Outlook –
LawOffice 97 Feature Documentation
Eidelman Associates
Introductory Concepts
The Client/Matter database
The same database that is used to do matter.client and code
lookups in the document saving and retrieval screens is also used for lookup
and validation in the Outlook forms.
You will see an 
ellipsis button next to any of the database
lookup fields. (The ellipsis will be
explained below.)
This is here so that you can filter and sort your tasks,
calendar entries, and other Outlook entries by case or insurance company.
The following are some unique aspects of the database lookup
interface in your Outlook forms:
· You must know the starting information for any lookup field. You can’t do a lookup on a blank.
· If you know the codes, you can type them in and wait until the codes have been entered in ALL of the fields, then click the <Validate> button to make sure they are all valid entries.
·
If you want to validate an individual field, or don’t
know the full code and want to look it up, use the key.
1. If you typed in the complete and correct code, when you press the <…> key, the looked up information will be displayed in the field. (That is, both the code and matching text will be displayed.)
2. If you type in a partial match by putting in the first few characters of either the code or the name, the system will do a lookup and display a list of all those that match. That is, if you type in “444,” you will get all of the cases that have a number that starts with “444.” If you type in “Mc”, you will get a list of cases that start with “Mc,” such as “McLane vs. Block.”
· You don’t have to enter text in these fields, but:
1. If you start, you have to finish. An Outlook form can’t be saved with junky information in database lookup fields.
2. If you want to be able to filter and sort your entries by case, you must enter the case information!
3. If you want to export calendar and task entries to the billing system (a later phase), you must enter valid billing and task codes in order to avoid having to reenter that information later.
Folders, Forms and Views
Custom “Forms”
“Form” is a Microsoft term for a data entry screen. Microsoft Outlook does not support customization of its standard “forms”). All LawOffice fields have been added on custom forms that you access by clicking on the special “Tab.”
Note that each folder has a default form, so that when you create a new item in that folder, you will get the default form. There is a way to use non-standard forms if you have a need to do that.
Also note that once an entry has been created with a form, updating the form in the folder does not automatically update the form for the previously created items in the folder (older data). You must run a utility program to update the data with the new form. Your Exchange Administrator will help make sure that the data and the programmed forms stay “in sync.”
“Views”
A “view” is a way of selecting, displaying and printing your data. You can use views to:
· Filter – some of the data is shown, and some isn’t
· Group – Sort with headings according to the field the data is “grouped” by
· Sort – Display the information in alphabetical, numeric, or date order, either ascending or descending
· Select fields – Show some, but not other, fields
· Select one of several built-in Outlook ways to show the data, such as in a table (rows and columns), calendar, card view (like a Rolodex), etc.
You will have to learn how to use views effectively to display or print all of the tasks for a case, all the tasks assigned to an associate, all the hearings in Wayne County, etc.
See course materials on views for further information.
Folders
Users who are using Outlook without Exchange Server have the standard folders, plus the one extra time entry folder.
Users who do have Exchange Server on their network have those mentioned above, plus “Public Folders” that contain shared information.
Each folder contains standard forms and views.
Contacts
How to Create a LawOffice Contact
To make a new LawOffice contact, you can either:
1. Right click on the blank contact area in your current view and select the ‘New Contact’ pop-up menu item.
2. Select the Contact menu ‘New LawOffice 97 Contact’ menu item.
The following LawOffice enhancements have been added to the standard Outlook Contacts:
LawOffice Contact Enhancements
The following enhancements to Outlook contacts are provided with LawOffice:
LawOffice Contact Toolbar
Figure 1. LawOffice Contact - ToolBar buttons
The ‘Quick Letter’ and ‘Letter’ Toolbar Buttons are only available after the contact has been created, saved, closed and reopened. Windraft must be installed to use the letter features.
A
time saving feature that calls Windraftâ to create a new letter
shell in MS Word, to the current Outlook contact, ready to be filled in by the
user with letter content. The letter
shell is automatically filled in with the current Outlook contact address
information and author information (as specified in Windraft) for the current
user.
(Note that the attorney name, email and direct-dial phone number will be merged in the letter. If you are working on a case in which the author of the letter has changed, you must switch tasks (task bar with mouse or Alt-Tab) to Word, and click on the “Change Attorney” button. )
Creates
a new Windraft document with the current Outlook contact as the subject.
Same note as above re selecting the attorney to go on the letterhead.
‘LawOffice 97’ Contact Tab
Figure 2. LawOffice 97Contact –
LawOffice 97 Tab
We have indicated custom fields for the contact (unique to contacts created with the LawOffice form) with an asterisk (*).
Gender
of contact
Birthday
of LawOffice contact – Type or select from calendar
*
Automatically calculates the age of the contact based on the birthdate
indicated. (Note: It is calculated when you open the form, so it will be wrong if you haven’t opened
the form for a year.)
