Tailored Solutions for Any Practice Area
In the legal profession, each practice area has unique demands, and meeting those requires a solution designed with precision. Perfect Practice offers a specialized suite of tools tailored for General Law, Collections Rights, and many other sectors. With features like secure document management, intuitive case tracking, and integrated communication tools, our platform enables you to manage your caseload effectively, stay compliant, and provide the highest level of service to your clients and stakeholders.
Whether you’re handling complex litigation, navigating governmental regulations, or managing debtor accounts, Perfect Practice® provides the resources you need to simplify and optimize your practice.
Actual Clients – Screen Shots
Case Management Features
Perfect Practice® is designed to meet the specific demands of different areas of law, providing targeted features and workflows that make managing cases and client relationships easier and more efficient. We understand that every practice area has unique challenges, and our tailored solutions give your team the tools to overcome those challenges, optimize performance, and drive client satisfaction. No matter what practice area you focus on, Perfect Practice offers comprehensive support to ensure that your firm can operate seamlessly, no matter the complexity of your caseload.
CLICK ON THE PLUS OR MINUS SIGN TO EXPAND OR CONTRACT
Perfect Practice enables firms to customize the look of the program for each area of law if they wish. Label sets also allow the assignment of different designs to other areas of law. These examples are of the ID bar, which contains the fields you want displayed at all times. While almost all fields are searchable, these fields allow searching by the items most appropriate for each area of law. The below examples show two different area’s of law with different ID bars. This is only the beginning! See the Questionnaire section to see how to finish your customization
DEAULT FIELD NAMES
The above fields are all the fields that are available as a default. You can have a different set of information tracked for each area of law or you can setup a common one that all areas of law will use. You could have a different set of information tracked for each area of law. The configuration will be tracked by the initial area of law that was used, we call theses fields “Label Sets”. Let’s look at a couple of area of law specific configurations.
FORECLOSURE LABEL SET
This is a label set that was specifically created for Foreclosure files. It’s probably suitable for other creditor rights files such as Bankruptcies, Evictions, etc. That’s the beautiful part, it’s up to you!
PERSONAL INJURY LABEL SET
Here’s a label set you could use for any personal injury type case, be it Auto Accident, Slip & Fall or anything else!
INSURANCE DEFENSE LABEL SET
It’s important to note, if you’re using our Billing system, the Responsible Attorney & Client fields are required in those specific fields.
COLLECTIONS LABEL SET
I think you probably have the idea by now. This one shows that you don’t have to change the names of the fields if you’re not using them. This is YOUR system! Set it however you want.
Perfect Practice tracks EVERYTHING!
IT’S THE WRONG INFORMATION!
We just noticed that someone or something has changed the information for the county! Right click in the field to see the “Show History” option.
SHOW HISTORY
A pop-up box will appear. Click on “Show History” to see the change information.
WHO CHANGED IT!
We can quickly see that someone logged in as user MH is the guilty party!
WHEN IT WAS CHANGED
We can also see the time & date it was changed!
WHAT IT WAS!
Of course knowing what the value was before it was changed is helpful so we can put back the correct value.
Database triggers record basic information on virtually all data fields. These include:
- who entered the data,
- the date the data was entered
- the time the data was entered
- who changed the data
- The date the data was changed
- The time the data was changed
As to records that were changed, more extensive information is recorded:
- the program that made the changes
- the program version that made the changes
- the login name of the user that made the changes
- the internal user number of the user that made the changes
- the ip number of the machine that made the changes
- the database version on which the change was made
- the table name the changes were made to
- the field number that was changed
- the original value of the field before the change
- the new value of the field after the change
With this information we’ve had some clients update records that were inadvertently changed by not putting a limit on SQL scripts they created & ran (We’re talking thousands of records where all counties were changed to the same county). It’s important to note that users cannot change the records in this file!
CODE GROUPS
Code groups allow you to create a specific list that limits which activity and phase codes are available when entering transactions. A code group can be specified for each activity type. If a code group has been setup for a particular transaction type, it will override the normal setting and ONLY show codes from the code group in the activity and phase code windows.
ACTIVITIES IN A CODE GROUP
As you can see in the red highlighted section, you can specifiy a default amount time & a couple of other items. This feature is very handy for setting up different fee schedules for clients doing Foreclosure. You can also use it where some clients have very specific verbage or codes they want used. Of course for task billing, you have total control over what codes your employees can enter for specific clients.
ACTIVITY CODES – NO CODE GROUP
This is a Foreclosure case with no code group set. The drop down has all Time Cost codes that have no area of law specified or have FORECLOSURE specified.
ACTIVITY CODES – BIG BANK
This is the Foreclosure case we looked at earlier. The drop down now only shows the activity codes assigned to the Big Bank code group.
Your own personal dashboard gives you an overview when you first log in. Of course you can always go back to home to see updated numbers. The graphs can summarize any data that you’re tracking. If you want metrics on data you’re not tracking, add a new field in under 30 seconds. The graphs are drill down, you can simply click on a section and go down 5 levels. Graphs are controlled by SQL statements. There’s no limit to how many graphs you can have.
In this example, I’ve also chosen to show all outstanding to-dos. Another very useful item to have on your dashboard is your time for the day!
Create perfect documents every time with Docutrac®!
Docutrac® takes the information entered on the data sheets and puts that information directly into your documents. Intelligent document merging allows the program to make decisions based on the content of the data sheets. This allows conditional merging of different paragraphs dependent on any data field.
