Managing Relationships In Time Matters and LexisNexis Total Practice Advantage TM

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1 Managing Relationships In Time Matters and LexisNexis Total Practice Advantage TM Presented by: Sandra Hernandez Adams LexisNexis Certified Independent Consultant President of onsiteamadvisors

2 Introduction The topic of this paper is Relating Contacts, Matters and other records in Time Matters and LexisNexis Total Practice Advantage TM. The purpose of this paper is to understand relationships, specifically the relationship between contacts and matters. We will discuss Automatic and Specified Relationships and how they are created. Any discussion of relationships, specifically contacts and matters, first requires a definition of terms. A Contact is any person, entity or location (i.e. Miami-Dade County Court). A Matter is also defined as a Case, an Engagement, or a Project. An integral part of managing contacts and cases is identifying and tracking how they are related. Understanding those relationships and having that information at-hand is essential in handling any case. The value of properly creating these relationships can be informational or can be for the purpose of ensuring that all parties are kept informed and/or can receive status notifications. Relationships should be identified from initial contact with anyone that might later become a client or be related to a client or case. Ultimately those relationships can also prove valuable during the Conflict of Interest Review. Defining Relationships Within the context of Time Matters (or Practice Advantage), there are 2 types of Relationships: Automatic and Specified. We will discuss how each is created. Automatic Relationship By definition, an Automatic Relationship is created automatically based on how links are defined within respective records and record types. For example, an Automatic Relationship is created when Barry B. Able is identified as the Client on the Able v. State of Florida Matter/Case. These types of Automatic Relationships are built in to Time Matters. Automatic relationships are also created by linking fields to other records. This is most often found when various parties to a matter are linked back to contact records. 1

3 Built-In Relationships and Linked Relationships There are several Default Relationship fields built-in when the system is installed. The Regarding Line on Each Record Type, when completed, creates an Automatic Relationship. Contacts are automatically related to Matters based on the information entered in the Matter Ref area on Contact forms or the Client area on Matters forms. Other Automatic Relationships are dependent on how the linking fields are set up. Let s take a look at how the Default Plaintiff and Defendant fields are set up when Time Matters is first installed. In the initial installation of Time Matters the plaintiff and the defendant fields are not set up so as to automatically create an Automatic Relationship. They are set up as fields which can either be linked to an existing contact or you can just type in a name. While this flexibility is sometimes desirable, it is not effective in situations whereby Relationships are important to the User. Specified Relationship A Specified Relationship is specifically created by the User. For example, Anthony Hernandez is in the Contact database and is Specified as a Witness in the Able v. State of Florida Matter. Specified Relationships are identified by a tilde ( ) in the Related Tab area. Creating Additional Automatic Linking Relationship Fields In the Customize Field area create your Screen Label, Screen Tool Tip, and Field Name. Then set field as TEXT type. Select LOOKUP FROM RECORD. Select Record Type.

4 In this example we are in the Matter Form and the Lookup from Record will be Contact. Set Field Links. Select: Entry must be in the Time Matters Contact File. This forces the User to select only from Contacts or, optionally, create a new Contact Record. How to recognize when a field is a Linking field or not. This symbol indicates that a field in Not linked to anything. If there is text in the field, it is just typed text that has no other context within the database. This symbol indicates that the field is linked and is creating a relationship.

5 One-to-One and Many-to-One Relationships One-to-One Time Matters has the ability to create a one-to-one relationship. Personally, I don t like the one-to-one as it is limiting. Using the Matter Reference field on the Contact Form creates a one matter to one contact relationship. While there may be specific reasons for using the one-to-one relationship, as a general workflow, linking a matter to a contact on the matter field on the contact form should be discouraged. Our preference is to actually set this field so that no data may be entered in this field. This can be done by setting security on this field. This can be set up in the Security Area. Many-to-One In a many-to-one relationship, there can be many matters related back to a single client or there can be many documents related back to a single matter, etc. Using Many-to- One relationships makes the data collected in the database extremely useful and relevant. This relationship is created when the Client is linked to the matter on the Client field. Maximizing Relationships Displaying Relationships Let s use Matters (or Cases, Projects, Engagements) as the example. When viewing a selected Matter, there are a series of tabs across the top of the displayed matter record. Each of these tabs will display the related records. However, managing what is displayed and how it is displayed can be important. Related Tab The Related Tab may display all related records including all record types and automatic and specified related records. There are, however, several settings that can influence what is displayed. First there is the selection of the type of records to view.

6 Secondly, there is the selection of viewing Specified and/or Automatic. If viewing both Specified and Automatic it is also important to manage how those records are being displayed. In the example below the is selected to display Relationship by Contact and by Matter, to show Related Archived Records, to show Linked Records and to Show Relationship Code on the List.

7 The other default Tabs found on the Matter record are also related records, but limited to the specific record type. Such as Notes, Documents, etc. When viewing Related records from a specific tab such as Notes, how options are set is important. The graphic below is an example. Best Practices Custom Tabs Custom Tabs can be defined and added to a Contact or Matter record. These customized tabs can further refine the Relationship experience. In this example a Contact Tab will be added to the matter. First Create the Custom Tab then add it to the matter form. Thoughts about Contact Records Creating parent and child records. You can also think of this as a master record and dependant records. In some situations, there is only a single relationship between the User and the Contact record being defined. An example of this might be in a Personal Injury case. The Client

8 is an individual person (i.e. Barry Able). In this case the Contact record is for Barry Able and he is defined as the Client. More likely, however, are relationships that are to an Entity, but we know the people that are associated or work at that entity. This can be for Client type contacts or Vendor records, or any other type of connections. For example: A firm uses the ABC Court Reporting Company. But, we know several of the court reporters as well as the manager and the bookkeeper. For example: The client is The Alexander Hotel. We know the person that is responsible for building the relationship, perhaps the President or General Manager of The Alexander Hotel. In the process of representing The Alexander Hotel, there are several other contacts that are needed in the database. UDRs User Definable Records (UDR) were added in Version 9. These highly customizable records provide a whole added dimension to relationships. They can be used to track things like ASSETS, Marketing Projects and Events such as Seminars, medical record information well, the list can go on and on. Conclusion The power of Time Matters is in the ability to create meaningful relationships. A little bit of planning and customization for your business can go a long way toward providing linkages and relationships that inform the User. After all, knowledge is power. All materials contained herein are protected by United States copyright law and may not be reproduced, distributed, transmitted, displayed, published or broadcast without the prior written permission of onsiteamadvisors. You may not alter or remove any trademark, copyright or other notice from copies of the content. onsiteamadvisors 2009 onsiteamadvisors 200 South Biscayne Boulevard, Sixth Floor, Miami, Florida Tel: (305) Fax: (305) LexisNexis and the Knowledge Burst logo are registered trademarks and LexisNexis Total Practice Advantage is a trademark of Reed Elsevier Properties Inc., used under license. Time Matters is a registered trademark of LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. Other products or services may be trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective companies. All rights reserved.