Hidden Costs Eroding Law Firm Profits: How Proper Data Management Helps

Law firm costs are often hidden during document review, and manually managing data is challenging and time consuming. Streamlining workflows, optimizing resource allocation, and leveraging technology to improve operational efficiency can be difficult. CaseFlow can automatically and easily transition cases to different points in the lifecycle stages to save time and law firm profits.

Hidden Problems in Data Management

Processes in data management incur hidden costs in terms of time, energy, and money. Errors can occur in various areas, leading to compliance risks and regulatory violations. Furthermore, inaccurate and incomplete data can result in ineffective business strategies and lost profits. Here are the areas that tend to have hidden data problems.

Staging

Staging is the data lifecycle preparation phase. It’s when you prepare data for processing and importing into workspaces. Staging designates file transfer to specific lifecycle areas. The process involves cleaning and transforming raw data into formats suitable for analysis or reporting.

Staging Problems

When data is prepared for being processed and transferred to workspaces and lifecycle areas, key elements are often lost or contain errors. Data in this area is vulnerable due to:

• Large Data Volumes: Large data volumes are more likely to develop errors. For example, data staging management frequently runs out of storage. As data volume increases, finding room for information becomes increasingly difficult. Errors cost you time because you must stop and fix problems.
• Data Quality: Raw data often contains duplicates, fragmented information, missing values, and inconsistent formats, so high-quality data is compromised. Finding duplicates, replacing missing values, and ensuring consistent formats are time-consuming tasks.
• Scalability: Managing data volumes raises the issue of scalability. Databases should be flexible and easy to scale up or down according to your needs. Compromised staging, with large data volumes and poor data quality, leads to an inability to scale. Buying more storage than you need is a waste of money.

Repository Workspaces

Repository workspaces store documents and code for future use. They help you organize documents before moving information for review. In repository workspaces, uniform entries with name normalization and document metadata searches that include identifying data like user name, creation date, and version number help classify the information.

Repository Workspace Problems

Data in this area is vulnerable due to:

• Name Normalization Errors: Manual processing introduces naming errors into repository workspaces. Naming entities like Matter titles, client information, court dates, and other Matter data are not uniform, lack consistency, and may be fragmented. Without name normalization, files may be duplicated or lack essential details. Searching for duplicate files and missing information consumes time and human resources.
• Data Versioning: Metadata for searches has a critical role in version control, ensuring that users have the newest document versions. Without metadata for searches in the repository phase, you won’t be able to keep users coordinated with new documentation and will waste time individually contacting users.
• Conceptual Analytics Problems: Conceptual analytics requires standard name normalization and consistent metadata in order for users to find information. Otherwise, the data is inconsistent and fragmentary. Users won’t have an overview of document collection and could lose track of information.

Review Workspaces

Review workspaces are areas where you review, code, and annotate documents to add context. Essentially, you organize documents for quality control. Setting up search term reports and review layouts to edit document fields are other functions in review workspaces. You can also convert them to repository spaces.

Review Workspaces Problems

Problems in review workspaces are due to:

• Batch Sets: Manually managing batch sets is time consuming and prone to errors. A common mistake results from the batching process. This is when you split a static set of documents into multiple documents based on Matter criteria. Problems arise if any are misassigned in the process. You lose data, or certain data is in the wrong batch.
• Wrong Stage Assignment: During the review stage, data may accidentally be transferred to a repository space. Document review is not available there, so you lose this data for coding or other assigned functions and purposes.

Cold Storage

Cold storage is for files that are currently dormant but can be brought online when needed. Matters that are no longer current or administrative documents are usually found there. Cold storage separates old data from data that you are currently using, providing space for records that you need immediately. Dormant files that are not properly staged in cold storage waste time and human resources to retrieve.

ARM Archives

ARM archives are the stage for completed Matters. These do not require retrieval and can be transitioned to cold storage. This stage archives data, packages workspace parts, or restores existing workspaces in specific installations or servers. It can also be transferred to other database locations.

ARM Problems

Problems in ARM workspaces are due to:

• Manual Packaging: This leads to missing or erroneous data, and correcting such errors is time consuming and leads to further issues. Compliance is also affected, impacting your practice’s reputation.
• Cold Storage Reversion: Data may incompletely or inaccurately move to cold storage from this stage. Retrieving data from cold storage introduces additional errors and increased time consumption in the data lifecycle process.
• Moving: Moving data to other stages manually involves the risk of errors and wasted time. This costs you money, affects your compliance status, and damages your practice reputation.

Data Hidden Costs and Law Firm Profits

The hidden costs of manual data management are financially detrimental to your law firm's profits. According to Gartner, poor data management results in over $12.9 million in losses for American businesses due to reduced productivity, inefficient data usage, and wasted storage space. These problems lead to compliance penalties, lost revenue due to billing issues, and underestimated IT integration expenses.

CaseFlow Solutions

With CaseFlow, you can mitigate costs for Matter management in Relativity. Constant monitoring, automatic configuration, and accurate scheduling will help you avoid expensive mistakes. Manually creating reports, reviewing data, and transferring data waste time, effort, and money and damages your practice's reputation. CaseFlow solutions include the following.

Staging

CaseFlow monitors large data volumes, ensuring that you have sufficient storage at this stage. Duplication is monitored, so your data is less cluttered and more organized. This saves time that you would otherwise spend on finding duplicates and replacing accidentally erased unique information.

Repository

With CaseFlow, name normalization, metadata searches, and conceptual analytics are easier to manage. Naming entities are consistent, uniform, and organized. Duplicate files are easily found and erased without deleting unique entries. CaseFlow helps manage metadata for searches and provides current versioning, ensuring that all stakeholders have the latest documents. You also save time by keeping all users coordinated with the current data.

Review Workspaces

With automatic batch management, splitting static sets into multiple documents can preserve data. You also save time and effort by not needing to replace missing details. CaseFlow data cycle review management helps you avoid accidentally transferring data to repository spaces. This automation enables you to keep your Matter versions in the correct stages and manage information quickly.

Cold Storage

CaseFlow manages cold storage to bring dormant files online when you need them. Space is also less expensive with automatic updates. This type of cold storage management ensures that stakeholders are coordinated on document versions.

ARM Archives

ARM solutions are critical, and CaseFlow manages packing data, taking it from cold storage, and moving it automatically. This saves you time and effort in data management for stages that tend to have errors when transitioning data from one stage to another.

Final Note

Manual data management has numerous hidden costs. These primarily occur with duplicated information, missing entries, and data fragmentation. Avoiding errors in staging, review, repository, cold storage, and ARM stages is simplified with automation. Manual Matter management threatens data integrity, consistent scheduling, data coordination among stakeholders, budgets, and your practice reputation. Fortunately, CaseFlow’s features can help you keep track of these stages, ensuring that your practice runs smoothly and thrives with collaborative, secure, accountable, and compliant data management.

Stop letting inefficient processes drain your firm's profitability. Every hour spent on manual case management and disorganized workflows is an hour that could be spent generating revenue. Your clients deserve better, and so does your bottom line. CaseFlow delivers streamlined case management, automated workflows, and real-time insights that free your team to focus on what matters most: practicing law profitably. Ready to drive real efficiency and savings? Discover how CaseFlow can transform your firm's operations.