MERGE DOCUMENTS
When Docutrac® is selected, you’ll see a list of all documents that are available for merging for this area of law, in this case Auto Accident. This includes all documents specified for this area of law as well as those that are available for all areas of law
MERGE PACKAGE OF DOCUMENTS
You can also merge a package of documents all at once! There’s really no limit to the number of documents, but here’s where the intelligent part comes in. DocuTrac® will evaluate each entity you’ve related to the case. It will then prepare each the document for only those entities that meet the criteria set for the types of related parties, each document for which each document is appropriate!
CODING DOCUMENTS FOR MERGING
To lessen the learning process, DocuTrac® utilizes the standard mail merge process for either Microsoft Word® or WordPerfect® The biggest pain point in document merging is entering the merge codes into the document for merging. This is particularly burdensome in Word. To simplify this process, we provide a proprietary macro that will enter the appropriate coding for you! It handles both merge numbers & merge names. If you look across the top of the macro, you can see the we handle all types of common situations.
A SIMPLE DOCUMENT
For our first example, let’s merge a simple shell letter for a client. We’re on a case, so when we select documents, you will see all documents appropriate for that case. When you highlight the document you want (in this instance “Initial Appt Letter”, double click it and it will move to the right, to the documents selected queue. Now that you’ve selected a document, the merge will occur when you select the merge documents button or automatically if your automatic merge feature is activated.
MERGING A SINGLE DOCUMENT
We selected a single document, but look at what we got! Everything in yellow was merged from the database with no further input from us. We even have the envelope, ready to print. Of course that depends on your printer.
ENTITIES ASSOCIATED WITH THE CASE
How did DocuTrac® know who to send the letter to? It looked at the relationships & found the client!
IT AUTOMATICALLY MADE A CASE NOTE!
This is intelligent document merging, it did more than merge the document! We set it to automatically make a note regarding what & when this occurred!
IT ALSO MADE A TIME ENTRY!
As you can see, we also had DocuTrac® create a time entry for 0.2 hours. This was a contingency case, so no dollar amount was created. Each document merged can create as many item as you want.
PACKAGES
Packages allow you to merge multiple letters that are appropriate at a given time in the case. In this instance, we’ve chosen the “Opening Package”. As you can see, there are 4 different letters to prepare. Each letter however, can have what types or related entities need to receive each letter. When this package is merged, we have no idea how many letters will be prepared. That’s the computer’s job!
THE FIRST LETTER
This is a letter to our new client, thanking him for hiring us! Of course we prepared the envelope also.
THE ACCIDENT REPORT
One request will go to each investigating agency. In this instance there’s only one. By the way, you can also merge a copy for your client if you want!
MEDICAL RECORDS REQUEST
Depending on the severity of injuries & length of recovery, there could be many of these. We’ll only show 2. One to a treating physician and one to a hospital.
MEDICAL RECORDS – HOSPITAL
Wow, that’s a lot of stuff! Oh, that’s right this is intelligent document merging, there’s more!
NOTES
A note has been entered for each document prepared.
TIME ENTRIES
Time entries for each document prepared (No amount as this is a contingency case)
- Merge with Microsoft Word® or WordPerfect®
- Merge any information in the Case Management program
- Decisions made based on the data entered
- Decisions made on which documents to prepare based on who is associated with the case
- Automatic transactions such as Notes, Tasks & Time entry
- Preparation of envelopes with letters
FORECLOSURE DOCUMENT LIST
We saw how to get different groups of documents, now we’ll look at something a little more advanced. Some complex documents, such as complaints, actually need different paragraphs added in for multiple parties. Here’s a list of the documents available for Foreclosure cases. Remember, each area of law can stand alone or share with other areas of law.
FORECLOSURE PACKAGES
Selecting “Package” will show will show all Foreclosure packages. Under the “Documents Available” you’ll see a bunch of items with the prefix “fc_part”. In this usage, these are actually paragraphs, not documents.
DEFENDANT QUESTIONNAIRES
These are the questionnaires attached to each defendant. The ones that are populated show in green. Those in red are available, but not currently in use. These each contain the specific information required for the paragraph.
QUESTIONNAIRE DATA
Each paragraph may contain more or less information. We made a different questionnaire for each paragraph to make it less confusing for the user. Just fill in the information for the paragraph you need. The rest is automatic!
COMPLAINT – PAGE 1
Now merge the document, that’s all you have to do!
COMPLAINT – PAGE 2
Remember, you only need to put in the information once. When you get it correct, you don’t have to worry about typo’s or cut & paste!
COMPLAINT – PAGE 3
WOW! what a time saver. If you want an amended complaint, just correct the data & merge again.
NOTES
It automatically put in a note on the case showing when the complaint was produced.
BILLING ENTRY
Your computer automatically looked up the amount to bill and created a billing transaction based on the fee schedule for that Client!
REMINDER TO ACCOUNTING TO BILL
An automatic reminder (we call them to-do’s) was sent to accounting to make sure they bill this matter. Keep in mind if you saved this document, it was also picked up by document management & was added to the document log.
SUBJECT QUERIES
Subject Queries allow you to put SQL commands in the document setup. These need to resolve to one field per query, but they’re invaluable. Need to calculate the number of days between 2 dates? Need to calculate the per diem on a loan? Need to calculate the payoff on a mortgage or loan? Let your computer do it with SUBJECT QUERIES!
If you have any additional questions on document merging capabilities, contact our Sales Department.
Document Management takes advantage of the shared folders on your network.
All documents on a case are organized into a document list ordered by date or code. To access the document a simple right click allows you to retrieve the document. Scan documents directly to the folder selected for each case with a Fujitsu ScanSnap® scanner. Newly scanned documents will be added to the list and can also trigger time entries and followup tasks if you wish. Staff members can automatically be alerted that there is new mail on their cases! You can even scan in on location and the document can automatically be saved on your document server.
