a mac lawyer's notebook » Case Management

Importing with Daylite-Part One

Kevin — Sat, 05 Jul 2008 21:50:16 +0000

A quick recap of where we are.

Some months ago, I settled on Daylite as the practice management program we’d use once we switched to Macs. While it lacked a number of features right out of the box that I needed, Marketcircle (MC) is really working hard to provide the performance and features a widely divergent group of users have asked for, including us lawyers. Happily, I discovered that it was possible to emulate some key parts of Timematters (TM), my current practice manager, by using HUD widgets. I modified two widgets–the brainchildren of Andy Warwick–to display custom form information (emulating TM’s powerview feature) and show a running list of notes (emulating another part of the TM powerview). I tweaked the Opportunities record in order to manage certain kinds of documents like medical records requests and discovery. I discovered how to emulate the TM messenger (a way of sending intraoffice messages with docs attached between staff) using the Daylite Note record based on Ben Stevens’s use of the Task record. Encouraged by these early “successes,” I turned my attention to the built-in editor (BIE) and learned that you can do a lot with the BIE.

I was preparing to do a screencast on merging with the BIE, but the press of work put all my Mac fun on the back burner until a few weeks ago. About the same time I was coming out of hibernation, Marketcircle released its 3.7.4 beta which included integration with iWork. I was thrilled. This had been the Achilles heel of the program, at least for those of us who frequently use merge templates in our practices. While I may still use the built-in editor for some routine merges, Pages opens up a whole new world worth exploring. I downloaded the beta and tried it out. My test merges worked.

Spurred on by a renewed enthusiasm for Daylite, I looked at the calendar and decided that July was the month to make the Switch. In late June, I placed my order for three new Macs.

Well, the MacPro and two 20” iMacs are now sitting in my office in their big Mac boxes, and Monday is our official Independence Day, the day we begin leaving Windows for Macs. Earlier this week I began the process of creating categories, keywords and custom forms in preparation for importing data from Timematters. Things were moving along nicely.

Then, as I began testing imports, we ran into heavy weather. I discovered some fairly significant barriers to importing that I’ll talk about in the next post. I’ve written Marketcircle about them all, and they’ve been very responsive. I’m crossing my fingers, hoping that the more serious problems will be addressed quickly because without a fix from MC, I can’t import the data I need to actually make the switch. The best we can do is load Fusion and run Windows. Blech.

But before getting into my import problems, and while I’m thinking about it, let me suggest that you not use the law template when setting up Daylite. I don’t mean you shouldn’t look at it. Rather, take a look at what’s in there and make notes about what you like, then start with a fresh database and add your own categories, keywords or other customized choices. The reason is that if you use the law template, you’ll likely have a lot of cats and keywords and extra fields to delete and you’ll have to do this one field at a time, a very tedious process. (If there’s a way to do a bulk delete, I haven’t found it.) There’s nothing wrong with the law template or the stuff that’s in it; it just saves a lot of time to map out your own unique cats/keywords and add them to a clean database rather than modifying or deleting the ones included in the template.

Okay, with that said, let’s talk about importing.

Here are the action steps I took or the things I had in mind when preparing for import. If you are just starting out and don’t have an existing database to export, stop reading. Go play with your kids or something. Most of what I’m about to say won’t apply to your situation. This may not be the most efficient approach but it made sense to me:

Survey the existing fields in each practice area in your existing case management program and decide what to keep and what to chuck. Consider adding additional fields based on your experience with your existing program. Another way of saying this is: Begin at the end. Figure out what you information you need to manage your practice well, then add the fields that give you what you need.

Keep in mind the distinction between practice management and case preparation. In TM, I made the mistake of trying to collect too much information. Much of that info really belonged in case prep software like Casemap or Acrobat (or, anticipating my future, Notebook on the Mac). Collect only the information you need to manage your practice. Keep it as simple as you can make it without sacrificing the things that are essential to practice management. Leave the case prep stuff for other software.

If you have multiple practice areas, don’t use the extra fields in the project record. That may seem counterintuitive but data entry should be as simple as possible. When I create a new case/project, I want to fill out the first page of the project record and one custom form and that’s it. Another reason to ignore extra fields is that custom form information will be displayed using a widget in the HUD, and I’d have to modify the widget to get data from the extra fields. I’d rather put the extra fields in the custom form. So, to sum up: Use custom forms to capture all data unique to a practice area. Use the project record to enter generic data that applies to any case. Eschew extra fields.

