Moving Case Management System to TrialWorks
Well, I finally made the jump. I’ve been using TimeMatters for nearly ten years. We’ve also used Out of the Box, a great add-in product for TimeMatters for about two years. TimeMatters is a good product and I admire their open architecture, where there is the flexibility to customize the program and hook up third party products to it. TimeMatters has by far the largest market share of case management software. The last time I checked it had about 40% of the case management market.
We are leaving TimeMatters and moving to TrialWorks. I made the decision because TrialWorks is specifically designed for litigation. I don’t think there is anything that TrialWorks does that TimeMatters can’t do, but TrialWorks is specifically set up for litigation.
In my evaluation, Needles and TrialWorks were the top contenders. Needles has a larger installed base, regional user groups and one of the best customer support services around. TrialWorks had more modern technology and a much better interface. What I liked most about TrialWorks is the ease of use in scanning in documents (correspondence, medical records, pleadings…) and their document generation.
This may sound silly, but I also liked their filtering in creating documents. If I’m going to send a letter and click on a button, I only want to see the possible letters that we have. I don’t need to see every complaint, cover sheet, motion, proposed order that could be sent. Just show me the letters. TrialWorks does this well.
Those are my pro’s for TrialWorks. The con’s (at least for me) are their over reliance on MicroSoft. They use MicroSoft Outlook for their calendaring system. I realize the MicroSoft battle was lost over fifteen years ago, but I stil use WordPerfect, FireFox and Opera instead of Word and Internet Explorer. I do however use Access, Excel and PowerPoint so I guess I’m not too anti-MicroSoft.
I don’t mind the use of MicroSoft that much, but would be happier if I knew that there was a possible Linux or Mac version down the road. TrialWorks does have a web-based thinclient, which I would imagine could be used on a Mac or with a different operating system. Ah well.
John Day, John Romano and Gary Pillersdorf all have TrialWorks and they love it. I have a number of other friends that also have TrialWorks and they really enjoy it. Todd O’Malley, Larry Levin and Mark Joye have Needles and they’re very happy with it. I compared Needles and TrialWorks back and forth a number of times. I reviewed them screen by screen and feature by feature (believe me, the salespeople are probably very happy that I’ve now made a decision) and really think that TrialWorks provides a better interface and solution than Needles. I did have one friend that had a bad experience with TrialWorks, but he was also in a billable environment and I believe his staff told him that he had to stop using WordPerfect during the conversion. I believe that the conversion will go smoothly 92.8% of the time (which translates to very well, but not perfect).
I’ll keep you posted as they convert our data and how the installation, conversion and set up goes. My firm will have to give a lot of guidance on exactly how we want the master calendar set up and what documents we want generated. The more time and effort we put in now, the more it will pay off in the long run.
I had to do an attitude adjustment for this conversion. It took me awhile to learn that the case mangement software companies are experts at case management software, not case management. There’s a difference. Conversations would go like this:
- Software Company – We have ‘Management Reports’.
- Me – Great! I want to manage my firm better. What do you have?
- Software Company – Whatever you want.
- Me – Ahhh…..But I’m not certain what I want. You guys go into thoursands of law firms across the country, don’t you have a best of list?
- Software Company – Every firm is different. We’ll do whatever you want.
- Me – I’m looking for some guidance here and thought you guys could help.
The answer is that they are in the software and database management business and no matter how good their software and company is, they really don’t know much about practice management. That’s not a gig on TrialWorks. I found that to be true to all of the companies until I realized the fundamental difference between what I was asking for and what they were providing. Live and learn.
I’ll keep everyone posted on how the conversion goes and how we like TrialWorks as we get it up and running. I believe it will probably be a 2–3 month process.
How did the transition from TimeMatters to TrialWorks go? (data conversion, training, unexpected pluses, unexpected problems, etc.) I was a long time user of Amicus and switched several years ago to TimeMatters. (I also use the Out of the Box products.) Amicus has many shortcomings, but its clean interface and dramatically easier telephone note taking function are head and shoulders above TM. I have yet to find the big benefit I was hoping to get from the switch. The transition costs are large and I would not switch again without a strong reason, but I have never been completely happy with TimeMatters. I looked closely at Needles and TrialWorks, as well as Client Profiles. I do not want to become a Microsoft Word shop, if I can help it, and that creates an obstacle for some of these programs. If you ever have time, I would appreciate hearing how the transfer has gone. Thanks for the great website.
So are you still using TrialWorks?