- Chronological list of Documents
- Instant access to documents from a case with the right mouse click
- Automatic notification of new documents for the responsible staff member
- Scan directly to a file
- Remote scanning via Microsoft Terminal Server
CASE & PARTY FILTERS
Perfect Practice has a number of filters on Cases/Parties and transactions. The first one is the “Filter by Role”. Selecting this option will give a list of all Areas of Law you have defined. Simply highlight one and the list of cases will be limited to the one you’ve selected.
CASE TYPE FILTER
As you can see, once I chose FORECLOSURE, only foreclosure cases display in the list
FILTER CRITERIA
Choosing this option allows further refinement of which cases will be displayed.
TO DO LIST
When you go to a transaction list, the default filter will be in effect. In this instance we’re looking at the To Do List.
EXISTING FILTERS
Clicking on the dropdown, will display all the filters this user has saved.
CHANGING A FILTER
Clicking on the funnel symbol will allow you to see the filter you’ve selected and make changes to it!
CURRENT FILTER
The highlighted box shows the current SQL statement for the filter. If you have a basic understanding of SQL, you can just add or change the existing SQL. Don’t worry, you can’t screw anything up! We’ve added a “Test Filter” option to make sure you don’t have any syntax issues. When adding field names, you need to use the database name, not the displayed name (which can be customized).
FINDING THE DATABASE NAME
For your convenience, you can right click on any of the header fields and all fields currently defined in the list will appear with both the database name and the display name. The unchecked items are not currently displaying in your list, but you can add them by simply checking them on. They will go at the end of the fields listed & you can position them however you want.
BUILD YOUR FILTER
Press the “Show Filter” button & the system will create your SQL filter for you!
SAVE YOUR NEW FILTER
Now that you’ve created the filter you want, select “Save Custom Filter” and you’ll be prompted to give it a name. It will now be available in your list of filters!
Hosting your Perfect Practice system has a multitude of advantages! This takes a lot of the hassle out of keeping up with network configuration. Here’s a list of a few of these:
- No network configuration on your part for Perfect Practice
- The actual hosting service is AWS (Amazon Web Services).
- Perfect Practice utilizes a PostgreSQL database. This is the largest open source database, even used by Microsoft. (No update fees)
- Perfect Practice configures your Perfect Practice and performs the updates
- Your data is maintained at 2 different physical locations. If one were to be destroyed, you wouldn’t even notice!
- BACKUPS
- Backups are scheduled by us but automatically performed by AWS
- Several “snapshots” of your server are taken each day by Amazon
- Perfect Practice has Amazon store & archive end of day backups for each day of the week (longer is available at additional cost)
- Perfect Practice has Amazon store & archive end of month backups for 12 consecutive months
- Perfect Practice has Amazon store & archive end of year backups indefinitely (These will take longer to restore as they are in deep storage (Glacier)
- Snapshots, End of Week and End of Month backups are available real time.
- The biggest support items Perfect Practice encounters are related to network configuration & settings. These virtually disappear as we are configuring & maintaining the environment.
- Should you have a support issue, it’s more quickly handled, as authorized personnel at Perfect Practice have instant access to the data.
- In fact it’s so reduced, we give a discount to hosted support
- SECURITY
- The CIA uses AWS, so do we. If it’s good enough for the CIA, it’s good enough for us!
- Each client has their own database (No shared data)
- Database is Encrypted at rest
- Data is Encrypted in transit
- Access to Desktop data thru a dedicated VPN connection & terminal server for each user using Workspace
- Access to data via Web Browser only from an authorized device.
- Malware protection software on servers
- Unlimited storage is available. Need more? A quick call will give you what you need. Same day turnaround. (no new servers to buy or configure)
- Virtually Unlimited CPU power and memory are available
- Need a new user? A quick call (24 hour turnaround)
- Microsoft office is available for a modest subscription for Workspace users & updated by AWS
The best recommendation comes from one of our Foreclosure clients. They had their documents and other applications on Microsoft’s Azure hosting solution. They decided to move Perfect Practice to this environment so everything was in one place. Over a year after making this decision their Perfect Practice is still hosted by us. When we questioned the owner as to why they hadn’t moved yet, he said words to the effect of “It’s too easy when running on your platform to want to change! No effort is involved on our part.”
For those of you unfamiliar with Net Director it’s a third party service for creditor rights firms. They have automatic interfaces for most financial institutions, through ICE (formerly Black Knight) which automatically send referrals to you! No effort on your side required, the referrals just appear in your Perfect Practice system. Likewise, key milestones & other information flow back & forth automatically. While there is a cost for this service It’s a big time saver & will save you employee expense!
These are the interfaces supported as of 07/31/2025. Of course we add new interfaces all the time & companies change the interface names and sometimes cease operations. Interfaces that are through NetDirector are prefixed with *. If you have a specific interface you need, CALL!