Once you settle on your fields, create categories for Contacts, Projects, Appointments, Opportunities, Tasks and Notes. Think about using categories for broad areas. Refine the categories using keywords. (Be aware that a significant limitation in DL is that keywords do not currently apply to notes and tasks, a feature that has been requested by many folks.) You’ll be setting up smartlists in Daylite to show subsets of data using these categories and keywords so a little prep is worth the effort.

Add your cats/keywords to Daylite.

Export data from your existing case management program. This is a multi-step process to be described in more detail in the next post. Very multi-step.

Import contacts and cases to Daylite. This is also by definition a multi-step process which currently requires lots of intermediate steps, depending on the kind of record you’re importing. More in the next post.

For the fun of it, create some smartlists for contacts and cases.

Import notes into Daylite. (A big problem here if you’re using date fields and custom forms.)

Create links between contacts and cases. (Notes are linked to a contact or project during import.)

Manually add your appointments going forward. (I don’t intend to import old calendar entries into Daylite.)

Drink your favorite libation. Have a refill.

As I suggested earlier, things had been progressing reasonably well . . . until I arrived at step 7 (importing contacts and cases). That’s where things got really interesting. I’ve had an eventful couple of days learning more about importing with Daylite. I’ll leave the telling of that tale to the next post. Hopefully, these notes will chronicle a short stage in the life of Daylite, quickly forgotten as the code was changed to make imports easier.

Displaying Notes in Daylite

Kevin — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 18:36:03 +0000

While setting up some merge templates in Pages, I got an email from Andy Warwick, a web designer/programmer in England, who developed a great widget for Daylite. His widget allows you to display a running list of notes in Contacts or Projects (and some other database objects). It only displays those notes which have the string “{HUD}” in the title. Apparently, a lot of people don’t want to see every note they make on a particular contact or project.

While Daylite allows you to create notes linked to a contact or project and gives you a list of note titles in an Activity tab, you still have to click on each note to see its content. With Andy’s widget, every note with “HUD” in the title is displayed, along with its content, in a running list. (The widget strips out the “HUD” string so the titles don’t include “HUD” in them.) It’s easy to scroll through your notes (or search for them using Daylite’ global search feature–Sh + Cmd + F.)

In my practice, we have a chronological list of ALL notes related to a particular contact or client using Timematters. I wanted to emulate this feature in Daylite and tweaked Andy’s widget to display every note. I also changed the formatting a little bit. Of course, if you want to show only a subset of your notes, Andy’s widget is just the ticket.

Here’s a screenshot to show you what the display looks like:

You can edit any note by clicking the Edit button of that particular note. I’d like to be able to add the initials of the note’s author to the title line, but haven’t had time to work on it.

So why did Andy email me? Well, I’d sent him the new code to show all widgets, but not being a programmer, there were some things that I thought would make the code better but didn’t know how to do. Andy kindly replied with a better section of code which I’ve incorporated into the final widget. The widget is available for download here. (Right click the link to download. Then unzip and double click the file to install in Daylite.)

Two caveats: First, the widget will choke if you use quotation marks in the content of your note. Nothing gets displayed if there’s a quotation mark in any of the notes. Second, there’s a bug in Daylite that causes the scroll bar to freeze when a list in the HUD is longer than the HUD area itself. Just drag the corner of the window a little to resize and the scroll bar unfreezes.

Daylite 3.7.4 Beta Released–Merges with Pages!

Kevin — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 21:46:01 +0000

It’s been a busy few months at work so the blog got the short end of the stick. But in the last week, I’ve been working on finalizing the plan to transition from my Windows machines at work to a new set of Macs. Most of that time has been spent tweaking categories, keywords and custom forms in Daylite. Now some very good news has just arrived. Daylite 3.7.4 beta is now out and it merges with Pages! (And Keynote and Numbers) I have no idea how well it works, how much data is made available for the merge or what steps the merge process requires, but this is excellent news for attorneys who don’t like to cut and paste to create new letters, pleadings, briefs, etc.

Here’s part of the the announcement from Marketcircle:

We’re releasing a Public Beta for our users to test and provide feedback on Daylite 3.7.4. We’ve made several fixes and added new features, and would appreciate feedback on these; the complete list of fixes and new features is listed below.

