improving bottom line with technology
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Improving Bottom Line with Technology. Ask not what you can do for your computer; Ask, rather what your computer can do for you Billing, Calendars, PDA, Remote Access, & Research. Who is Speaking?. Thorne D. Harris III Solo Practitioner LSBA Technology Resource Center. - PowerPoint PPT PresentationTRANSCRIPT
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Improving Bottom Line with Technology
Ask not what you can do for your computer; Ask, rather what your computer can do for you
Billing, Calendars, PDA, Remote Access, & Research
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Who is Speaking?
• Thorne D. Harris III – Solo Practitioner– LSBA Technology Resource Center
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LSBA Technology Resource Center
• What it sounds like it is
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Picture of Building
•
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LSBA Technology Resource Center
• What it really is
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TRC Plant & Facilities
• Numbers in Bar Journal
• 800-295-4960
• 504-822-5797
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BILLING / ACCOUNTING
Get what you deserveDon’t pay more than you owe
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Where does the time go? Why?
• If I write it in my calendar, do I have to write it again on the bill?– Cut & Paste– Links– Integrated ‘systems’
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PC-Law Jr.
• IRS likes this one, its hard to cook the books
• Latest version now has a calendar
• Many commercial programs have links to it
• Full, made for lawyers, one-write system– Time, Billing, Trust, P&L, Gen. Ledger, etc. – $179.00 for full 2 timekeeper system– Upgradeable and networkable
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PCLaw Menu Page
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PCLaw Time
Sheets
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PCLaw Quick Timers
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PCLaw Check Entry
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PCLaw Sample Invoice
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Quick Books Pro
• IRS not excited – easy to change things ex post facto
• Easy to set up (there is an ‘interview’ and a business type)
• Pull out a “Schedule C” to set up your expense pigeonholes
• Trust account too, or multiples types of “income”• So you not pay self-employment tax on $ for
client meds you recover
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Some more popular programs
• TimeSlips
• Time Matters (also Case Management)
• TABBS
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Where am I supposed to be?
• Calendars– Lookout, oops, I mean Outlook! – Schedule +, the orphan– Lotus (IBM), ACT! (Symantec / Norton )– Time & Chaos ( isbister.com ),
and other shareware– Time Matters
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Microsoft Outlook
• The Standard
• Comes with Microsoft Office
• Many features
• Easy to use stand-alone
• Need Exchange Server to share in larger environments
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Outlook
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You can take it with you!
• PDA = Personal Digital Assistant
• Palm Platform
• Pocket PC (Windows)
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Palm Platform devices, including Visor
• Palm III = Color
• Palm VII = Wireless
• Palm Vx = Smallest with 8M
• New Color versions
• Synchronize with Outlook– Then synchronize online– Can sync directly online
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Pocket PC (Microsoft OS)
• Compaq iPaq, HP Jornada, Casio,– Conduits to sync (Puma – Intellisync)– Pocket Word, Excel, Outlook– Memory hogs, expensive $500.00 +– New versions have best color screens around– Up to 64M of RAM– Battery life not as good as B&W Palm
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Other PDA’s
• Franklin = inexpensive $50.00– Speller grew up, non-standard, proprietary, not
play well with others (sync)
• DaVinci = inexpensive $90.00– Palm wannabe, proprietary, not play well with
others (sync)– Blackberry – very expensive, push technology
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SHARING CALENDARS
• Your internal network
• Via the Internet
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Calendar Sharing on anInternal Network
• Microsoft solutions– Net Folders, MS Exchange Server, Windows
Messaging
• Lotus (IBM) solutions– Domino Server – Amicus– Time Matters
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Calendar sharing via the Internet
• Synchronize to (with) / Publish on => anytime, anywhere– Yahoo.com, Intranets.com, MyPalm.com,
Visto.com, HotOffice.com, Calendar.yahoo.com
– See Internet discussion
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Things you can do with a calendar/ PIM
• PIM = Personal Information Manager
• Categories (each case a category?)
• Contacts / Address Book
• Tasks / ToDo
• “Manage” by judicious naming conventions in your address book
• Sync to PDA
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Can you document this bill?
• Use the “Timer”
• Back to Case Manager Links and duplicate typing!
• Back to Cut & Paste from Calendar Notes to Billing Program to Case Management?– Outlook CATAGORIES, then filter views
• What about ACT! 2000 (contact manager)?
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You are WHERE? And you want WHAT?
• Remote Access to YOUR computer(s)
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Tele-commuting
– Dial Up Networking (Win9x), RAS (Win NT/2000), Windows XP
– VPN, pcAnywhere, LapLink– GoToMyPC
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Remote Control
• pcAnywhere, LapLink– Technical support; Mom, I’d rather do it
myself– Telecommuting – RAS– GoTOMyPC.com
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File Transfer
• Get/send file, process locally – pcAnywhere, LapLink, Carbon Copy– RAS– GoToMyPC.com
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How you connect
• Long distance phone dialup vs. Internet
• Security, incl. call-back
• Costs
• VPN – dedicated/expensive/fast
• GoToMyPC– Phone line or Dual DSL (Office & Home)
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Building the Brief
• Research? Who does research?
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CD vs. Online
• CD means you have to actually have the CD in a CD drive you can access (copyable CD)
• Online means you must have a “modem” connection
• CD tower vs. BIG hard drive
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“Free” Internet vs. Commercial (pay to play)
• Your time is worth something.– LexisOne.com
• See Freebie Internet Presentation– Attached Free Internet Sites List
• LSBA.org, Solo-SmallFirms.org, ThorneDHarrisIII.com, etc.
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How do you bill for internet time?
• Fee sites, free sites, combinations, CD subscription fees (apportion among clients?) i.e. your out of pocket costs
• Transaction billing vs. Time Billing • Research person’s time? Billable or
absorbed cost of yours?– Can you bill any of this as a reimbursable
expense in a contingency fee contract?
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Lagniappe
• Shortcuts and Keystrokes attached for:– MS Word– Excel– Internet Explorer– Windows 98– See Materials
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Keyboard CheatsWord
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Keyboard CheatsExcelIE 4/5
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Keyboard Windows
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Questions?
• Or we could just swap jokes or stories….
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Thanks!
• and …..
• THE END