| Feature | Web Link |
| NETDIRECTOR INTERFACE | https://www.netdirectormortgagebanking.com |
| ABC Legal Interface (Process Server) | https://www.abclegal.com/ |
| Accuserve inteface (Process Server) | https://nationalevictions.com/listing/accuserve/#google_vignette |
| Auction.Com interface (Auction Company) | https://www.auction.com/ |
| * Black Knight interface (Case Management) | https://mortgagetech.ice.com/index |
| * Court Xpress interface (eFiling) | |
| * Death Search interface (Self Explanatory) | https://www.netdirectormortgagebanking.com/death-search/ |
| * DMRS interface (Bank Portal) | |
| Efiling Made Easy | https://www.efilemadeeasy.com/ |
| * Excel/Firefly interface (Process Server) | https://fireflylegal.com/ |
| * Equator interface – not able to integrate with ND until 2025 at the earliest | https://www.equator.com/equator-platform |
| * First American Interface (Case Management) | https://www.firstam.com/mortgagesolutions/solutions/index.html |
| * FLA Biz interface (Publications) | |
| * FMNA Loss Mit interface (Self Explanatory) | https://singlefamily.fanniemae.com/servicing/loss-mitigation |
| * FNF Gator Interface (Title Company) | https://www.fntgflorida.com/ |
| * Gizzen Zawyer interface Now called Z Process | https://zprocess.com/about.html |
| Horace Mann Interface | |
| iClear interface (Fees & Costs) | |
| * Info Trak interface | https://www.infotrack.com/ |
| LEDES 98 interface (Fees & Costs) | https://ledes.org/ledes-98b-format/ |
| LRLB (Orange) interface (Fees & Costs) | |
| * Military Search Interface-SCRA (Self Explanatory) | https://www.netdirectormortgagebanking.com/Military-Search/ |
| Nationwide Interface (Fees & Costs) | |
| Net Extract Interface (Document Extraction) | |
| New invoice interface (Fees & Costs) | https://mortgagetech.ice.com/products/invoicing |
| * NJ Arch Angel interface (Process Server) | https://www.njarchangel.com/ |
| * Pacer interface (Bankruptcy) | https://www.netdirectormortgagebanking.com/PACER/ |
| * Penny Mac interface (Case Management) Referrals Only | |
| * ProVest interface (Process Server) | https://www.provest.com/ |
| * Quandis interface (Case Management) | https://www.quandis.com/ |
| Quintarious (Process Server) | |
| * Red Vision interface (Title Company) | https://www.firstam.com/mortgagesolutions/solutions/index.html |
| Serengetti interface (Fees & Costs) | |
| * Source Docs interface | |
| * Stern interface (Process Server) | |
| * Stewart Title interface (Title Company) | |
| * Tempo interface (Case Management) | |
| TransUnion (CR) interface (Credit Report) | |
| * TSI interface (Process Server) | |
| * Vendorscape interface (Case Management) |
Keep in mind, we can customize interfaces to most programs. If it’s a fairly common interface, we may not even charge for the development. For more information, CALL (1-407-843-8992), fill out the information request or use the CHAT!
Perfect Practice Notify
Perfect Practice® Notify is a proprietary, secure, fully integrated instant messaging system for your firm’s staff. Perfect Practice® Notify is the perfect solution that balances today’s instant communication needs with uncompromised network security. Messages can be generated by other users or by pre-designated types of activities. For example, any time an appointment on your calendar is entered or modified, you can be alerted instantly or the very next time you log in should you be out of the office.
IS NOTIFY AVAILABLE?
This is my home screen. If you look at the bottom right, you’ll see a small blue ribbon with the word Notify on it if Notify is running.
NOTIFY USERS
Clicking on the blue Notify header will show a list of all Notify users. A green dot after their initials indicates they are currently active.
SENDING A NOTIFY MESSAGE
Clicking on a Notify user’s initials will display a message window. In this instance we clicked on LC. A message window is now available.
TYPE IN YOUR MESSAGE
Just type in your message. The window will expand to whatever size you need. This message is now going to LC. The target user doesn’t have to be on-line, when they log in again, the message will appear!
WHAT THE TARGET USER WILL SEE!
The targeted user will see the message & a window will appear for any reply they might have. There isn’t any save button, this happens automatically. To send the message, just press the enter key!
The reply! Just type in your message, the reply is already targeted to the person that sent the original message!
THE REPLY
As you can see, a compete record of the exchange is saved for everyone involved!
A COMPLETE RECORD!
That’s all there is to it! A complete record of the conversation with no effort on your part.
- Maintains a Database of all messages
- Retains messages if a user is not logged in
- Configurable triggers can send messages automatically
- Shows who is currently logged on to your network
Perfect Practice® has the capability of synchronizing with Microsoft Outlook®
The interface has the ability to import and/or export Appointments, ToDos and Contacts (parties) between Perfect Practice® and Outlook. This is a two way synchronization to sync Appointments, ToDos and Contacts (parties) to and from Microsoft Outlook® behind the scenes at an interval specified by the user. Also allows attaching emails to your cases.
SENT EMAIL – GENERAL
You’ll have the following features once the Outlook plug-in is installed. This example is of sending an email that will be related to a case. Just find the case as shown at the bottom of the screen & hit send. This email will then be tagged to the case under the Email activity tab. Everything will be automatic!
SENT EMAIL – ATTACH TO FILE
Here’s how it will appear on the email tab.
RECEIVED EMAIL – CLICK TO ATTACH TO FILE
This is a reply to the email we sent. As we previously discussed, just identify the case from the lower part of the screen & click the Attach button. This will automatically display on the email tab!
SENT/RECEIVED EMAIL – CASE SCREEN
This screen is how the email tab will look after our attachments!
Perfect Practice® has the capability of synchronizing with Microsoft Outlook®
The interface has the ability to import and/or export Appointments, ToDos and Contacts (parties) between Perfect Practice® and Outlook. This is a two way synchronization to sync Appointments, ToDos and Contacts (parties) to and from Microsoft Outlook® behind the scenes at an interval specified by the user. Also allows attaching emails to your cases.
OUTOOK SYNC SETTINGS
This is where you setup the rules for your Outlook sync. Once it’s setup, there NOTHING for you to do! It’s automatic!
Questionnaires are the heart of the Perfect Practice system. Think of questionnaires as your actual screens. You can create a new field in about 10 seconds. There are several unique qualities of questionnaires.
