System Integration Project Application of PERT/CPM
Goodwin Procter Knowledge Management System Case
Background:
Goodwin Procter was founded in 1912 by two recent Harvard classmates, Robert Goodwin and Joseph Procter. The two Harvard alumniran into each other on a Boston sidewalk and decided to start their own law practice. Goodwin & Procter law practice was opened later that year, on July 1, 1912, on State Street in Boston, Massachusetts (Goodwin Proctor Company Profile, n.d.). In the winter of 1912, Goodwin Procter’s founder Robert Goodwin represented Mary Newell against the White Star Line, owner of the ill-fated Titanic, in a claim involving the death of her husband, Arthur, who was among the 1,517 passengers to perish in the shipwreck (Goodwin Procter 100, 2012). The founders established an ethical standard for their new firm in 1914 when they helped a sardine packing company issue preferred stocks. They later discovered that the sardine company had fabricated their financials, so they took out a $30,000 loan to buy back all outstanding shares at face value.In another notable case, Robert Goodwin served as the bankruptcy referee who sorted out the original Ponzi scheme executed by Charles Ponzi (Goodwin Procter Company Profile, n.d.).
Goodwin Procter(known as Goodwin) is now a global 50 law firm with 13 offices worldwide. They havesix international locations in Hong Kong, London, Frankfurt, Luxembourg, Paris, Cambridge (UK), and sevenUS offices in Boston, Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Santa Monica, Silicon Valley, and Washington, DC. Goodwin has more than 1200 lawyers and roughly 720 legal assistants in offices throughout the US, Europe, and Asia. The firm has implemented what it calls a “capital-meets-innovation platform,” where the firm advises both innovators and investors. Goodwin’s strengths include real estate, capital markets, private equity, technology, life sciences, financial services, intellectual property, securities litigation and white-collar defense, and government investigations (“Goodwin Procter Company Profile,” ND).Goodwin dedicates three percent to five percent of its annual hours to pro bono representation and serves more than 1,000 pro bono clients a year (Pro Bono Lawyers, n.d).“Boston-founded Goodwin Procter, already on the cusp of the Am Law top 25, saw its revenue rise to $1.33 billion in 2019, an 11% increase from 2018. The firm grew profits per equity partner by 5.8% to $2.6 million”(Smith, 2020).
Goodwin Procter makes a good case for a Knowledge Management System (KMS). “The $611 million law firm’s eight offices used seven different applications to manage over 2 terabytes of data for Goodwin Procter’s more than 60,000 cases—close to 10 million documents”(D’Auria, 2008). Due to the business’s demand, CIO, Peter Lane, wanted to integrate the data into a centralized system that was less time-consuming. With documents in one central location, the firm’s attorneys would save time assembling documents for client files, reducing unnecessary billable hours, resulting in client satisfaction. They needed a better-centralized system that could house all the documents and connect their attorneys working in different parts of the world.
A Knowledge Management System is any type of IT system that stores and retrieves knowledge to improve understanding and process alignment (HubSpot, n.d.). Knowledge management includes the collection, analysis, dissemination, and general management of information controlled by an organization.An IT backed knowledge management system will collect, store, and retrieve knowledge, find sources of knowledge, monitor and mine repositories for hidden information. A KMS uses knowledge management principles to typically enable employees and customers to create, share, and find relevant information quickly (What is a Knowledge Management System, n.d.). A Knowledge Management System can be a valuable tool for Goodwin Procter or any business operating in a data-driven digital world, particularly those that sell products or provide services. A successful Knowledge Management System implementation could be just what Goodwin needs.
Issue:
What Knowledge Management Systemshould Goodwin Procter implement?
Alternatives:
- Google Drive: Collaboration Software, works with all file types
- Confluence: Shared workspace to create and manage all your work
- AbacusNext: Case management,cloud-enhanced, documentation, and automation software
- Workzone: Cloud-based document management and project collaboration software
- Huddle: Document collaboration software with 3rd party app integration
- Microsoft SharePoint: Collaboration software, integrate well with other Microsoft products
Analysis of Alternatives:
Alternative 1 Google Drive – Suboptimal:
Google Drive KMS is not a good solution for Goodwin Procter. Despite some of its advantages and features, it can be challenging to manage. It’s relatively easy to share documents as long as you place them in the right folders. The problem is that anyone can move files and folders around, sometimes accidentally.Users can adjust the share setting for documents and folders, which makes it impossible to restrict access. Another significant issue is Privacy; Google Drive only uses SSL encryption when information is transferred. Files are not encrypted on their servers, which is a big security concern for companiesthat store personally identifiable information, such as names, addresses, and social security numbers(Pay, 2018).
Online file storage and ease of sharing may be unsuitable for governments and organizations such as Goodwin Procter that deal with sensitive data. Confidential information may be edited and shared with individuals. The software is vulnerable to hacking because so many people have access. Also, Google Drive is limited to Gmail and may be challenging if you have other work addresses as they may have problems syncing with this service. For instance, if you share files with a person who does not have a google account, they will have view-only access and not allowed to make edits (Jrwebdes, 2020).