PLEASE NOTE: this release is a beta release, and may be further updated based on feedback from users; as such, it should not be considered as a ‘final’ release. We are confident that the fixes and features it brings are stable, but be warned that you use this release at your own risk. Please be sure to make appropriate backups of your database(s) - both online and offline.

The purpose of this public beta is to allow our users to test and provide feedback on this release; to that end, we’ve created this thread in the Marketcircle forums for such feedback. Please note that:

support on this release will be provided only through this forum thread, or you may also provide feedback through the Daylite Beta mailing list (if you are already registered on the mailing list)

Marketcircle Support & Sales will not provide direct support on this public beta release

This thread is to concentrate on the fixes and features of this release only (as listed below); if you wish to discuss other issues or features not part of this release (or that of other releases), please do so under the Using Daylite or Troubleshooting forums as a separate thread, as appropriate.

The release notes for Daylite 3.7.4 are:

Features:

Added merge support for Pages, Numbers and Keynote.
Additional information for contacts—such as category, additional phone numbers, owner and more—is now displayed in the linked view and the Quick Find results pane.
Added Birthday and Anniversary to contact summary view and as column options.
Added Task Duration as a column option.
Improved importing of calendar files that do not have a time zone defined to use the current time zone.
Improved the resizing behavior of several edit windows.
The local time in the Appointment window is now displayed using the user’s preferred display format.
Task window date and time fields are now two separate input fields.
Enforced the user’s delete permissions in the Trash inspector.
Removed the minimum margin size in the letter template editor.
Added task calls to Today’s Call List report.
Added auto refresh of all views following an online/offline sync.
Added discount field and discount total to estimate templates.
Includes Dialectic dialer plugin.
Added the Daylite Concepts Guide.
Backup reminder will be suppressed when automatic backup is configured for the database.
Added the ability to select multiple items when adding products or services to an estimate.
Added warning of any detected problems with automatic backups.
Added the ability to save logs to a file.
Updated OpenBase to version 10.0.11 build 124:

- Better permissions management.
- Addresses dynamic IP address network connection issues.
- Automatic fallback to a default backup directory when a user-defined backup directory is not writable.
- Improved offline synchronization reliability.”

Marketcircle also fixed a number of bugs. I was intending to do a screencast on merging with the Built-in Editor. I’ll add the Pages merge to the mix. I hope it’s good!

Merging data with documents in Daylite 3.7.2

Kevin — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 20:47:34 +0000

In the last couple of months, I’ve really focused on Daylite (DL). Case management is the single most significant piece of the transition puzzle, at least for me. What I’ve learned as I’ve read about Daylite and used the demo has actually encouraged me to dig deeper into the program. And my efforts have been rewarded.

I’ve been able to emulate the Timematters (TM) powerview using a modified version of Andy Warwick’s FTP Login widget described in Screencast No. 1. I’ve been able come up with a simple document management system that is less cumbersome, though less comprehensive, than the TM system. And I can also show the content of all notes in a single window in the Heads Up Display (HUD) in a project. In short, I can duplicate a lot of what I like best about TM by using widgets and some simple coding.

So now it’s on to the subject of merging. I’m a big fan of integration. Being able to get data out of DL and into a word processor is very important to me via the use of merge templates. I just crossed into that new frontier this past weekend, and I was pleased to discover that the merge capability in Daylite, at least for internal merges with the built-in editor, is much better than I expected. And it is very fast.

Merging with Daylite’s Built-in Editor
Thanks to two folks I’ve never met, Scott McCulloch and George Qualley, I’ve tweaked some of the code they’ve shared on the Marketcircle forum to create a sample merge letter in Daylite that pulls data from many sources during a single merge: the project, the contacts linked to that project, and the data in any custom form linked to the project. This is a Big Deal. It means, at the very least, that I can create a merge document using any data that is either (1) in a project or (2) connected to a project with just a few keystrokes.

The downside is that the built-in editor’s lack of page numbering, headers and footers, and other basic word processing capabilities make multi-page merges problematic, but even here, the built-in editor can generate a rough draft without the formatting which can then be copied and pasted into Word or Pages to complete the final draft. It could even be copied into Wordperfect running in Fusion or Parallels if your federal court requires Wordperfect format.

