Assisting the firm’s management to understand their requirements and the PMS market and to make an informed selection.
Client Challenge
QualitySolicitors Parkinson Wright (QSPW) was using Advanced Legal Enterprise (LE) as its PMS.
The LE product was no longer being actively developed by Advanced so QSPW found themselves in the situation where it was essential to identify a new solution which would benefit from on-going development.
The firm had a capable management team but had not undertaken a PMS selection in many years so required assistance to:
- Collect the future requirements across different departments and sites
- Establish the project’s key success factors
- Follow a structured evaluation process
- Identify a range of potentially suitable products currently available on the market.
- Undertake a robust and inclusive selection process
- Obtain an in-depth understanding of the vendors’ proposals with guidance in choosing the suppliers to be short-listed for detailed demonstrations
- Review the selected supplier’s contract
BDC Solution
To support a critical PMS selection process by providing strategic advice on PMS solutions and vendors, identifying functional needs and undertaking a rigorous selection process.
- Supported the Project Team by providing an overview of the PMS market and the initial long list of suppliers
- Undertook interviews with key stake holders to understand current system usage and to identify all functional requirements
- Created a requirements document based on our experience but tailored to QSPW’s requirements.
- Identified the strategic drivers and key success factors
- Oversaw the tender process and provided a detailed analysis of the responses
- Conducted a review of the selected suppliers’ contract
Engagement Impact
- Supported the Project Team and the IT Team through the PMS selection process with which they had little experience
- Created a detailed and prioritised requirements document
- Ensured the right questions were asked during product demonstrations by the short-listed suppliers
- Confirmed the contract with the new supplier was appropriate for the firm
Moved from a position of not knowing which systems were available to having a preferred supplier within 15 days of consultancy.
“With so many possible suppliers out there, and no two offerings the same, by showing us what we needed to know Baskerville Drummond broke the task down into sensible parts and we really were able to compare apples with pears.”
More detail
QualitySolicitors Parkinson Wright is part of the national network of QualitySolicitors law firms. It has offices in Worcester, Droitwich, Evesham and St Johns with over 100 staff.
The firm provides a wide range of services to businesses and individuals and is also the only Solicitors in Worcestershire to have an Estate Agents.
Our Approach
QSPW formed a Project Team to represent all areas of the business.
We initially met with this group to:
- provide an up-to-date summary of the PMS vendor market;
- begin to determine the strategic objectives of the system replacement;
- determine the selection process and involvement of the wider firm.
At Baskerville Drummond we look to support rather than control the selection process. We therefore recommended that QSPW undertook a series of “sales” demonstrations from the leading vendors before starting the selection process in earnest.
The Project Team found the demonstrations extremely beneficial as they provided a good understanding of what was available from a fully featured PMS solution.
The RFT (Request for Tender) Phase
The first phase of the project was to define requirements and undertake an RFT process with the long-listed vendors.
This included the following actions:
- Interviewed representatives from all areas of the business across all sites to identify:
a. business requirements;
b. frustrations with the existing system;
c. inefficient processes and work arounds caused by the existing system;
d. areas where a new system could enhance the service provided to clients. - Created a comprehensive requirements document covering:
a. finance;
b. risk & compliance;
c. CRM & Marketing;
d. matter & case management;
e. document management;
f. reporting. - Worked with the Project Team to define the project’s key success factors detailing drivers for:
a. business;
b. finance;
c. efficiency improvements;
d. end-user factors;
e. operational improvements. - Worked with the Project Team to prioritise the requirements document categorising requirements into the MoSCoW framework;
- Identified the relevant short-list;
- Managed the process with the vendors;
- Provided a detailed analysis of the vendors responses to the Project Team;
- Reviewed responses with the Project Team and short-listed from five down to three vendors.
Deep Dives
The short-listed vendors were invited to attend “Deep Dive” days which covered all aspects of the solutions and gave the vendors the opportunity to show how their solutions would meet the requirements and strategic needs defined by QSPW.
These days entailed
- Overview demonstrations to the Project Team;
- Finance elements;
- Reporting elements;
- Risk & compliance elements;
- CRM & marketing elements;
- Administration & development.
Contractual Phase
During the contractual phase we supported QSPW by performing a detailed review and analysis of the chosen vendor’s contract to ensure the following:
- That the contract delivered on the strategic aims of the project and on what was included in the proposal;
- That the contract itself was structured to deliver what would be expected of a PMS vendor and their solution.
“The use of Baskerville Drummond in our selection of a new PMS solution provided a solid structure to the process. Their knowledge of the marketplace immediately allowed us to short-cut the process by reducing the number of systems we could realistically consider. The thoroughness of the approach during the Request for Tender and Deep Dive phases meant that the Project Team had complete confidence in the final choice.”