Alternative 2Confluence – Suboptimal:
Confluence is widely used for project management in developer communities and is more suitable for small to midsize businesses. Confluence has all the basic features of an office document management tool and is easy to use; however, it is not suited for a large firm such as Goodwin Procter(Ies,2019). The common complaint amongst Confluence users is that the software is not user friendly and can get real pricey fast. One user wrote that “Confluence is not very graphic, so the user interface has a lot of options which can be daunting for new users. It feels like an old system – so busy with text options everywhere, I feel like I want to break out in DOS commands and throw away my mouse”(Gibson, 2019).
The possibility of an unexpected price increase is sure to put off manycompanies. (Patankar, 2020).Pricing for Confluence starts at $10 per month for 10 users but jumps to $50/month for 15. The price goes up to 2000 users at $1,000 per month. Also, add-ons are not priced consistently. For instance, Atlassian will throw in its team chat app, HipChat, for free when you buy Confluence. But its Team Calendars feature, which arguably is more essential than HipChat, costs more per month depending on the number of users. Some customers are sure to be put off by paying more for what should be considered a core functionalityfeature (Patankar, 2020).
Alternative 3 AbacusNext – Suboptimal:AbacusNext is a good fit for companies that want access to private cloud and desktop software, and is excellent for firms that seek features such as contract management, billing, calendar, client history, etc. However, it is not a solution for the firms seeking to work directly from completely functioning mobile apps). Users have expressed their frustrations with the functionality and pricing of the software.According to Margie P, “I’ve been using AbacusLaw and AbacusAccounting since 2008, and it is the most frustrating program around”. The program became problematic after they changed to subscriptions, and the technical support staff gives you the runaround(Margie, P., 2020).
User, Michelle, M. also emphasized the seriousness of their software issue. “This software has issues billing, loses calendared events, and repeatedly freezes up.” If you are looking for a software with multifunctionality that is less time consuming and provides more productivity, especially at firms that operate on a wide range dimension, AbacusNext is not the alternative (Michelle, M., 2020). Another reason that I do not recommend AbacusNext is because of their pricing. Susan, D. (2019) reported, “The price is far higher than similar products” the product is technologically behind, despite promises made when I signed up over two years ago of a fully functional app for calendar integration.” They charge in advance for a promised upgrade to a current problem, and when the issue is not resolved, they don’t reimburse your money (Susan, D., 2019).
Alternative 4 Workzone – Suboptimal:
Workzone is a project management solution that provides document management, project collaboration, task management, and many more project information at various levels to accommodate different user roles. However, I do not recommend it for Goodwin Procter Firm’s KMS issue based on the following statements. Bistricean, C. (2014), stated: “The biggest issue I had with Workzone was setting updates for a project. I could not have more than one task per day if the task took more than 8 hours”. The system does not allow six or more employees to work at one task simultaneously (Bistricean, C., 2014).
According to Sanford, C. (2015), “The document manager module is not linked to the project tracker. When a project is completed, the documents are not automatically archived. They must be manually moved to the archive section of the document manager”. The system notification is incapable of group notifications and has to notify each team member individually. The department is still facing many issues with multiple versions of the document manager, which cause the group to stay behind on the task goal (Sanford, C., 2015)
Alternative 5 Huddle – Suboptimal:
Huddle is best for Commercial & Government organizations that need to work collaboratively around documents, particularly those requiring external collaboration with partners/clients. Huddle seems attractive with its Huddle Premier plan that boasts even greater security, support, and customizations for large enterprises (Huddle.com). However, customer reviews have not been favorable, claiming the software has many functionality issues.The calendar is not user friendly and does not track group schedules well. It does not have easy access to invite more than one person into the workspace. There is no full collaboration or group chat feature (Huddle Reviews, n.d.), which is why we are not recommending Huddle as a solution to Goodwin Procter’s file management issues.
Alternative 6 Microsoft SharePoint – optimal:
SharePoint offers all of the essential features Goodwin Procter is looking for in a KMS. There are thousands of document files that would be easily accessible and securely stored. SharePoint is very user friendly and will make everyday business easier. It is good for all of the common activities such as document review and approval, and signature approval. Content can be added to specific websites from the internet or intranet. Multi-lingual content can be managed in order to maintain original and translated content. SharePoint will allow for Goodwin Proctor to control their internal communication because it integrates well with Microsoft Office. They will have access to the “enterprise search” feature, which allows information to be found effortlessly (Top 10 Benefits, n.d.).
Incorporating SharePoint as the KMS would give all of the attorneys and staff throughout all 13 offices of the company access information they need. Ultimately, this will save the employees countless hours of researching and provide them with more time getting work done. This will increase the overall efficiency of Goodwin Procter.
Recommendation:
We recommend Microsoft SharePoint as the KMS for Goodwin Procter because it is the most suitable system for their needs. SharePoint is designed to serve large companies such as Goodwin Proctor and will allow all their employees to share information from office to office efficiently at a practical cost.
