What is Clients Case Management System?

Clients Case Management System (Clients) is a database that tracks cases for legal services, law school clinics, and pro bono offices that represent low-income people. Its main functions include:

Case Management - Track cases from initial client contact to closing. This includes conflict and eligibility checks, client intake, case notes, PBI referrals, expenses collected and incurred, and time spent. Produce and print an almost unlimited number of reports, forms and letters. Generate your own custom reports. Schedule appointments and tickles, checking them off as completed.

Document Tracking - Allows you to associate scanned documents with a case. You can keep track of who entered the document, what subject category it falls under, what sub-category it falls under, and what is the priority for the document. You can also enter a brief note describing the document.

Document Assembly - Allows you to assemble documents using the data from the case management system (such as a case or lawyer information) or just adding information in yourself.

Project Management - Allows you to allocate three resources to a goal; staff, time and money. The Project Management assists in controlling and tracking these resources in case related and non-case related activities. It captures the lessons learned by the people running the Project, thus acting as a knowledge management device and means users can learn from past successes and failures.

Private Bar Referral - Refer clients to volunteer or compensated members of your private attorney panel. Track your volunteer attorneys and the law firms to which they belong. Easily find out who took cases, when they took the cases, date after which the Lawyer would be willing to take cases,etc. Generate opening, tickle and closing letters to these lawyers and the referred clients.

Agency/Hotline Referrals - Maintain a database of outside agencies that stores alternative sources of help for client and hotline referrals. A click of the mouse generates a list of agencies that handle a particular problem in a specific county. The Hotline button on the client’s intake form can refer clients to three different agencies and send them up to six pieces of literature.

Fund Raising - Track and produce reports on current, past and potential contributors and their organizations. See how often and how much a donor has given, and note specific information such as funding cycles, contact persons or target issues.

Grants Tracking Package (Optional) - Allows you to track the information about grants received. The Grants Tracking Package helps with both the application process and the requirements after the office receives the grant. It helps you track requirements, goals, sub-grantees and the budget.

Intake/Interview System - Develop lists of questions to ask clients, dependent on the problem they face, to insure that the essential facts are gathered. The improved interview system allows you to conduct efficient and thorough interviews, create and edit questions, add programmed responses to questions, create and edit advice, associate questions and advice records with appropriate NatIndx and Problem Codes, create a custom question list, and view previous interviews of the subject.

Views Package (Optional) - Views limit the cases that a user can see. They are useful if it is important that only certain people see certain cases, and no others. They only exist in the SQL Platform of the system. Once a View is set, the person’s connection to the full table is disconnected and they only see the view with the reduced list of cases.

The SQL Platform of Clients

Sharing information between advocates is very important because it allows offices to act less like separate, small partnerships, and more like one large law firm. This is the idea behind the seamless intake. A wide area network (WAN) that shares case information is one way to accomplish this.

Clients SQL is designed to have a central database managed by Microsoft SQL. Having SQL reduces the amount of bandwidth the user needs to use the software. This allows the office to use relatively slow WAN connections.

How Does it Work?

The Standard Platform of Clients uses an Access database file on both the Workstation and the Server. Access works like other desktop databases (FoxPro, Paradox, etc.). When you ask to find a particular client, the Server sends the whole client list to the Workstation. The Workstation then uses its processor to sort through all of the clients and find the correct one.

In a SQL - Database/Server system, when you ask for a particular client, the software on the Server finds that client and returns only their information to the workstation.

The Advantages

The advantages of the SQL Platform are:

1) It reduces how much information flows over a WAN or LAN by returning only what is requested.
2) It is more stable since the work is done on the Server, and any corrupted requests from a Workstation are ignored.
3) Speeding up the Server speeds up all the computers using case management, since most the work is being done there.
4) As you add more memory and processors, it uses them and keeps getting faster (scalable).
5) Hundreds or even thousands of users can log in and use the database.
6) It can be backed up while people are using it.

The SQL is useful primarily in two circumstances. If you have an office with many users (thirty or more users), SQL gives you a faster and more stable database than Microsoft Access. Although Access remains on the Workstation, it merely relays the request to the SQL software, which actually does the work. Also, when you are running a WAN and want to share a central database. Because SQL only returns the requested information, a search can respond though the narrow WAN lines in seconds rather than hours.

What You Need to Run It

The first thing needed is a license to use Microsoft Access. You need at least one full copy per office. In addition, you need a license to use Microsoft SQL. This is usually a per user charge. A special program, providing low cost pricing for nonprofits, can drastically reduce this cost.

Next, you need a separate SQL server computer. Although not absolutely necessary, it does not make sense to burden the existing server with other responsibilities. Remember, the faster this computer, the faster the database work will be. Having someone who can manage this SQL Server is also important.

The other requirement is a stable WAN. Backup software, as usual, is indispensable.

There is a need for about 40K per user in a pure SQL Platform. That means if you had five users in an office, you would need about 200K of bandwidth.

When You Wouldn't Need It

The SQL Platform is not necessary if you only have a single office and less than thirty employees. We find that the Standard Platform does a good job of handling this smaller sized office without the expense and complexity of SQL.

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