Merging with Word 2008
Merging with Word 2008 also works, but there’s also a significant downside. The merge keys available for external merges are much more limited than those for merges with the built-in editor. That means that for most merging, the built-in editor will have to suffice.

Merging Data into Government Forms
We use lots of Social Security forms and Industrial Commission forms in my practice. I have these forms in Wordperfect merge templates. The merges are fairly simple to run. To do the same thing with Daylite, you have to turn to Word 2008. The built-in editor doesn’t have the feature set necessary to do this.

So I recently tested a theory, and after several trials, it worked. Here’s what I did. I made an image of the form, inserted the image as a watermark in Word 2008, then used tables (one cell tables!) to precisely place the merge keys over the different boxes to receive merged data. I also used these table cells to type in data that doesn’t change (my name, address, phone number, etc.). Saved it as a .doc file. Then, when running the merge from within Daylite, I selected Word and the .doc file and completed the merge. It worked and it was reasonably quick about it. It would be better if you could add mergekeys to a PDF document and merge directly into that document, but I don’t think that’s possible. So, for now, this might be an acceptable workaround.

All this to say that I’m beginning to think that Daylite will work as an effective case management alternative to Timematters. I hadn’t felt this way for quite a while.

I’ll probably do a screencast on merging with the built-in editor and one on the widget I’ve customized to display a scrolling list of notes within a few weeks. The first two screencasts were plenty long (probably too long) so I’ll try to bring the next one in under 15-20 minutes.

Then it’s on to consider using Daylite to do some interoffice communication. Ben Stevens gave a very helpful presentation at the Macs in Trial seminar at the end of February. He packed a lot of good ideas into 10 minutes. (I didn’t make the seminar but got a copy of the DVD yesterday.) I want to try out some of what he’s doing with Daylite.

Finally, I’ve been keeping an eye on time and billing programs. I’m more willing to ditch the integration principle when it comes to these programs, if only because they are such complicated animals. Frankly, there’s not much out there that combines the great Mac interface with the tools needed to handle time and billing. But this isn’t a deal breaker in terms of moving to Macs. VMWare Fusion runs my Windows programs quite nicely, and if we have to use some legacy software until Mac developers catch up with their Windows brethren, I can wait.

Screencast 2–Document Management in Daylite

Kevin — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 09:50:15 +0000

This latest screencast modifies the Opportunity record in Daylite to track certain documents. (Right-click on the link to download.) At 37 minutes, it’s a bit long, but it gives you a good overview of one approach to document mangement using an object in Daylite that otherwise would not merit much attention.

There’s much more that could be discussed that I omitted from the screencast: File naming conventions, scanning documents and creating document records from those scanned docs, more about the file path in the FTP login widget described in the previous screencast. Not enough time and the thing is ponderous as it is.

Review the show notes I wrote several weeks back for more information about this screencast. Hope it’s helpful!

Daylite 3.7.2 Released

Kevin — Wed, 26 Mar 2008 13:32:41 +0000

Marketcircle just released a new version of Daylite. From the announcement:

Appointment detail view in the lower right of the calendar. Now you no longer have to open the appointment card to see all the details.
Appointment scrolling in the month view. Now you no longer have to go to the day view to see those extra appointments that don’t fit in a day in the month view. You can scroll now to see them all. Scroll wheel and trackpad gestures also supported.
We’ve significantly improved the resources aspect of the calendar. You can now include Resources (projector, boardroom, etc…) in smart calendars or command-select them along with users in the Users and Resources disclosure.
You can merge letters with Word 2008 and Excel 2008. Thanks to some improvements in Word 2008, we’ve been able to eek out some good speed improvements.
Thanks to a bunch of people on our forums and the MacLaw group, we’ve been able to put together and include a database template for the legal industry.

Full release notes are found here.

I’m looking forward to playing with this new version this weekend. Haven’t had time to finish the document management screencast, but this will give me extra incentive to complete that job.

Document Management in Daylite: Screencast No. 2 Status Report

Kevin — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 23:47:13 +0000

Well, I finished editing the new screencast on document management using Daylite. But it was rushed, squeezed in between other things, and I didn’t like the result. So I’m going to do a little more recording before I post it. I enjoy the screencasting process, but finding the time to do it is turning into a real problem.

