Enforced by the system, or by email?
Every firm has rules: who can approve a write-off, who authorises a payment from client account, who signs off the reconciliation. The question that matters is whether the system enforces them, or whether they live in email and goodwill.
Controls that look the same in a demo
Almost every system can record an approval. Far fewer can enforce one: stop the bill being sent, stop the payment leaving, stop the deadline being quietly moved. In a demonstration the two look identical. In practice, the difference is the difference between a control and a hope.
Where it matters most
- Write-offs, uplifts and discounts: routed to the right approver by value and client, with cover for absence, and recorded.
- Client account payments: two authorisers, bank details confirmed through a verified channel, and no way round it.
- Reconciliation sign-off: produced by the system for every client account and signed off by the COFA or a manager, with the record kept.
- Key dates: a second person on every critical date, escalation when one is missed, and no deleting without a reason.
- Leavers: access removed everywhere, on the day.
What to test in the demonstration
- Try to send a bill with a write-off that has not been approved.
- Try to make a client account payment with one authoriser.
- Try to delete a key date as a fee earner.
- Ask to see the audit trail of each attempt.
If the system lets you, the control is in email, not in the system.
Technical notes: small decisions, big consequences
Start with the overview: The details that decide the project
Accounts and finance
- Core accounting is still the gold standard
- One-way or two-way sync? Connecting your legal system to Xero
- Units or minutes? How time is recorded
- Your matter and nominal structure
- Making Tax Digital: the firm and its clients
Workflow, data and documents
- Workflow: deep, basic or none?
- Client onboarding and matter inception: portal, e-signature and ID checks working as one
- Custom data: what you rely on, and how you move it
- Precedents, merge codes and macros: your document bank in a new system
Your types of work
- Legal aid: your records, not just the Legal Aid Agency’s
- Litigation: Precedent H starts with time recording
- Family: Form E and financial disclosure
- Private client: where does the tax software fit?
Security and access
- Roles or individuals? How user permissions are set up
- Why manage security twice? Linking application security to Microsoft Entra
- How granular is the security inside the system?
- Who can see what in reporting?
- Shared platform, your data: separation, restore and erasure
- When the supplier is the target: where your data lives, who can reach it, and your real risk
Microsoft 365
- How does it connect to Outlook?
- What did you just give it permission to do?
- What happens behind the scenes? Background integrations with Microsoft 365
- OneDrive is not a document management system
- Microsoft 365 is not a backup
Data and decisions
- Full history or opening balances?
- Can you get your data out?
- Enforced by the system, or by email? (you are here)
- Who decides, and when?
Where does your firm stand?
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