Highlighted Projects
Case Studies
Client Projects
January 2021
Lubbock Fine, Chartered Accountants
iManage 10 Upgrade and LLP Conversion
The Client
Lubbock Fine provides a full range of accounting services and is an experienced general practice with a long history, vast expertise and a range of specialist skills spanning the whole business and personal spectrum.
The Business Challenge
Lubbock Fine wanted to upgrade their iManage software to the latest version to ensure effective working from home for all staff. In addition, the firm had also made the decision to change its legal status to an LLP.
These changes meant a significant change to the creation and storage of its’ business documents and the project needed to be managed carefully, so as not to affect the operations of the business during very challenging times.
Oliver Schofield, Head of Technology for Lubbock Fine commented “Despite the additional challenges of the past year, not only did we complete a major upgrade to iManage 10 but also converted the business to an LLP which involved a considerable update of our existing business documentation.”
Having used their software for several years, Lubbock Fine turned to Novaplex to assist with the challenges of the iManage upgrade and LLP conversion.
“Novaplex assisted us through the complexities of a change in legal status and associated document content and collateral. Their expertise was invaluable as they provided us with an understanding of the challenges. They recommended how, using their software, we could ensure both compliance and consistency in our use of documentation”, concludes Oliver. “The support provided by Novaplex cannot be overstated as they also assisted, working with our DM Provider, with our migration to iManage 10.”
“Novaplex’s value to clients is more than providing intuitive document template software to improve productivity; we also provide expertise to businesses during significant changes such as these. Our Technology Partnership with iManage ensures we can provide the best technical solutions for our clients and we always have their support if required.”
“A move to an LLP is more than just changing or creating a simple template. The solution must be intelligent enough to understand how each document should be treated based on the document lifecycle. Our software removed the risk of users sending out old and incorrect document content.” adds Michelle Langton, Managing Director, Novaplex.
BDB Pitmans, Law Firm
BDB Pitmans slashes time spent on document creation
Novaplex’s Template Studio Docs is enabling BDB Pitmans to produce documents that adhere to the firm’s house style and branding, offering consistency and removing the complexities of formatting and numbering within Microsoft Word.
The templates the firm had developed internally before turning to Novaplex added to its developer’s workload. Knowing that there was an in-house developer, Robertson adds, meant lawyers frequently asked for changes to be made to their documents, which was an ineffective use of his time. “‘Disorganised’ is probably the best way to describe how we were previously managing our templates,” says Will Robertson, IT director at BDB Pitmans.
Docs integrates with the firm’s document management system (DMS) iManage10, which improves the process for fee earners by reducing potentially billable time wasted completing routine tasks.
“This integration is paramount because the firm is literally wasting money otherwise,” says Robertson.“Lawyers can be very specific about counting clicks — If they have more clicks with their mouse than before, they will work out how much an extra five clicks cost, because they are billing in six-minute increments.”
The firm uses the solution for specialised templates such as parliamentary monitoring reports, property leases and court documents, which all need specific layouts. The look of the documents is standardised, with the added flexibility to tailor each for an individual matter within seconds, says Robertson.
A seamless transition
The process of switching to Novaplex software gave BDB Pitmans a new starting point and structure for the firm’s files. The initial stage involved an analysis — which allowed the firm to settle on and standardise its house style. “We put a partner in charge of the house style; she is very meticulous and had the remit to make decisions,” Robertson explains.
Given the software provider’s extensive experience in the legal sector, Novaplex knew the requirements and so the team was able to advise BDB Pitmans on features they ought to include within their templates.
Novaplex were recommended to Robertson by his previous manager, he says and, after investigating other software products in the market, he was soon satisfied it was the best choice. Not only was the software far more intuitive and “sleeker” in its user experience, but its team also offered ongoing expertise and support that went beyond helping with templates.
“The ‘people factor’ cannot be overstated. The Novaplex team are professional and pleasant to deal with. I am not a fan of companies that are after a sale do not provide sufficient and timely support and we have never had that feeling from Novaplex at all.”