You can create a new screen and add 30 fields in about 5 minutes. Most importantly, our unique design allows for an unlimited number of screens and questionnaires, without changing the underlying database. Every Perfect Practice system in the world has exactly the same structure. Everyone wants it their way, there are no two alike but they’re all the same. You don’t have to worry about updates destroying your custom items, they’re stored in the data.
There are predefined objects that allow you to create almost any type of field you can imagine. Drag & drop where ever you want it. Simply choose the type of object you want!
DOCTOR
This slide shows a simple questionnaire that took a total of 3 minutes to create, including typing. We’re going to create this from scratch to show you how to create a screen. Before you can design a screen you must give it a name in system codes. Since this is already in our data, we’ll add a new screen name of Doctor-New.
ADD A NEW SCREEN
Once the screen name is set you need to pull up an entity to attach it to. Hit the plus sign & type in the new screen name.
LINK YOUR NEW SCREEN
Your new screen will now be attached to the entity. Click on the DOCTOR-NEW in the questionnaire title bar. When you click on the Maintenance button you’re ready to add fields! (You must be in the superuser security group).
YOUR PALLET!
Now you have a blank screen to work with. Click the Maintenance button (highlighted at the top) and grid lines will appear. Down the right side of the screen are the most commonly used field types.
DRAG & DROP!
To add a field, just click on the field type you want & drag it where you want it It’ll also give you a chance to name the field. Just type in the name!
FAIL SAFE!
Oh-No, you went too fast & missed your chance to name the field. No you didn’t, just move the cursor into the field name and start typing! The more I look at this I think I really screwed it up. I should have chosen a field type of Combo box, it’s not wide enough, I didn’t give the field a name. Maybe I just just delete it and start over. NO, NO! That’s not necessary. If you right click in the box, you can edit almost everything about that field!
FIELD EDITING
Not to worry, you can fix almost anything. Just select the “Edit Field Setup” option!
QUESTIONNAIRE ITEM SETUP
Everything about the field is available to change! Just don’t forget to save your changes before you exit the screen.
FIELD TYPES
When you select “Field Format”, a drop down will show you all available field types. Depending on the field type you choose, the screen information may change.
As soon as we chose Combo Box, we got a new field “ComboBox Items”. Simply type in the names of the items you wish to appear in the drop down, separated by commas
ADDING ANOTHER FIELD
I’m sure you have the idea now, choose the field type you want, drag it onto the pallet where you want it, give it a name. Repeat as necessary. Remember, you can have unlimited fields in your screen and you can rearrange, edit, delete fields at any time! For a more detailed discussion on the field capabilities, please set up a demonstration with our sales department. Finally, DON’T FORGET TO SAVE!
- Unlimited Fields
- Design your own screens
- Add or Change your screen design while users are logged in
- Workflow Interactions
- Grid Mode to Align fields (Drag & Drop)
Years ago, when questionnaires were first released, we were amazed at how quickly they caught on! Clients got carried away and added everything they needed for documents, workflow and general information to their questionnaires. Some Foreclosure clients had hundreds of fields to track. We realized that these giant questionnaires, while thorough, made it very difficult to find specific information. We invented “Section Panels”. Section Panels allow you to reorganize your database display without affecting any of the data.
You can create a section panel and then put ANY information on any of the case questionnaires on the panel. This is just an easy way to organize massive amounts of information into manageable chunks. This makes it very easy to see specific information and to reorganize information without making changes to your existing setup.
As you can see below, there are many additional features to enhance the useability of section panels. In this example, any section panel containing information is show in green. Empty panels are shown in red. Why would you want to look at every panel to see if there was information?
SECTION PANELS
In the old days, clients would make giant screens with hundreds of fields. They’d have to scroll down forever & had difficulty finding what they were looking for. Section Panels allow organizing data by logical groupings. Rather than scrolling down, you find the section of information you wish to view & click on the panel!
EXPAND A PANEL!
When you expand a panel, you only see the information you’re looking for. You can even add validation to the sections. The green & red section panels indicate whether a particular section panel currently contains any information. An often overlooked feature is that the fields in a section panel don’t have to all come from the same screen. If you want to reorganize you data, you can add fields from any of your existing screens. This doesn’t affect any of your data either! You can think of section panels as just a different view.
Legal cases typically have a number of persons associated with them. These people may show up on different cases with a different role. For example, a doctor could be a defendant, an expert witness, a treating physician or in this example an IME doctor. Our goal is to enter data ONCE! You can associate the same person to any case in any role by just “Tagging” them to the case.
This can be significant to document merging as you can identify each person by the role they play in this case. You can utilize this when merging documents to only send documents to the appropriate people based on the role in a case.
There are many other uses of relationships. One of our clients had a role in his database for “FOB”s. We were confused and asked him what a FOB was. He said “Oh, that’s a friend of Bill”. Bill was the attorney. As it were, he had many different lists with people related to them. He had Christmas party people, big xmas gifts, little xmas gifts, etc. Since you can easily add or remove relationships, the possibilities are limitless.
PERSONAL INJURY RELATIONSHIPS
Perfect Practice allows and unlimited number of cases and parties. When you setup a new entity there’s a requirement to identify what type entity you’re entering such as Doctor, Attorney, Defendant, etc. The basic role of an entity is normally shown where ever they appear. These relationships are from a Personal Injury Case. The highlighted column on the relationships represents the entities basic role.
RELATED ROLE
Now the highlighted row is the “Related Role”. The very first one shows the “Type/Role” is INSURANCE and the “Related Role” is “INS_AUTO_PRI”. This will allow the document merging to automatically pick up the correct party for the document. Note that the same party can actually be tagged as different related roles.
