure access over broadband.
- Management Reporting.
- Customisable Work Types.
- Case Archiving
- Document Scanning
Return on Investment
Within 8 weeks of going live, at the beginning of 2004, staff at Bell and Co noticed that they were delivering work faster and achieving the same results with less staff.
The system operates reliably a key concern when dealing with customer enquiries directly on the phone in a cost competitive field.
Company Background
Bell and Co is a solicitors’ practice offering services on a national basis. The practice had been a pioneer in case management systems.
The rapidly changing business surrounding solicitors’ practices requires companies to invest to lower their cost base.
Solution
The system's client records and documents were made instantly available. This enabled operators bring up clients’ details to respond to incoming phone enquiries. Efficient production of correspondence was also crucial to the company maintaining a competitive edge.
Village re-analysed the existing system and developed a modern object orientated design. Microsoft’s .Net technology provided a suitable development environment to turn the design into a working system. Since going live the solid design and development processes have proved themselves by making it possible to add new features. The integrated testing has prevented the sort of development gridlock that prevent some medium sized projects from moving forwards.
Technology
Visual Studio VB.Net technology was used for the project. The use of this platform, combined with good design practice, allowed integration with additional technologies. This included Adobe PDF’s, Microsoft Word and legal assistance technology Laser Forms.
Reliability
Crucial reliability has been achieved by using a well designed system running on highly stable server technology. Village has ensured this reliability by building the system with both an automatic functionality testing system and through implementing a written testing and release procedure.
The existence of an automated test package has allowed developers to create new functionality confident that existing functionality can be re-verified using the automated tests.
General Conclusions
A moderately complex system such as this can bring control to a business’s existing processes for about £40,000. It continues to have a positive effect on Bell and Co’s business and to receive ongoing enhancements to its features.
Bell’s system is an example of a Case Management System at the centre of an organisations operational processes. Case management systems can be customised for between £10,000 and £50,000.
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Apr 2008 
