Canadian Lawyer InHouse

I n-house legal departments can benefit great- ly from process improvement to enhance quality, reduce costs and increase speed and agility. Much can be accomplished by retain- ing experts using an approach like Lean Six Sigma who can work with your team to develop solutions to the unique problems they face (the most pressing of which is often getting more done with less time). The focus in such projects is often on eliminating wasteful activities and focusing on what the customer of the process truly values. However, ideas developed in these improvement initiatives can be challenging to implement as they often depend on selecting the proper technology tools to digitize and automate the new streamlined process. With so many soft- ware options available, it can be extremely difficult to find tools that work well in a legal environment and that will be embraced by busy legal profession- als. In this article, we'll discuss two powerful and cost effective applications that can greatly assist in-house legal departments in streamlining their internal processes. Sponsored by ProcedureFlow One of the methods often used in process improvement is the creation of both current and future process maps. While the current state map sets out how the work is done today, the future state map outlines how an improved process might operate in the coming weeks or months. These maps can be created using whiteboards and sticky notes, or with software like Microsoft Visio or Excel. Regardless of the tools used, there is almost always a need to share the resulting maps with a larger group to solicit input, manage the process and train users. Sticky notes on whiteboards are great in the initial stages for spotting issues and brainstorming, but they can't easily be packaged up and distributed to others. While MS Visio and Excel documents are slightly better for sharing the processes with others, ver- sion control and the collection of feedback is a real challenge with multiple copies floating around and no easy way to propose changes. Given the shortcomings of these standard tools, users of the new process are less likely to use them and will often fall back into the old ways of doing things. One application that is help- ing in-house legal departments and law firms address this chal- lenge is called ProcedureFlow. ProcedureFlow enables teams to digitize their standard pro- cedures through simple drag and drop functionality in a user By Paul Saunders Tech tools for improving In-house legal operations

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