: (

In the meantime, I thought I’d post the show notes which I intended to publish with the screencast. It’ll give you a better idea about what I’m working on. Hopefully, I’ll have some time this weekend to get it revised and out the door.

Show Notes:

In the new screencast, we look at seven things:

Creating a document folder structure on your hard drive
Using a client ID
Setting up the Opportunity record to track documents
Creating and saving a new document using Daylite’s built-in editor
Using smartlists in Opportunities to track subsets of documents
Archiving documents
Suggestions to improve Daylite

As in the last screencast, I omitted a few things that need some emphasis.

The Built-in Editor
This isn’t a screencast about merging but there are a few things to keep in mind when creating documents with the built-in editor. The most important is that Daylite stores the document you create in the Daylite database. In four years, I’ve managed to create over 18,000 document records in Timematters. Timematters doesn’t actually store the document itself; that resides in a directory on the hard drive. It simply stores information about the document with a link to the physical document.

If Daylite were to store 18,000 documents in the database, I imagine the thing would grind to a halt. So that’s why I suggest saving any document you create in Daylite to PDF and store it in a client’s folder. The only choice you have to make is WHEN you delete Daylite’s saved document (which is viewable in the Activity tab in the Details pane of a case/project). I might keep it available during the course of the case, but definitely delete it at the end of the case.

Smartlists
When you create a smartlist and configure the list view in the Opportunity record, Daylite remembers that configuration. That’s a tremendous help. It means that you can create a smartlist to show all your medical records requests with the fields you want to track in the order you want them displayed in the column view. A smartlist for discovery documents will use other fields arranged differently. Daylite remembers how you configure the screen for each smartlist. You could also create a third smartlist to show only those documents related to a particular client with a more generic set of fields displayed; Daylite will remember that configuration as well. It was a welcome surprise to see the program operating this way!

If Daylite had the ability to group smartlists in the navigation sidebar and the shortcut bar above the results pane, that would really help. Like creating groups in iCal or bookmark groups in Firefox or Safari. I can envision the shortcut bar getting cluttered very quickly with smartlists for cases (projects), contacts, tasks and documents (opportunities). The ability to group these different smartlist/shortcuts would enhance productivity; I think Marketcircle is looking at bringing this feature to a future version of Daylite.

Bugs and Annoyances
There are also some bugs/annoyances in the current program. When you modify an extra field, for example, the field name does not change to reflect the modification when it’s displayed in the dialog box used to select fields to display in list view. (That’s a mouthful.) In other words, you have to remember that you renamed Extra Field 1 “Addressee” or that Extra Date Field 1 is now “Sent.” Not a big problem but an annoyance. Also, the name you assign to Extra Field 1 (and, so far as I know, only Extra Field 1) will not display in the list view in the Opportunity record. Another minor annoyance, but Marketcircle is aware of the bug. Hopefully, they’ll fix it.

Scanned documents
I didn’t talk about handling scanned documents in the screencast, but they are handled in the same way as a document generated using the built-in editor. Once the document is scanned, it is saved as a PDF in the client’s folder. If it’s a document you want to track, you can create a record in the Opportunity tab using the method shown in the screencast. If you don’t want to track information about that document, you’re done. You can access the client’s document folder in several ways: using Spotlight, using the Documents link in the case widget (shown in the previous screencast) or using the link in the activity tab to the client folder (something easily created in Daylite and discussed briefly in this screencast).

Improvements to Consider
In an earlier version of Daylite, Opportunities could be linked to Projects/cases. For some reason, Marketcircle eliminated this ability in later releases. It ought to be restored. If Daylite added opportunities to the mix of linked objects displayed in the case record, then it would be a simple matter of double clicking the linked object to check the status of a medical record request or Plaintiff’s First Set of Interrogatories. Without that linkage, you’ll need, at a minimum, to click a smartlist on your shortcut bar to get to a list of documents, then select the one you want to view. A small matter but a beneficial upgrade.

Daylite also lacks the ability to display the contents of the Details field in the Opportunity record in the list view or even in the details pane. In other words, the only way to view the contents of the details field is to open the Opportunity record. This seems like an oversight. That field might be useful in the list view.

Finally, the opportunity record needs more date fields and a way to modify the content of the Status field in the Opportunity record. I discuss tracking two kinds of records–medical records requests and discovery–in the screencast but there are other kinds of documents you’ll want to track. Four extra date fields is insufficient to handle other kinds of records.