FORECLOSURE RELATIONSHIPS
Here are the relationships of a completely different case type, Foreclosure. Same rules apply but the relationship types may be different.
AUTOMATIC RELATIONSHIPS!
When setting up your screens, you may want to use a “Lookup” type. Some of the preset template make extensive use of this. This example actually has several of this type field. These can automatically tag the selected entities as related parties & the related role can be specified when setting up the Lookup. The two highlighted in this example are lookups that have been setup to do this. There are several other fields of this type on the screen, we just highlighted a couple. Of course you can manually tag unlimited entities at any time. What a time saver!
RELATIONSHIPS ARE TWO WAY!
Relationships are 2 way things, just like in life. This is a great cross reference. Want to double click on the entity you want to see. We’ll pick Dr. Mateer.
Dr. Mateer
Here are Dr. Mateer’s relationships. Now we know any of our cases he’s been involved. The possibilities are only limited by your imagination!
REMOTE ACCESS TO PERFECT PRACTICE CASE MANAGEMENT
Well, you’ve got it from anywhere you have internet service. Just enable the Perfect Practice Web interface. You just need your internet URL to your system & the device you’re going to use needs to be authorized by your system administrator. That was easy!
REMOTE ACCESS TO NON-WEB PROGRAMS
For access to traditional desktop applications you’ll need to utilize Microsoft Terminal Server, Citrix or some other program that gives you virtual access to your desktop. Perfect Practice currently requires this for access to some functions of Financials & Payroll. Certain administrative functions for Case Management may also require this access. Microsoft Windows Servers typically include at least one Terminal Server user. Contact your IT provider to enable this.
Perfect Practice Mobile
Looking to use your cell phone to access your Case Management? It’s here!
QUICK REPORTS
Quick Reports is a feature that allows you to drag & drop data from Case Management. You don’t have to be a programmer or use some complicated report writer! The below movie allows us to see the drag & drop, plus leads you through an overview of what you can do.
SECURITY GROUPS
Here’s where you set up groups, group rights & assign users to groups. As previously discussed, any user can be assigned to any number of groups. They get the greatest rights of all groups they’re assigned to
PASSWORD MAINTENANCE POLICIES
These settings are similar to what you may see on servers, but they are specific to the Perfect Practice Login.
USER ACTIVITY LOGGING
This last screen is unique to Perfect Practice. You can turn on the level of detail you want to track! Simplest is tracking when users log in and log out. You can also track which major screens users access, when they accessed them and which cases were viewed. It can also track other important screens. Your system, you choose!
If you’d like to see more detail on security click this link to a short movie! (8:48)
What’s a Smart Field? Most computer programs give you screens you can’t change. Any interactions are then programmed into the application by programmers. Smart fields are fields that actually do something. As you’ve already seen, you can add as many screens & fields as you want. You don’t need programmers to make these fields do stuff, you can do it yourself! There are several things you can implement from the front end. These include Query buttons, Execute on Exit, Execute on Save & many others that can work together. Do it your way!
QUERY BUTTONS
Query buttons are the simplest “Smart Field” type. You can embed an SQL (Structured Query Language) command in an SQL type button. The highlighted fields are specifically for embedding an SQL and executing it with the touch of a button. Keep in mind SQL commands can execute on ANYTHING in your Perfect Practice database (PostGresSQL). This includes Financial data, Calendar data and even custom data fields you’ve added with our tools!
TRANSACTIONS
Clicking the “Initialize Pre-Judgment Interest” button, creates the Principal transaction, the INTEREST_RATE transaction and all of the INTEREST transactions. It also created a PER_DIEM transaction that normally doesn’t display. The PAYMENT transactions were already entered prior to the initialization.
VALIDATION
You may have noticed several section panels are green and one section panel is red. These fields have been set for validation. An embedded SQL statement checks to see if there’s any data in that section panel. If there is, it comes back true and sets the color to green. If not, it sets it to red. There are many different ways to use validation!
REMOTE CHECK REQUEST
You can even add your own features using smart fields. This remote check request was added by one of our trainers, not the programming staff. It allows case management users to initiate a paperless check request by simply filling in the fields. There are two highlighted buttons. The one on the right creates a check request in our financials program. All accounting needs to do is approve the check request & print the check! The left button was added to allow the creation of a cost billing entry. Some firms bill the clients for the cost, prior to paying for it. We’ve provided the core programs, now you’re only limited by your imagination!
APPROVE & PRINT CHECKS
Here’s the check request that was created for accounting. As you can see from the red check marks, the billing transaction for the matter has been created, the G/L allocations have been created and in this example, the billing transaction has already been approved for billing even though you haven’t printed the check. The red box indicates the buttons for approving & printing the check. Of course you could also print this check as part of a check run (unlimited number of checks). Once accounting approves the check, the printer icon will allow you to print the check. How could we make it any easier?
ADDITIONAL POP-UP INFORMATION
In this example for property information we have a conditional pop-up to gather some extra information if the property is a mobile home. These are unique in that they’re not only property, but also a vehicle. It’s silly to ask this information for other types of properties that aren’t also vehicles. Filling in the additional information and clicking the run button will add the information to the very end of the screen. Now you have everything needed for documents, but not in the forefront.
EXTRA INFORMATION LOCATION
As you can see, when the run button was selected, the additional required information for a mobile home was added at the bottom of the current screen!
