Data Wizards for Lexis Affinity
Take control of your data entry processes
Improve the quality of your data input. Wizards available for creating Phonebook records, clients and matters.
One of the challenges every firm faces when using a practice management system, or any CRM for that matter, is maintaining high quality data. The old saying "garbage in, garbage out" rings true, and many firms are stymied with issues of poor data entry control.
The problem with Affinity's data entry screens, as with any system for that matter, is that they need to cater for a wide range of users. Therefore, what is important to Affinity or other firms may not be important to you. Likewise, key fields for your firm may be buried under layers of UI, making the chances of users completely the data correctly, unlikely.
Each firm also has their own data entry rules and policies which are quite often hidden away in manuals that people don't read or in many cases aren't even aware of.
That's where Sirokai's data wizards come in. Our wizards allow you to focus on what is important to your firm, ensuring your critical data is captured up front, correctly, without burdening your users with irrelevant information.
The problem with Affinity's data entry screens, as with any system for that matter, is that they need to cater for a wide range of users. Therefore, what is important to Affinity or other firms may not be important to you. Likewise, key fields for your firm may be buried under layers of UI, making the chances of users completely the data correctly, unlikely.
Each firm also has their own data entry rules and policies which are quite often hidden away in manuals that people don't read or in many cases aren't even aware of.
That's where Sirokai's data wizards come in. Our wizards allow you to focus on what is important to your firm, ensuring your critical data is captured up front, correctly, without burdening your users with irrelevant information.
Step-by-Step Process
Sirokai's data entry wizards take the users step-by-step through the process of creating phonebook records, clients and matters. This allows them to focus on small chunks of information at a time, rather than being bombarded with a sea of fields.
The screens can be designed however you like, lifting the importance of fields which are critical to your firm, whilst removing the fields which you don't use. For example, you may have two critical phonebook groups required by your marketing team, however these are buried amongst 50 other groups. The wizards can be designed to show these two groups on their own so they aren't missed or forgotten.
The wizards also streamline the data entry process by allowing the user to capture all the information you need up front without needing to go into different screens. For example in Affinity, to create a phonebook record the user enters the key information up front, then needs to open the new phonebook record to perform such steps as selecting the required groups or entering additional information in dataforms. Now all of these steps can be completed within a single process.
The screens can be designed however you like, lifting the importance of fields which are critical to your firm, whilst removing the fields which you don't use. For example, you may have two critical phonebook groups required by your marketing team, however these are buried amongst 50 other groups. The wizards can be designed to show these two groups on their own so they aren't missed or forgotten.
The wizards also streamline the data entry process by allowing the user to capture all the information you need up front without needing to go into different screens. For example in Affinity, to create a phonebook record the user enters the key information up front, then needs to open the new phonebook record to perform such steps as selecting the required groups or entering additional information in dataforms. Now all of these steps can be completed within a single process.
Improved Data Quality
Ensuring high quality data is at the core of Sirokai's data entry wizards. Some of the features which help improve data quality include:
- Automatically checking for and alerting users to existing contacts which match all or part of the name entered BEFORE the record is created in Affinity.
- Automatically populating fields based on your firm's standards, ensuring names are entered the same way every time. For example, the user enters the contact's name naturally (e.g. John Adam Smith), which the wizard then uses to automatically populate fields such as the Search key, correspondence name, gender etc.
- Filtering out legacy data such as redundant matter types, former employees etc.
Customisable Help
The Sirokai data wizards display customisable, context-sensitive help at each step of the way. This makes them the perfect training tool for new users, as well as ensuring your firm's data entry policies and requirements are imparted to the user when they need to know them.
Now there can be no excuse for not knowing how to correctly enter data, as your own instructions and procedures are clearly displayed on each screen.
Now there can be no excuse for not knowing how to correctly enter data, as your own instructions and procedures are clearly displayed on each screen.
Custom Data Validation
One of the issues any software package faces is that is needs to cater for the majority of its users. In Affinity's case, this means it only enforces entry into selected fields, which may or may not work for your firm.
With Sirokai's data entry wizards, you can make any field you wish required (as long as it meets Affinity's minumum requirements). These fields can be standard phonebook / client / matter fields, phonebook groups, or dataforms.
The rules you apply can be set in stone or conditional, based on the value of other fields. For example, if a client's business source is "Referred By", you can enforce the Referred By field, forcing the user to enter the details of the referrer.
This ensures your data entry requirements are met, not just Affinity's.
With Sirokai's data entry wizards, you can make any field you wish required (as long as it meets Affinity's minumum requirements). These fields can be standard phonebook / client / matter fields, phonebook groups, or dataforms.
The rules you apply can be set in stone or conditional, based on the value of other fields. For example, if a client's business source is "Referred By", you can enforce the Referred By field, forcing the user to enter the details of the referrer.
This ensures your data entry requirements are met, not just Affinity's.
Process Automation
Not only do the Sirokai data wizards ensure records are created correctly, they also speed up the process by automating the creation of multiple records at the same time.
For example, when creating a joint party phonebook record, you can choose a combination of new and/or existing contacts. The new individual contacts along with the joint party record are created automatically.
This automation is especially handy for firms that handle large developments. Creating 100 matters, one for each lot within a property development can now be done in minutes, rather than hours or even days.
The Matter wizard also allows you to create templates for new matters. For example, you can create a template for a family law matter which automatically populates the matter type, department, partner along with any other fields which are common to all family law matters, requiring the user to only complete the bare essentials such as the matter description.
For example, when creating a joint party phonebook record, you can choose a combination of new and/or existing contacts. The new individual contacts along with the joint party record are created automatically.
This automation is especially handy for firms that handle large developments. Creating 100 matters, one for each lot within a property development can now be done in minutes, rather than hours or even days.
The Matter wizard also allows you to create templates for new matters. For example, you can create a template for a family law matter which automatically populates the matter type, department, partner along with any other fields which are common to all family law matters, requiring the user to only complete the bare essentials such as the matter description.
Third Party Integration
Sirokai data entry wizards can be designed to integrate with third party systems such as Settify. This allows you to import data from these systems ensuring the data goes through the same checks and balances as if it were entered by one of your own staff.
LexisNexis Compliant
The Sirokai data wizards are fully compliant with your LexisNexis support agreement. Whilst the wizard interface sits outside of Affinity, the physical creation of the records is done within the Affinity framework, using Affinity's own Python-based API.
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