Conclusion
On balance, I think document management is actually doable in Daylite. If you’re like me, you don’t need to track all your documents. In fact, you may not even track a majority of them. But when you need to do it, it’s possible, and the method I show isn’t so complex that you’d simply give up if you attempted to implement it.

Screencast No. 1–Custom Form Data Display

Kevin — Mon, 10 Mar 2008 15:37:13 +0000

(UPDATE: I found an error in my compression settings. The result is that the new file is about a third the size of the old file and looks much better. I uploaded the new file, replacing the old one.)

Well, it’s finally here, our first screencast. (Right click on the link to download the file.) It’s high definition, 1280 x 720, about 27 minutes long, and weighs in at 158 MB (now 56.5 MB!).

I apologize in advance for the poor audio quality. It’s pretty bad! It takes about 4 hours to compress the file, and one of the audio settings was not set properly. Since it takes so long to compress, I’m just going to publish the screencast now and give compression a second try tonight with a different setting. If the result sounds better (and it should!), I’ll upload the new movie to replace the existing screencast.

You’ll also hear (through the distortion) my raspy, under-the-weather voice and a few blips and pops. You’ll see a bit of pixelation here and there. But you may miss the irritating omissions–things I failed to say that I wish I had said but don’t have to time to patchup.

So, it could be much better, but I’ve learned a lot in the process, and the process was fun. I’m hoping the next effort will show that I’ve benefited from my mistakes.

In this screencast, I do the following:

Survey the Daylite interface
Review categories and keywords
Create a case record
Create a custom form
Display custom form data using a modified widget

Let me say a little bit about each area here since, as I mentioned, I failed to say some things that needed to be said.

Daylite Interface
The interface is pretty straightforward. There are four sections: the left-side navigation panel, the toolbar at the top, the results pane in the center and the detail pane at the bottom of the screen. The results pane has three views: a business-card view (the one I look at in the screencast), a linked view (just drops the third pane with the business card info and only shows a list of contacts and the objects linked to a selected contact) and a list view (which is probably more accurately called a column view). The column view is nice because you can add and rearrange data fields from the contact record, then sort those by clicking on a particular column. We’ll look at this view in more detail when we discuss medical record tracking in a future screencast.

I didn’t mention the shortcut bar beneath the toolbar during the show. Duh! You can drag smartlists to this bar and rearrange the shortcuts. Works like Safari’s bookmarks. Very easy to use. You can create smartlists for Clients, Prospective Clients (I’d abbreviate that to PC), Cases (to show a list of all cases), casetypes to display only cases in a given practice area (e.g. PI-slip/fall; PL for products liability; SS for Social Security; WC for Worker’s Comp).

Using keywords, you can further filter your data to show only those cases involving a certain body part, or only those SS cases that have SSI claims. You could create a smartlist to show all medical records requests (e.g. MRR) and then, using keywords, create a smartlist to display only those MRRs for a particular client. You could do the same for discovery documents. I really like smartlists. If Marketcircle adds the ability to create folders on this shortcut bar to mimic Safari, you could dump smartlists into these folders to tidy up the shortcut bar a bit.

Categories and Keywords
One category per object. Multiple keywords per object. Use these to filter data in smartlists. There may be a bug in Daylite. I tried to create a smartlist that would display only worker’s compensation cases where the claim had not been accepted by the carrier, specifying a particular value for a data field in a custom form. In creating the smartlist, the data field appeared, but when executing the smartlist, nothing happened. I’m waiting to hear from Marketcircle to see if this is a program problem.

Very powerful feature and I like the way all categories and keywords can be assigned to objects in a single window. Very elegant.

Case Record
The case record has three limitations. First, you can’t modify the labels on the main page. Second, you can’t modify the data fields to change them, for example, from a date field or text field to a combo box or checkbox. What you see is what you get. If you use the “start” date field as a “date file opened” field, you just have to remember that “start” means “date file opened.”

The third limitation is that the twelve extra text fields and four extra date fields in the case record aren’t sufficient to capture all the data for a particular casetype. I use lots of date fields in my cases; four isn’t enough. And the extra fields have to apply to any practice area. Once you modify the extra field, it’s modified no matter what kind of case you’re creating. So the best use for the extra fields seems to be to capture data that you need in any kind of case: things like the aforementioned “date file opened” and “date file closed,” court file numbers, information about the client’s family, employer, a SSN. But as a repository for specific case data, it’s just not the place.

