Here’s a problem for you all, let’s see if this blog post can generate some comments on possible solutions.
Lawyers travel a lot, whether they’re in a regional firm or a global firm they will travel and they will want to use IT whilst they travel (especially email). Now although we are in a WiFi world the hotspots aren’t always accessible or cheap and so offline or limited connection is still the norm away from the office.
The problem I’m building up to is caused when you want to file email in a matter centric way within a document management system (DMS). I’m sure the ideal for most lawyers is to maintain a full electronic file using the DMS just as they’d maintain a full and proper paper file. But the electronic file is usually the current file too and thus they want to have access to these emails when away from the office (the same as historically they would have carried a pile of papers in a briefcase).
As a lawyer in the office, from an Autonomy iManage point of view using WorkSite, I can maintain the electronic file for all my documents. But the answer for out of office access is either by using their OffSite product or by using the WorkSite for BlackBerry product. Both an expense, did I say I also didn’t want to spent a lot of money solving this problem?
Now with WorkSite 8.5 the new synchronised folders within the Outlook Inbox is fantastic, I can keep all my emails in Outlook/Exchange (which is running in cache mode so all my emails are on my laptop offline or available in the Blackberry) and I know that they are being filed/synchronised into WorkSite. Thus at the end of the matter I can remove the folder in Outlook with confidence that the emails are on the electronic file.
Perfect!
Now here’s the problem. Sent items! What do I do with them?
Filing them has always been difficult, products like Send and File help with this by suggesting filing locations as I send the email. However if I move the email on Send and File then I can’t refer to the emails out of the office? But I can’t copy as I want the ability to keep my Sent Items clean like my Inbox, removing emails I’ve finished with!
An ideal would be for Send and File to move the email into the synchronised sub folder in my Inbox, that way it’s filed, available offline and out of my Sent Items. But I’ve checked with Autonomy, it doesn’t do this!
So there it is. How do I keep my Sent Items clean and tidy, have access to my emails through Outlook cached mode and ensure filing in the electronic matter?
Comments very much appreciated!
Hi,
When you say you want the Sent emails filed, I assume you want this filed into the relevant Matter folder?
This is tricky. We use DM5 rather than iManage and rather than sychronise folders we map Outlook folders to DM folders. This means we can monitor and therefore autofile Sent Items BUT they can not be Matter centric.
So, a slight improvement but not great.
I’ll be interested in other thoughts on this one!
Jay
A further thought.
If your lawyers would change their workflow (yes, I know) then you could file into the matter folder first and reply from there. Then Outlook can save the sent item in the matter folder and it will be synchronised..
Two things come to mind off the top of my head. On new messages you could go the manual way and change the location where the message will be saved when you send. You could also enable the “In folders other than the Inbox, save replies with original message” option so that when you reply to a previously filed e-mail it goes into the same folder.
Using these two with the 8.5 synch would keep the saved messages in the correct matter folders.
wireless broadband dongles ?
We are trying really hard to drum into our users that outlook is for sending/recieving email and there should be an action after doing both of those , for us a solution to save sent items somewhere in the mailbox when they are filed is a big no no .
We just provide dongles for VPN/Citrix access to anyone who works on trains etc – and luckily working in the office then when they get home is enough for the majority of our users.
Our OutiM Server product
http://www.docauto.com/docauto-products/content-management/docauto-outim-server.html
can process content from any folder, including Sent Items (or Deleted Items, although nobody uses their trash as a filing system, right? ;^)) and can use previously-marked send-and-file data, or any mailbox, folder, or message metadata to automatically find the correct filing location for any content from Exchange to WorkSite. We can also replace messages with NRL link files, so that users can have single-instance storage, but access the content from Outlook or WorkSite. We also process non-message type content (contacts, notes, tasks, appointments) as well.
We also provide for additional message field “double-checking” when de-duping messages. If you send a message and file it, then send it again (Resend from Sent Items) and change it, the second file into WorkSite will indicate that the message is already filed! Luckily, no one does that, right?
What if you use a combination of Outlook rules and Outlook view filtering?
1. Build a two step rule in Outlook to:
a. move a copy of all sent messages containing a text string “FID” (or whatever your Send & File “Luggage Tag” is) to a specific folder in your mailbox called “Sent Items Already Filed”.
b. Apply a custom category to these messages called “FileFilter”.
2. Test the rule. You should still see it in your sent items but also in your new folder, and in both places it should have the new category.
3. Apply a Filter to your Sent Items (use the Advanced Tab) to show all messages where category does not contain “FileFilter”.
I am not sure if this will solve it on the BB side but I would think you could do something similar to filter the BB Sent view.
I am also not sure if the category will bump up against iManage using the Category, but you could apply this logic using another field.
Thanks for all the comments.
Jay, we thought of the workflow change. But I think you alluded to the problem there!
Artis, I think long term the “always on” that dongles will bring will be the solution. But for us they are proving too costly in running costs. For some lawyers I think VPN and Citrix access is acceptable, but not all.
David, I like the idea for the OutIM. But maybe I should have phrased “did I say I also didn’t want to spent a lot of money solving this problem” as “did I say I also didn’t have any money to spend solving this problem” 🙁
Thinking of a combination of Cynthia and Sean’s option may have legs. I think it would work on the BB if people used their folders for grouping relevant emails. Can anyone think of any downsides?