EXIT QUERIES
Let’s take a look at what we can do with exit queries. We’ve put together a list of all the possible costs on a foreclosure case. Fill in the appropriate costs in any order you wish. Each time you leave a field, a query is executed. This is a very simple but useful query. It calculates the sum of all the cost items and puts them in the field to the right “Total Costs Incurred”. It then subtracts the two fields underneath it, “Less Costs Received” & “Less Retainer Received”, giving you the “Total Costs Balance”. These can be updated at any time!
ENTERING COSTS
We entered $125.00 as a “Title Search Expense”. The system automatically updates the totals when you exit the field.
ENTER ANOTHER COST
Now we’ll locate the next expense we want to add. You can add these in any order! Note that nothing is updated until you exit the field.
EXITING THE FIELD
When you leave the field, the totals are automatically updated
ACTIVITY TYPES
Perfect Practice supports 9 completely different types of activities. These can all have their titles and entry screens customized to only show the fields and fieldnames that are appropriate for your firm!
APPOINTMENT ENTRY SCREEN
Pay close attention to the fields displayed. We’re going to show the Notes screen next & you’ll see significant differences.
NOTE ENTRY SCREEN
What a difference! These screens could have looked identical, but we had different requirements so we customized the screens. Below are some of the major features of all transaction screens.
TRANSACTION CODES
To enter a transaction, just fill in the blanks! When you reach the code field, a list of all available codes for the case you’re on will be displayed. These will consist of any codes that did not have a case type designated and any codes that had THIS case type specified. If you have specified a code group for this matter or client, you’ll only see codes authorized by the code group.
TRANSACTION CODE DESCRIPTIONS
Once a note code is entered, it can default in a description, amount, time increment & also trigger a transaction plan, update questionnaire fields and of course using “Smart Fields”, do almost anything in the database. The preset description is virtually unlimited in size. The attachments option allows you to attach any pertinent documents or images to the transaction, to keep things organized and save time!
CUSTUMIZING THE TRANSACTION SCREEN
You don’t need a programmer to customize most screens in Perfect Practice. To change a transaction screen, log into the classic version of Perfect Practice. Pull up the transaction screen you wish to modify and engage the Utility Mode as shown in the yellow highlight. Notice there is a double dashed line near the bottom of the display screen. All available fields for transactions are displayed. Items above the line are currently part of your transaction screen. Items below the line are available but not currently displaying. Use your mouse to grab one of the objects you wish to remove or add. Now just drag it to where you want to see it on the screen or below the line if you don’t want to see it. That’s all there is to it!
CHANGE FIELD TITLE
To change a field title, select the title you want tp change with your mouse. It will appear in yellow as displayed above in the “Firm Field #” field. Right click on it, make your changes and save them. When you have the screen the way you want it, just exit the utility mode.
Remember, you’re changing the transaction screen for all users.
GLOBAL TO DO’S
When you save your transaction, it will automatically display in the global list for that type of transaction, in date order. Here’s what the global to do list looks like.
CASE TO TO’S
Once you’ve saved your transaction, it will also show on the case specfic transaction list, in this instance to do’s. It will actually show on any list where it meets the criteria. Enter data once! Review the Filters option for more information on how you can create your own lists.
Notes and other transactions can be tracked on all cases, parties or persons.
If you like, an automatic timer can start the moment you select a new note. If you get another call, stop one timer and start a new one on the next call! Notes can be “cloned” to other transaction types, such as Time or Tasks (To Do’s). Preset codes can automatically trigger other transaction codes. User defined rules allow you to determine what items are triggered for specific types of note or transaction entry. You can even customize you entry screen.
View Files is really a shortcut that gives you instant access to all of a case or parties documents, pictures and other electronic media stored on your server.
- Instant access to your case documents
VIEW FILES
Typically firms have documents and other electronic media organized in network folders on their server. Clicking on the View Files button instantly takes you to the location you’ve specified for storage! This button is at the top of every case or party screen. It’s the little red highlighted box at the top.
YOUR DOCUMENTS!
If you find you’ve arrived at a different location than expected, just use the folder button at the top of the document button to browse to the correct spot! Once you are looking at your destination, select the “Save Document Location” button. Next time you click on the view files button, you’ll be taken to the saved location.
YOUR CORRESPONDENSE
Should you set your “View Files” button to just one directory, that’s what you’ll see. This button does more than let you view your documents. When you’re saving a document in Microsoft Word, it will default to the “View Files” directory for the case you’re working on! If you’re scanning documents with some versions of Fujitsu Scan Snap scanners, the scanned documents will also save directly to the “View Files” location.
Transaction Plans are actually a very simple concept. There is an event trigger, (a transaction code that makes something happen). This can be from any type of transaction. You can choose when the trigger should fire (on entry, on edit or on completion (FINISH)).
TRANSACTION PLAN SETUP SCREEN
This is a very basic example. The event trigger is set for the INITIAL_APPT appointment code. It’s going to create a TO-DO called 1ST_APPT_REMINDER. We’ve set this to happen on an insert of a new appointment. The TO-DO is set to remind us 2 days prior to the actual appointment. As you see, Area of Law and Code Group filters are honored.
TRIGGER EVENT (APPOINTMENT)
Here is the Appointment Code we entered, INITIAL_APPT
TO-DO CREATED
As soon as the save checkmark was executed, this To-Do was created automatically. Note that the to-do is 2 days ahead of the appointment. This was due to the -2 entry for the days for the 1ST_APT_REMINDER. Had it or the appointment that created it been linked to a questionnaire field, it would have been automatically updated. Nothing was required from the operator!
INCIDENT DATE
Let’s look at a slightly more advanced plan. In this example, When the note INCIDENT_DATE is keyed in or generated by filling in a questionnaire field, five statute of limitations reminders are triggered as to-do’s. Using the code groups as previously shown, a different statute date can be calculated based on the area of law.