BDB Pitmans was able to leverage Novaplex’s wealth of knowledge to ensure the analysis phase was effective and efficient.
The implementation, training and adoption stages that followed also went smoothly. Lawyers were provided with a more attractive and user-friendly solution compared to previous, and so they began using it immediately, Robertson says.
BDB Pitmans uses two other software products from Novaplex to generate further efficiencies: Transform, which “does what the label says” and transforms documents from another style into the firm’s house style and Print, which defines printing rules based on each document type, reducing paper waste from printing wrong layouts and formats to the wrong paper trays.
The rewards outweigh the cost
“Docs and the other software we use from Novaplex are high-quality products that don’t cost a lot of money considering how much we use them and the volume of documents people are generating,” he says.
The products have saved the firm a significant amount of time, which can instead be channelled into enhancing the client experience. He believes that collaborating with the Novaplex team to proactively change and adapt the firm’s template offering incrementally over the years has also eliminated the need to undertake bigger projects down the line.
“Novaplex software doesn’t cost the earth compared to other software, so we invested a reasonable amount of money, had a great development phase and then smooth implementation and training, which was key for us,” he concludes.
BDB Pitmans was able to find a simple solution to its complex document production world, reducing additional work for people and bringing consistency to branding and documents; enabling the firm to deliver improved client service. The law is ultimately a people business, and it was the people at Novaplex that made all the difference to the project and the ongoing relationship with the firm.
EMW, Law Firm
Overview
EMW already had a document restyling tool, which had been in use for almost a decade. They replaced this with Template Studio Transform, delivering cost savings, a 50% increase in user uptake and improved document styling speed and functionality.
Problem
EMW’s existing software solution was not effective in maintaining house style and consistency of formatting across a range of documents. There were also issues with cross referencing within documents, which were difficult and time consuming for users to resolve. Despite receiving extensive training, the existing solution was still proving difficult to use and costly to maintain
Solution
EMW approached Novaplex for advice and Template Studio Transform was recommended as the best restyling solution for their business. 'Transform' software allows users to:
- Rebrand
- Restyle to firm house style
- Fix numbering and styling issue
- Review cross references - broken, possible & active
- Review definition terms - in use, consistency, sort
- And so much more..
Benefits
- Easily fix document styling and consistency issue
- Add and fix cross references easily
- Reduce document review and fix time
- Increase user technology uptake
- Improvement in software speed and reliability
Results
EMW have also seen a 50% improvement in success rate when transforming documents that have traditionally been hard to restyle when compared to their previous solution.
EMW Feedback
“Novaplex listen. They are incredibly responsive to our needs and have proven they are agile enough to deliver a tailored solution that works for our business. We will make 50% savings year on year, but for me it's not just about price, it's about the value they can deliver.”
Lee Killner, IT Director
“Novaplex developed brand new functionality that directly addressed the needs of our business, which are now included as additional functionality in their product. They have offered unprecedented support throughout our partnership. Their service and attention to detail has been above and beyond, exceeding all expectations, and we wouldn't hesitate to recommend them.”
Tom Burton, Trainer
Improvements
- 100% Faster
- 50% Increase In User Uptake
- 50% Cost Saving
- Improvement In Document Restyling
Steele Raymond, Law Firm
Overview
Steele Raymond invested in iManage10 to improve their business efficiency. As part of the implementation, it was identified that the firm required a new way of the users consistently creating business documents and ensuring they were effectively saved within iManage. Having looked at all the solutions on the market, the Template Studio Suite of products was selected.
About
In conjunction with Steele Raymond's selection of iManage, Novaplex worked with the IT Team at Steele Raymond to understand their requirements and timescales and delivered the project successfully, on time and to budget. The solutions were very well received by the users. Adoption was a critical part of the project, as the users had used their previous PMS solution for document creation for years. The change management piece of this work was essential for a smooth transition for the firm.
“Yvette Moss, IT Director at Steele Raymond has been fantastic throughout, involving Stakeholders within the business to ensure requirements were understood and benefits were delivered. It has been another very successful implementation of our software products with full integration with iManage10.”