The
blank in “Dear __________” in letters to this contact, such as “Mark,” “Mr.
Morley,” or “President Clinton”
Social
Security number / tax ID
*
County where contact resides
*
The responsible attorney with closest link to this person
*
Who referred this contact to the firm
* If a number of people are related by family,
control group of corporations, etc., name the Group here. (This is for searching and sorting, so be
consistent.)
*
Code for firm marketing purposes – See code list. Used for Christmas cards, mailing lists, party invitation lists,
etc.
* LawOffice contact type classification
* Attorney’s Bar Number (Eg. P 155555)
‘Case Info’ Contact Tab
Figure 3. LawOffice Contact – Case Info Tab
*
You may either: (1) Type in the entire matter.client number, then <Tab>
to the button to validate it., or (2) Alternately,
you can enter the first few characters of the numbers or case name. When you click on the button, you’ll get a “pick list” and can
select the one you want.
LawOffice
will show a combo box containing a list of valid Matter.Clients that match the
first few letters you typed[1].
Select one from the list
HINT: If you type in some letters which don’t match anything in the database, make sure to press the ‘Undo’ button. Make sure the ‘…’ button is displayed before typing in a new entry.
The following fields are primarily used to identify information to be merged when this contact’s information is merged into Microsoft Word using WinDraft. Information such as witness, judge, party, expert, etc., will be coded. See Appendix for list of codes.
*
Role of contact with respect to this Matter
(ie: witness, plaintiff,
referring attorney ) for WinDraft merging.
See Appendix.
*
Type for WinDraft See Appendix.
* Relation to the case or client. See Appendix. 
* Yes or No. Is this
person an adverse party for purposes of Conflicts of Interests rules? 
*
Yes or no. Recipient of copies of
pleadings for purposes of court rules?
* For merging in the text of a pleading. 
(for example: ‘Plaintiff, Joanne Smith’)
* Relevant case-related notes.
Calendar
How to Create a LawOffice Appointment
To create a new LawOffice appointment on your calendar…You can right click on a blank appointment area in your current view and select ‘New Appointment’ pop-up menu item or select the Calendar menu ‘New LawOffice 97 Appointment’ menu item.
LawOffice Appointment Enhancements
The following LawOffice enhancements have been added to the standard Outlook Appointments:
LawOffice Appointment Toolbar
Figure 4. LawOffice Appointment – ToolBar
The
‘Add to TimeCapture’ feature is only available after a LawOffice appointment
has been created, saved, closed and reopened.
‘Add to TimeCapture’ opens a custom LawOffice time entry form (See Page 11). This feature
is also available by right clicking an appointment in a calendar view and
selecting ‘Add to Time Capture’. Don’t
worry about using this feature for now, as the TimeCapture mode will be
implemented in the firm in the future.
‘LawOffice 97’ Appointment Tab
Figure 5. Appointment LawOffice 97 Tab
Type
in the entire matter.client number and press the button,
or
type in the first few charactersError!
Bookmark not defined. and press the Button.
LawOffice
will show a combo box with a list of valid Matter.Clients that match the first
few letters you typed1.
Select one from the list
[Works
just like the Matter.Client feature] Type in the entire valid activity code and
press the button,
or type in the first few characters and press the Button.
LawOffice will show a combo box with a list of valid activity codes that match the first few letters you typed.
Select one from the combo box.
[Works
just like Activity Code] Type in the entire ABA Task code and press the button,
or
type the first few characters and press the Button.
LawOffice will show a combo box with a list of valid ABA Task codes that match the first few letters you typed. Select one from the combo box. (Note – All of the ABA Litigation Tasks start with L, so for a complete list, press “L”, then click on the <…> button.
Select an item from the list:
The validate button is used when the user types in some or all values and wants to check that the values that were typed in are in the LawOffice database. If a value is not found in the database…a message of “No matching entries found.” Is displayed in the combo box. If the user tries to close the form without valid information, a message box will prompt the user to correct the entries.
Tasks
How to create a LawOffice Task
To make a new LawOffice task, select the Task menu ‘New LawOffice 97 Task’ menu item.
LawOffice Task Enhancements
The following LawOffice enhancements have been added to the standard Outlook Task form:
LawOffice 97 Task Tab
Refer
to Page 7 for instructions on how to use these fields.
Figure 6. Task LawOffice 97 Tab
LawOffice Task Management Overview
Task management between people is done via the information contained in E-Mail messages. You can assign a task to anyone who has an E-Mail account in your organization. The person to whom you are assigning the task must read the task message and accept the task for the task information to be processed. When the recipient of the task reads the message, Outlook processes the task information contained in the message and automatically updates the recipient’s task list. A message informing the person who assigned the task of the assignee’s acceptance of the task is sent back to you in the form of an E-Mail message when it is accepted (read) by the assignee. When the assignee makes progress on a task, they can send you a status report at relevant intervals. The status report will also update the “% Complete” data of the task in your task list if you have chosen to keep the task in your task list.
