Each law firm has a unique set of practices, fee earners, clients and knowledge. Capturing the know-how in a firm requires a flexible approach to cataloging to ensure that the items in the database represent the current thinking and practices.  A well maintained knowledge database will help reduce drafting time whilst increasing output quality and providing knowledge transfer between senior and junior fee earners.

Content can include reference/model documents, bibles, templates, clauses, links to other sources and checklists and best practice guides

TAXONOMIES, KEYWORDS AND LISTS

As well as contextualizing the content, taxonomies and lists can be used as search refiners. Search refiners appear next to the search results and allow users to filter their results and guide them through the content.

Most KMS Systems have a primary taxonomy which typically tends to be 3-4 levels deep. For example a typical law firm may use Practice > Area of Law > Market Sector > Matter Type although any structure can be used. When importing from another system, the taxonomy can be built as part of the import process. If not then the structure and values can be created using the Sysero Taxonomy Manager.

Lists of internal users can be extracted by integrating with a firms network. Where subsets of users are needed, such as list of Partners, Sysero can work with the IT team to create an auto-updating list that doesn’t require additional maintenance. Lists held in other systems, such as cost codes from an Accounts system, can be integrated directly into the system using the Sysero Data Action Framework.

Ad-hoc lists, such as document class or contract bias, can be maintained directly in Sysero by site administrators. Keywords or key phrase lists, can be imported and managed as a separate process or treated as an ad-hoc list.

IMPORTING EXSITING CONTENT

Knowledge content can be imported into the system as files or links. Firms may already be holding content in DMS database or a CMS system such as Microsoft SharePoint. As part of the implementation process, these sources can be imported into the system along with their metadata. If the source data is filed under folders, these can be used to build the initial taxonomy.

Other knowledge sources include MS Access databases and spreadsheets, often containing links to websites and documents. These can be imported easily through the web interface once the system has been installed.

Content that is not in a database, such as documents, emails or ad-hoc lists of links will need to be uploaded manually.

Office files can be imported easily using Sysero for Office after the system has been installed and any other files or links can be added using the web interface.

REPORTING

Sysero can report on both content and user activity and these can be used to create on-line and exportable reports such as: The most popular documents; Documents submitted by author; Documents by Department area etc. For firms with a DMS, it is also possible to create a sub system to capture and report on usage of knowledge in matters.

Sysero provides 2 types of reports: System Usage Reports and Statements. Statements use Sysero’s document automation features to create Word documents using the content metadata. Usage reports are based on how users access the system, for example the 10 most popular documents, documents submitted by author and documents by Department.

Sysero usage reports can be displayed as web pages showing the data as tables or bar/line/pie graphs. Report data can also be exported to MS Excel, or connected to a spreadsheet or other system as a web data source (XML) to allow dynamic reporting.