Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Automating Firm Processes Maryann Negrey Accounting Systems Manager

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Wolf, Block, Schorr & Solis-Cohen, LLP Established in 1903 Main Office – Philadelphia PA Branch Offices –New York, NY –Harrisburg, PA –Cherry Hill, NJ –Newark, NJ –Norristown, PA –Wilmington, DE Over 250 lawyers Our chosen areas of the law are Corporate/Securities, Real Estate, Intellectual Property and Information Technology, Communications, Financial Services, Health Law, Government Assisted and Affordable Housing, Securitization, Mortgage Conduit Lending, Tax, Business Litigation, Complex Liability/Surety/Fidelity, Family Law, Utility Regulation, Environmental Law, Estates and Trusts, Employment Services and Employee Benefits.

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Wolf Block Environment Accounting System –Elite Enterprise 3.3 –HP-Unix platform –Informix database –1 Application Server Records and Conflict –Legal Key Marketing –Interaction

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Presentation Overview Business Process Automation Why Automate a Business Process An Automated Process at Wolf Block The Do's and Don'ts of Automation Future Wolf Block Plans Questions

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Business Process Automation What is it? –It is a means to automate manual procedures. –Provides the ability to update multiple databases automatically –Provides for the ability to validate –Processes can span across departments –Can be accessed via the intranet –Uses –It isn't easy –Can change constantly

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Benefits Reduces paper handling Eliminates redundant data entry Validation Audits Virtual Office is a reality Standardization Forms contain entire process Helps to identify more processes to automate

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership ABP at Wolf Block New Business Intake Decision based on –Redundancy of data –Forms moving back and forth between offices –Complaints that numbers taking too long to process –No way to see where the paper form was bottlenecked. –Accounting wanted to check financials when a conflict was introduced and not after the matter was opened. –Firm wide benefit Choose Elite's Workflow Product

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Steps to Automating a Firm Process Identify Identify each component of the process Identify responsibilities Identify the flow of the work Identify Controls

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Identify Sub-processes Client Matter Intake process at WB –lawyer bulletin –conflict check –obtaining all information –get all approvals –data to Elite –data to Legal Key –data to Marketing –Create Folders –Notification of number –update various databases

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Identify Responsibilities & Flow Roles –Secretary (initiates form) –Conflicts (prepares report) –Accounting –Request Attorney (reviews conflict report) –Finalizer Approver Roles –Executive Committee –Originating Attorney –Section Leader –Contingent – Securities – Special Rates Attribution Splits –Pro Bono

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership

Next Steps Review with management! –Remember this is a simple step if you stick to the existing manual process steps Identify any changes –We added an additional approval for all new matters – Originating and Section Leader approval. –Also added EDR notifications to Branch Managers

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Testing & Training 1 1/2 year effort of Design, Programming and Testing Training –Records, MIS and Accounting –Demos presented to Managing Director and Section Leaders –Demos presented to each Department –Secretarial Staff training during Lunch & Learn Workshops –Individual training on as needed basis

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Rollout Pilot Phase –Records and Accounting staff tested for 4 months Roll Out –Two Months –Philadelphia –Each Branch

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Savings Direct Savings –The accounting department saved 3 hours a day of one clerk's time –Also saved training time for backup when primary was out of the office –Records department saved about 2 hours a day

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Savings Indirect Savings –Controlled process – all requests go thru conflicts first –Single point of entry for the Bulletin Information and the New Business Request –Consistency of Data –Interoffice requests were no longer an issue –Accounting aware of potential new business early in the process –Conflicts report turnaround time much quicker

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Other Benefits Bulletin now takes 5 minutes to produce prior to WF edits to the document were done in the Marketing Dept. Prior to WF, completed requests received after 2:30 in the Records Dept were not put into Elite until the following day. Eliminated lag time in updating other databases Opportunity for Process Improvement More information for conflicts captured

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Costs Other than Financial Time consuming Project Resistance to a computerized process Very visible application – so when there is a problem, it isn't a secret

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Things Not to Do Don't under estimate the effects of change Don't under estimate the project time

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Things Worth Doing Take the time to Identify each process Don't reengineer a process Get management support up front Discuss options with your analyst/programmer Bring key users into process sooner Break up process into do-able steps Start with a vendor form and go from there Do work with qualified people Do expect the unexpected

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Future Projects Enhance current Client Matter Intake –Revise form and flow based on suggestions and policy changes –Records –Marketing Staff Time Entry

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership References Plesums, Charles Introduction to Workflow Whitepaper: Guide to Automating Business Processes November

Wolf, Block, Schorr and Solis-Cohen LLP, A Pennsylvania Limited Liability Partnership Questions? Thank you for your time.