To assign a task to
someone, open the task (or create a new task), complete the task information
and press the ‘Assign Task’ toolbar button as shown below: 
Figure 7. LawOffice Task Entry Form
The
‘To’ field is the recipient who will get this task assignment request. You can select the recipient of this message
from the address book by pressing the ‘To’ button.
It is helpful if you include the matter number (MatterNo.ClientCode) and suggested reminder in the task description, since this information will not be transferred with the E-Mail assignment message as separate fields.
If
your task also requires an appointment with members of your organization, it is
recommended that you use the meeting request functionality supplied by Outlook
applointments in addition to the task assignment.
It is very helpful to apply views which help you group your tasks in the way that is most meaningful to you.
Task View Tips
Using the ‘Field Chooser’ shown at the right, you can select the fields you want to view. (Use the ‘View-Field Chooser’ menu item when a task folder is current)
· Make sure the following fields are displayed in the view: Subject, CLMat, % Complete, Status, Owner (the task assignee), Requested by (the assigner of the task).
· You might also want to include the fields: Due Date, and maybe the checkbox ‘Complete’ to quickly mark your completed tasks as done.
Time Entry
How to create a LawOffice Time Entry record
To create a new LawOffice appointment on your calendar…You can right click on a blank appointment area in your current view and select ‘New Appointment’ pop-up menu item or select the Calendar menu ‘New LawOffice 97 Appointment’ menu item.
The following LawOffice enhancements have been added to the standard Outlook Appointments:
LawOffice Journal Enhancements
Figure 8. LawOffice Time Entry form
Select
the name of the person whose time this record pertains to.
Refer
to Page 7 for instructions on how to use these fields.
Indicates
the date this work was performed.
Indicates
the length of time of this activity.
The
timer feature is designed to keep track of time spent on telephone calls and
many other kinds of tasks that lend themselves to real-time tracking. The timer controls work together to enable
the user to record the time it takes to complete tasks.
When the timer is off…the ‘Start Timer’ button is enabled and the ‘Pause Timer’ button is disabled (because the timer is not yet running) and the timer status indicates ‘OFF’.
When the timer is on…the ‘Start Timer’ button is disabled (because the timer is already running) and the ‘Pause Timer’ button is enabled, allowing the user to turn the timer off. The timer status indicates ‘ON’.
To use the LawOffice Task Timer feature: just before a task is started, open a time entry record and start the timer by clicking on the ‘Start Timer’ button. The timer will indicate that it is ‘ON’.
The time entry form may remain open or be closed while the timer is running. When the task is finished, find the time entry form with the timer still running (either in the current ‘Time Entry’ View if the form was closed or the ‘Time Entry’ form in the Windows Task Bar) and click the ‘Pause Timer’ (The timer will indicate that it is ‘OFF’). When the timer is stopped, LawOffice calculates the elapsed time from when the timer started until it was paused and enters the value in the ‘Duration’ field automatically.
Here are some items of note:
· If you are using the clock, it will round to the smallest unit. That is, it might say “2 minutes” or “3 hours.” You can enter it any way you want.
· The updating of the information is done when the form is open, so if a timer is running, a “table view” of the data may not show the updated elapsed time until you open the form. When producing a report, the information will be updated.
· When you start the timer on one entry, it will automatically stop the timer on any other entry. This way, if the phone rings while you are editing a brief, you can start a new time entry and click the <Start Timer> button. By starting the timer on the phone call, the timer will automatically stop on the “editing brief” time record.
TROUBLESHOOTING:
Office Setup Issues:
The Access calendar control must be installed from the Office 97 setup disc in order for the control to work properly in the custom forms in Outlook. If it hasn’t been installed and registered, all kinds of problems occur. The control is MSCal.OCX. Contact the help desk if you have these problems.
ODBC Error:
ODBC (database) connectivity is established through a 2-step process:
1. The directory \Kohldata on the computer KohlNT2 is mapped to Drive T:
2. In Control Panel, 32-bit ODBC System DNS setting has the system database for ClientMatter set to T:\Kohldata\Database\KSMatter.MDB
Contact the help desk to have them help you make sure that you have Drive T: mapped properly and that the ODBC setting is correct. (And that the database is actually there.).
If you are working on a laptop on the road, you need to have a copy of the database on your local hard drive, C:. See Appendix for laptop users. You can use the briefcase to automatically update the database on your local drive.
Data Problems:
Null data error. – The data exported from the billing system into KSMatter.MDB has one or more records that are missing one or more required fields. Contact the database administrator.