Agendas
Agendas, or Precedents, are the structure used in P4W for storing documents within Matters.
Some Firms have a adopted a policy of replicating the structures they used with “paper” folders. This is a natural structure to use when first implementing a system and provides a level of familiarity for users.
The standard process in P4W for creating Matter specific Agendas is to set these up and you can add document templates to these so that when you populate a Matter with its Agenda everything is loaded at once.
Automation
I have developed an alternative to this which uses Managing Partner (MP) Tables. This process allows for Agendas to be created and they are added when a Matter is created. The difference it that the Agendas are added automatically but also allow a level of selection to be applied.
This has split into two aspects
- Matter specific Agendas
- Firm specific Agendas
Let me explain this process. When a Matter is created then Firm specific Agendas are added e.g. for Compliance, Key Notes at the beginning and Billing, Closure at the end. These “book-end” the Matter specific Agendas.
If we consider Conveyancing where there is a distinct flow from opening a Matter to completing a Matter the initial Agendas could be:
- Compliance (F)
- Key Notes (F)
- Initial Instructions (M)
- Billing (F)
- Closure (F)
You see the Firm (F) Agendas and the Matter (M). In the conveyancing case everything to do with the Initial Instruction; documents, emails etc., are stored there. Once that process is complete then the next Agenda is added e.g. Pre-Exchange and the process continues again items specific to that activity are stored there; documents emails etc.
Other Matters may not follow a linear process in which case more Agendas could be added, one example I did was Licensing. Licensing provided an interesting challenge and details are provided in the Case Study.
On creating the Matter the Agendas are added:
- Compliance (F)
- Key Notes (F)
- Control / History (M)
- Billing (F)
- Closure (F)
The Control / History kept a record of work carried out over the years and include a Free Style step that would add an Agenda for the work being carried out, unlike Conveyancing this is not Linear so you might have; a change of manager (Designated Premises Supervisor DPS), another change of manager, an alteration to the Licence, another change of manager. As the Matter is revisited through time the Agendas grow:
- Compliance (F)
- Key Notes (F)
- Control / History (M)
- DPS Change 2019/08
- DPS Change 2021/04
- Minor Change 2021/07
- DPS Change 2022/06
- Billing (F)
- Closure (F)
The Firm wide Agendas provide consistency of approach for people who work in supporting departments.
Compliance (F) provides the Compliance Officer, and maybe Supervising Fee Earners, a single location to check.
Billing (F) gives the Accounts department a single location to look for Bills and Posting slips but also fulfils a need of Billing Wizard to always have a “named” agenda to be used.
Benefits
- Continuity for Firm wide agendas
- New staff are guided by the automated insertion of Agendas
- All interaction with P4W can in most events be handled from within the Matter and little need (if any) to interact with other aspects of P4W.
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