Michelle Langton, Managing Director, Novaplex.
iManage Integration
Novaplex are an iManage Technology Partner. All Template Studio software solutions use iManage10 latest API
Transform Benefits
At the click of a button, remove styling and numbering issues and have your business document transformed to your brand styling and formatting.
- Simplicity & Ease of Use
- Productivity & Efficiency
- Brand Consistency & Document Quality
- Removes Admin & Support Overheads
Steele Raymond Feedback
“We needed to create a consistent approach on how we presented our documents throughout the firm. It was clear that we needed to have a solution which was not only easy for our people to use but also to have a central location to access templates, ensuring that our house style and the most up to date version of that document was used. Template Studio Docs ticked all the boxes and with very little training it has been adopted by our people seamlessly which has created the consistency we wanted and has also reduced the time taken to produce documents.”
Yvette Moss, IT Director, Steele Raymond.
Docs Benefits
Improve efficiency whilst creating consistent, professional, on brand documents every time.
- Simplicity & Ease of Use
- Productivity & eEfficiency
- Brand Consistency & Document Quality
- Reduces Risk & Ensures Compliance
Client Feedback
“The guys at Novaplex have been a dream to work with from the very first onboarding meeting and aftercare going forward. I would not hesitate to recommend them, as they take their time to understand our business and the way we work, incorporating their findings into the delivery of their solutions.”
Yvette Moss, IT Director, Steele Raymond.
Browne Jacobson, Law Firm
Overview
Browne Jacobson embarked on a Company wide marketing rebrand project. This affected both existing documents and templates across all their document creation solutions. The challenges the firm faced were answered by Novaplex expertise and software solutions in dealing with projects of this nature, saving months of manual work and delivering significant cost savings.
Challenge
Browne Jacobson had approximately 4000 templates in their case management system that needed to be updated to reflect a company wide rebrand. Having scoped the work it was estimated that it would take approximately 9 months to update these manually with internal resource. There was also additional complexity as there was a requirement to ‘re-design’ the letter templates to reflect the new brand.
Rebrand Requirements
Design items changed:
- Colours - Text & Table
- Direct formatting
- Fonts
- Font sizes
- Logos & Icons
- And more...
Solution: Bulk rebrand of templates
Novaplex assessed the requirements and the project was managed in two stages:
Stage 1: Applying the new brand and styles to documents, changing logos and removing unwanted images in footers.
Stage 2: Making the re-design changes to letters and dealing with any other items identified from stage 1.
Client feedback on the bulk rebrand
“The project ran very smoothly, and deadlines were always met by the Novaplex team. We worked together well, delivering our rebranded templates to the business in plenty of time to support our deadlines.”
“With Novaplex expertise and support, using their software solutions and tools, they were able to complete this work in a significantly reduced time of 6 days.”
Yvonne Purdy, Project Manager Browne Jacobson.
Additional Requirements & Solution
In addition to the bulk rebrand, Browne Jacobson identified an ongoing need to rebrand and restyle other documents in the business. Having evaluated Template Studio Transform, Browne Jacobson purchased the restyling and fixing software to help them restyle and rebrand all their legacy documents and any new documents coming into the business
Redesign
Changed location of fields in:
- Address block
- Information block
- Sender block
Other design changes:
- Changed line spacing
- Removed logos & text from footers
- Table of Contents
Client feedback on Transform
“Novaplex have assisted us with the provision of their software, Transform. They have also worked tirelessly to understand our working practices, in order to provide guidance and timely solutions, on the best options for our Company. Their expertise has been invaluable from our initial enquiries through to the intricacies of implementation.”
Sion Bostock, Shared Services Team Leader, Browne Jacobson.
Benefits
- £1000’s saved in temporary staff and overtime costs
- 100% accuracy on resulting output templates and documents
- Rebranded, tested, and quality checked 4000 templates in just 6 days, down from client estimate of 9 months
- Consistently delivered high quality rebranded solutions on time, every time
- Smooth implementation of new software to enable users to restyle and rebrand documents