Custom Form
Daylite’s custom form is a very powerful program feature. It provides many different kinds of data fields (e.g., text, date, numerical, combo box, checkbox, etc.), allowing you to create a form to capture all the data related to a particular area of practice. So, if I end up moving to Daylite, I’ll create a custom form for Social Security, one for Worker’s Comp and one for LTD.

While Daylite excels with its custom form, it falls flat when displaying the information in that form, as you’ll see in the screencast. The display of custom form info in Daylite cannot be modified in any way. In Timematters, a feature called a Powerview displays data in a webpage. Using basic HTML, you can rearrange your data any way you like. You can include photos of your clients and include hyperlinks to google maps and to documents on your harddrive (this actually doesn’t work so well in Windows–works perfectly on the Mac!) So I wanted to emulate this great Timematters feature in Daylite.

Custom Widget
And that’s why the best part of the screencast is the custom form widget. It looks very similar to what I have in Timematters. It’s major drawback is that it cannot import information from a contact record. I wanted to get data from a linked contact record with the role “client” and have it show up in the widget but I don’t know how to code that. So I had to retype the client’s name, address, phone number, e-mail and date of birth in the custom form. Not optimal at all. It means that changes in any of this information needs to be made in two places–the linked contact record and the custom form. I’m hoping someone can help figure out a way to get that info into the widget.

Still, it does what I want it to do. It gathers all the basic case data in a single window, making it much easier to quickly get a handle on the status of the case. No need to click and scroll through multiple screens. When someone calls about a case, I can be up to speed in a matter of seconds.

In future screencasts, we’ll take a closer look at smartlists, demonstrate a custom widget that displays a running list of notes (and the content of the notes) linked to a case in a single window, modify the opportunities object to keep track of medical records requests and discovery requests and maybe examine the whole problem of getting data out of Daylite into merge templates in Word or Pages.

By the way, there appears to be some movement within Marketcircle to begin addressing the merge issue. They’re certainly developing a law template, but I’m hoping for more. Perhaps these encouraging signs are real harbingers for change.

I’ve created a screencasts link on the main toolbar above. This will take you to a screencasts page. As newer screencasts are produced, they’ll be listed on this page. Right click on the screencast’s title to download the file. You can also read the original show notes by clicking the “Go There” link.

Cheers.

Using Macs in a Law Practice: Guest Post

Kevin — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 15:36:16 +0000

Over on the Macs in Law Offices Google group, Thomas H. Hart III wrote a nice summary of the way he uses Macs in his law practice. His post appeared as part of a discussion about ways that Apple could improve its hardware and software to benefit attorneys. Mr. Hart identifies some of the hardware and software challenges he’d like Apple and others to address. I find these kinds of posts very helpful.

With Mr. Hart’s permission, here is the text of his post, with minor editing:

Let me explain how I use Macs and give you my thoughts about the Hardware and Software from Apple.

I am an active litigator using Macs (plaintiff’s work, complex trials across the country). I switched from PCs a couple of years ago because I was tired of the virus, spam and other similar problems. I am mostly paperless and I keep tons of files on my computer and on associated drives. I have set up networks and been the “computer guy” at a few firms. I have run Exchange Server and still use it on a web-hosted server.

For Hardware, I believe Apple is producing the right products for attorneys. I have purchased 3 MacBooks for my kids in college (one insisted on continuing with her PC), a used G4 for my son, a MacBook for my wife, 4 iMacs for office and home office use.

I bought a 15″ MBP in 2006 for my daily computer. It travels w/ me 100,000+ miles a year and is on in front of me 10-14 hours a day. One hard drive failed (I had a back up) and a few dents and scrapes have occurred. AppleCare replaced the hard drive and fixed some of the dents. It is an outstanding laptop.

I haven’t seen the need for a Mac Pro in a law setting unless someone is doing A LOT of video editing or to use as a server in a large office. I’d probably buy one if I could convince myself there is a need but my iMacs seem to be doing fine so far.

Hardware Suggestion #1:
Allow larger upgrades to RAM and Hard Drives in laptops. I have maxed out the RAM on my 2.33 MHz MBP at 3 GB and I would like to have 4 or 6 GB.

