Longmores – Virtual IT Director & Training

Baskerville Drummond were initially engaged to support, design and implement further training on the firm’s practice management system. At the time of our engagement, Longmores’ had had their Practice Management System (PMS) for around 5 years, but it was felt that they could get more from the system and work more efficiently.

Our Training and Implementation Consultant, Beccy Scobell, was engaged to provide this support, initially with their Super Users.

During the initial call with Longmores it also became clear that they were struggling with the speed of the PMS, performance of the network generally and poor support from their Managed Service Provider (MSP), so one of our Consultants, Cathy Kirby, was engaged to provide an IT Review, assist in working with the supplier to improve services, to provide strategic support to the internal team and, later, to guide the firm through a tender to replace the MSP.

During the course of our engagement a specific request came from one of the teams for development of a key work type specific workflow and again, a third consultant, Chris Winterburn, assisted with this project.

Training – Beccy Scobell

The Super User training needed to cover all features and functionality of the PMS, along with troubleshooting techniques. It was felt that when they first went live with the PMS the training was not of sufficient depth, so most of the knowledge and skills were self-taught through use of the system.

Beccy’s first step in this type of engagement is to create a Training Needs Analysis which assesses competencies and levels of confidence in the various areas of the PMS.  Also, as part of the Analysis, Beccy seeks to develop a deep understanding of the business processes that are specific to the firm, allowing her to present a training programme that is bespoke and relevant.

The training was split into bitesize sessions and delivered in one day to all Super Users this included navigating around their system, looking at their client and matter creation, financial slips and how to bill using the PMS’ screens.

Once the training for Super Users was complete and positive feedback had been received, Longmores extended the programme to their secretaries, adapted to their needs. 

Beccy continues to work with Longmores, supporting adhoc questions and queries regarding their PMS and training on best practices.

System Development – Chris Winterburn

It was identified that Longmores had a need for a new approach to dealing with a particular case type. This was discussed during meetings with the Longmores team, and a plan was formulated to deliver this new design to allow for efficient processing of multiple matters with one particular client.

Chris began by meeting with the team to analyse what was needed from both a Longmores perspective and a client perspective. This was then formulated into a design and a development plan was created.

As Chris began the design process, he held regular meeting with the team to demonstrate progression and functionality as the new case type was developed. As this progressed, further functionality was discussed and input to the overall design on the new case type.