White Papers | The Challenge and Necessity of Managing E-Mail
A large percentage of the e-mail messages, voicemail messages and faxes we receive today contain information that could be considered substantive. It has therefore become increasingly important that this influx of e-data be managed firm-wide or corporate-wide, instead of individually. Regardless of how it arrives at your desk, managing these data forms can be a challenging and never-ending, task.
Then and Now
The legal community is accustomed to managing paper files. In most firms and corporate legal departments, folders are created by client, matter, or case and placed in a filing cabinet. These folders are used to manually file hard copies of correspondence, pleading packets, sub-files for evidence and discovery, contracts, and deeds. This tried and true method of managing critical information worked well for years when primarily inter-office envelopes and the postal service were used to distribute communication. However, with the advent of e-mail systems, voicemail message boxes and fax machines, a majority of our correspondence and distribution of data is handled electronically. The old filing cabinet method simply won’t do for managing the e-data.
Individual vs. Company
Most e-data is addressed and received by an individual instead of the company. So psychologically, the recipient views this correspondence as personal information. Personal management of e-data can create many problems, the most disruptive being that it blocks access to critical information that pertains to a client, matter or case. It is important that we understand the limitations, constraints and intentions of the computing systems we use. If e-data is sitting on an individual’s computer, it is literally locked by passwords and typically buried in MS Outlook folders. MS Outlook is a communication system, not a data store, so e-mail messages are literally piled into personal electronic folders without indexing. This underlying issue usually goes without notice until a crisis is reached. For instance, if a key team member is out of the office and case-specific documents are sitting on that team member’s computer, there is no way of getting to those documents without having an IT person break into that person’s system to search their electronic folders. Just think of the billable time wasted going through such a search. Not only that, the information being searched for is usually not found until the owner of the computer is called in to do the search—more wasted time! And what if the unthinkable happens—an employee quits and erases all documents, e-mail messages and faxes from his/her computer?
Identifying the Problem
Not every piece of e-data is critical, of course, but a healthy enough percentage can be considered so. To be competitive, clients and company management expect an expeditious response to a request for information. If requested information is distributed on several personal computers, your response time suffers, as does your client satisfaction. If you are spending more than five minutes looking for a document, then an electronic document management system is not only justifiable, it’s essential.
DMS to the Rescue
Document management systems first began entering the market in the late 80s. Today’s electronic systems, far superior to earlier iterations, catalog, view, and store internal and external e-data. Each document or object has a keyword index that allows local or remote team members to quickly retrieve e-mail messages and document attachments, faxes, and voice-mail messages from a server or Web-based interface.
But be prepared. As with most large projects, you may encounter employee resistance. To overcome the common “no time, no knowledge, no tools” excuses, you can follow these steps to e-data management:
- Implement a document management system with the capability of creating a keyword index profile of all documents or objects.
- Establish guidelines that designate a document or object as being substantive. File all e-data containing substantive information in the firm / department knowledge store.
- Establish documented, enforceable rules / standards for the management of all e-data.
- Minimize storage of e-mail messages in personal inboxes, folders and PCs.
- Define an easy and repeatable work process for receiving and storing e-data.
Worth the Time and Effort
Selecting, purchasing and implementing an electronic document management system to corral untamed e-data may be one of your firm’s most demanding IT tasks. But when you consider the alternative - ”e-chaos” - you and your clients will be glad you did.
About our author...
Dena Rafte is the President and CEO of Rafte & Company, a Houston-based technology provider for law firms and legal departments, delivering cost-effective solutions that support operational excellence through increased process efficiencies and practice optimization. www.rafte.com.
This article was first published in the February 2003 edition of the ILTA's Peer to Peer magazine and is reprinted here with permission. For more information about ILTA, visit their website at www.iltanet.org.