I ran out of room quickly with my 160 GB hard drive and an easier replacement path would be appreciated. I am not afraid to open the case do it myself but replacing a hard drive is not exactly “Plug and Play”. Even if larger drives are not available when the laptops are originally sold, they will be available later so please make the upgrade path easier.

As to software, I am gradually moving to Apple programs because I like their design, for the most part. In my day-to-day use, I most frequently use (in approximate order of frequency): E-mail, Calendar, Browser, Word Processor, PDF manager, To Do list, Presentation Software, photo editing, Spread Sheets, Deposition Transcript viewer, FTP client, iTunes and iChat.

I love CoverFlow and QuickView in Leopard. They are worth the upgrade alone for me.

Software Request # 1:
Keep producing these types of innovations. For example, make CoverFlow and QuickView usable in any product for searching and viewing, e.g., do a Spotlight search of e-mails, and QuickView the results. [Editor’s Note: The new Leopard Edition of HoudahSpot appears to provide a Quickview of search results.]

Software Request # 2.
I use Entourage because it combines and synchs E-Mail, Calendaring, To Do lists and basic case management (plus it works with my Exchange Server). I would like to get away from Entourage. I believe Apple could accomplish most of these by creating a shell that integrates iCal and Mail and connects to an Exchange Server.

Software Request # 3.
Keep juicing up Pages for Word Processing. I like its approach to Outlining, which I use a lot in trial prep. I find that I still need to go to Word for merging and other more complex tasks. Pages could be upgraded to do merging, envelopes, etc.

Software Request # 4.
Produce a sophisticated PDF manager that is not as bloated as Adobe Pro. I use version 8.0 and it sucks my MBP’s resources.

I use Camino rather than Safari but they are pretty similar in capabilities. I used FireFox extensively in my PC days but I tend to stick to Camino now.

For me, Keynote is the signature Apple product for lawyers. Keynote has replaced PowerPoint for me and I use it extensively. I love the results I get and the relative ease of use, especially the drag and drop video insertions. Keep improving Keynote while preserving the ease of use.

Software Request # 5:
Make a good photo editor part of iLife or iWork. I find iPhoto geared to basic photo collecting and it seems to have little editing capabilities. I need to crop, copy, delete. I need to be able to access many different photo formats. I need to preview photos from my Finder without first importing them into iPhoto (I don’t like the way iPhoto stores the photos, I prefer them in folders viewable in Finder). I use ImageWell for most things and PhotoShop when I need to.

Software Request #6:
Give software developers inducements to make Apple-compatible software. American Express encourages users to send them the names and addresses of companies that do not accept Amex so they can twist their arm with inducements; Apple could do the same with software developers. I need to read PTX files (deposition transcripts) because it is the de facto standard in my practice. It is not an Apple issue (unless Apple can entice RealLegal to make their Viewer Tiger and Leopard compatible). I use CrossOver to view files with the Windows viewer.

The basic FTP in Leopard and its components is weak; it should be beefed up.

Getting away from legal issues, iTunes works great but it could get away from a proprietary format. IChat works for me.

Hope you can find something helpful from the description of how one lawyer uses his Apple products and how he wishes he could use them.

Tom Hart

Thomas H. Hart III
Attorney at Law
Law Offices of Thomas H. Hart III
A Professional Corporation
2212 Queen Cross Street
Christiansted, VI 00820
340-719-9530 (voice)
340-719-9531 (fax)
www.thhpc.com

Using Daylite Screencast in Production

Kevin — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 15:42:52 +0000

Well, an hour here and an hour there and pretty soon you’ve figured out how to make a screencast. I’m happy to say that we’re about ready to record our first screencast; just waiting on a cheap headset to show up and we’ll begin. This will be the first in a series of screencasts looking at ways to make Daylite 3.7, a practice management program from marketcircle, work for lawyers.

In looking at my current setup, there are a number of things that Timematters does well that I want Daylite to emulate. Unfortunately, not all of it can be done on the lawyer’s end–Daylite’s developers really need to address its weak merge engine, for example. But there are some things I’ve discovered that Daylite users may find useful. The first screencast looks at a way to get all your case information on a single screen, arranged the way you like, making it easier to get a read on the current status of a case when talking with clients, adjusters, defense attorneys, etc.

I’ll put up a link called “Screencasts” in the navbar at the top of the page when we’re ready.