Date of Incident
This questionnaire has such a field. When a date is saved in the Date of Incident field, the plan will be triggered!
STATUTE OF LIMITATIONS PLAN GRID
If you’ve set your system to show plan grids, the items being created will appear. At this point you can edit anything about the grid, including adding or deleting transactions.
NOTE CREATED
The questionnaire field we filled in was linked to the trigger transaction, note. When OK was pressed, the note was saved!
TO-DO’S CREATED
Any to-do’s that were part of the transaction plan were also saved. The note and the to-do’s were automatically associated with the case, the person they were assigned to and the general note list. This was all automatic!
To see how transaction plans can work together with other features, make sure to see the Workflow section!
FLORIDA FORECLOSURE TIMELINE
There are many different ways to build in Workflow. One of the most effective is to create a timeline that include all the major steps. In this example, we’ve started from the beginning of the process to the end, with all major steps in between. The goal is to not only manage the process so no steps are missed, but to give the managers & attorneys one place to go for each file. Reviewing the timeline will instantly show you the status of each case. While we provide a timeline for all 50 states & territories, you can modify each of these to meet the steps your firm takes!
THE REFERRAL COMES IN!
This is where the automation kicks in! Most of our Creditor Rights clients have the ability to send electronic referrals. Perfect Practice has an interface to a third-party company called NetDirector. ALL of the referral information comes in automatically. Information about the loan, amount, legal, defendants, everything the bank has will just be there. No effort on your part except to verify the data! In this example, the date of the referral is automatically populated and the first step is projected for 10 days from the referral. What a time saver!
AUTOMATIC NOTE
Much more is happening behind the scenes! We set this up to automatically put a note into the system whenever the Referral Date is entered.
AUTOMATIC FOLLOWUPS (TO-DO’S)
Here are the reminders for the next steps in the process. All of this automation looks like a lot of work to setup, but it isn’t. One of our staff members setup the timelines & everything you see here, for all 50 states and territories, in one day! We did the hard part, all you need to add are any tweaks you want.
FINISH TO-DO’S
When the task referenced in the To-Do’s is completed, just highlight the task or tasks that have been completed & right click. Now you can select “Finish To Do’s”.
CONFIRM THE DATE ACCOMPLISHED
If the task completed happened on another day, update the date on which it was finished. Remember, we also track the date on which the “Date Accomplished” was actually entered! Once you confirm the date, the workflow will make all the appropriate entries & proceed to the next step.
AUTOMATIC NOTES
The To-Do’s you finished will disappear from the To-Do list and will appear on the notes list, now that the tasks have been finished!
NEXT STEP
The next step in the Workflow will be indicated in the To-Do’s.
TIMELINE UPDATED
Of course, the timeline will be updated with the projected date of the next step!
RE-PROJECTED!
We’ve covered the process for following the timeline, but what if something significant occurs that upsets the norm? We’ll need to update the task to show the changed target date and explain why it was moved. Just change the Date & update the Description.
RE-PROJECTED!
Your timeline will automatically be adjusted with the new projected date and an explanation of why it changed. I think you have seen enough to understand how timelines work. If you’d like to go into further depth, contact our sales or training staff.
INITIAL LIEN LETTER
Let’s take a look at a collection example that takes advantage of several workflow concepts. The very first thing that happens with a new collection file is a lien letter is sent. With electronic referrals, who knows how many new files will come at once. Rather than dealing with these one at a time, we’ll automate the process! The highlighted button is one of our smart fields. It’s an SQL button that contains the command to locate all new referrals (those without a status) and load them into the DocuTrac queue.
COLLECTION CASES WITH NO STATUS
As you can see, in this instance we only have 4 new cases without a status. The number really doesn’t matter, it could have been a thousand new cases!
DOCUTRAC QUEUE
When the SQL button we first saw was executed, a Lien Letter was requested for each of the appropriate cases.
THE ENVELOPE
When the Docutrac merge button was executed, the lien letters were created for each case in the document queue. First we created the envelope. Of course to take full advantage of this automation, your printer must support envelopes & paper at the same time. Otherwise you’ll be prompted each time the paper size changes.
THE LETTER!
All the data from the first case is automatically merged into the case.
LEGAL NOTIFICATIONS
There was too much text to fit on the first page so another page or possible pages was created to meet the legal requirements. As you see, this is to comply with the Fair Debt Collections Practice Act. Depending on the court or state you’re filing in, you may have additional requirements to display. No problem, it’s all automatic!
THE CASE STATUS IS AUTOMATICALLY CHANGED!
Additional things are happening behind the scenes! The case status field is automatically updated to LIEN_LETTER_SENT. We’ve associated a color with this status so a glance at the case list will immediately indicate that the Lien Letter has been prepared & sent.
A NOTE FOR EACH CASE!
Notes are automatically created so you have a chronology from the beginning of the case to the end!
AUTOMATIC FOLLOW UPS ARE CREATED!
A follow up (to-do) is created for each case. Our goal is to make sure there is always at least one To-Do is always out there with the next step for each case.
STATUS CHANGED
Here’s where the status was changed! Keep in mind you only clicked on 2 buttons, your computer did the rest! It found the cases that needed the Lien Letter, merged ALL of the documents that meet the criteria, creates a note, creates a To-Do & updates the Status. And, it did this for as many new cases as you have!
Ready to Transform Your Firm?
Get in touch with our team to learn more about how Perfect Practice can support your specific area of law. Whether you’re interested in seeing our software in action or need guidance on the best tools for your practice, we’re here to help. Let us show you how Perfect Practice can streamline your operations and empower your firm to succeed.