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LAW OFFICE COMPUTING April/May 1999 Pricing Note: As of October 1, 1999, WORLDOX costs $350 per license Shopper's Guide toDocument Management SoftwareWe compare the top three competitors for the small- to mid-sized firm market.By Guy Wiggins
Whenever I'm asked in my capacity as a consultant to list computer technologies essential to the modern "wired" law practice, a networked document management system (NDMS) is always at the top of my list. For any law firm using a network—and every law firm should use a network—a document management system is indispensable for saving, retrieving and managing documents. A NDMS lets a firm turn its documents (as well as the language and ideas they contain) into a searchable library combining the power of a structured database with full-text searching flexibility. The technical magic of a NDMS is made possible thanks to two of its features: document profiling and full-text indexing. A document profile screen generally contains the author's name, the client name, the matter name, the document type and a long descriptive name of the file; much like a card from a library catalog. On top of this, a NDMS lets users find documents using any word or combination of words in the document itself via full-text indexing and searching. This powerful "one-two" punch makes it virtually impossible not to find the document you are looking for on the network. And considering that professionals spend up to 50 percent of their time searching for documents (according to a recent Gartner Group study), your NDMS is almost guaranteed to make a positive impact on your firm's productivity. In fact in my experience, the return on investment of implementing a NDMS is often one year or less, depending on the size of the firm. NDMSs aren't just useful for saving and searching for documents. A good NDMS should also make it easy to "manage" documents on the network. And by manage, I mean perform the following functions:
Review MethodologyThe last time I reviewed document management systems was almost two years ago (Law Office Computing, June/July 1997), at which time I reviewed three systems: GroupWise 5.1, Worldox 96 and PC Docs Open 3.5. This review looks at the latest versions of these programs, GroupWise 5.5, Worldox 8 and PC Docs Esq. 3.7.2, with a specific focus on implementing these systems in small- to mid-sized law firms (anywhere from five to 50 employees) with a small or part-time technology staff and one main office with perhaps a small satellite office or two. Other systems, such as iManage, Documentum and PC Docs Open are targeted at bigger enterprises with much deeper pockets, a larger information services department and multiple offices. As a consultant who works largely with small- to mid-sized law firms, I know that the vast majority of these firms have limited technology budgets and few, if any, professional technology staff members. Therefore, in preparing this review I weighed the following criteria most heavily: ease of use (Can the benefits of the software be reaped by users without extensive training?), administration (Will the firm administrator have to take specialized classes in order to really administer the software?), security (How secure is the system?) and value (What is the real cost of the software, including implementation? Can it run on a firm's current infrastructure? Is everything included in the base price?). Another important criteria when deciding upon a NDMS for your firm is the program's architecture. It's essential to have an understanding of the program's architecture and how that will impact your current network. All three programs reviewed here have fundamentally different architectures. You need to closely examine whether a given solution can work on your current network, or whether your network will have to be significantly overhauled or upgraded to accommodate the NDMS.
GroupWise 5.5 Novell GroupWise 5.5, Novell's fourth reincarnation of its leading messaging and groupware system, is the most significantly improved program since I last reviewed these. GroupWise 5.5 is radically different from both Worldox 8 or Docs Esq. because it combines document management, e-mail, group calendaring and scheduling, task management, imaging and workflow in one tightly integrated package. In the past, the promise of GroupWise was severely held back by its substandard document management services, as well as integration problems with WordPerfect and Word, lack of query-by-example (QBE) search capabilities, the inability to create linked client and matter tables for document profiles, and the inability to easily restore individual documents from a backup. Thankfully, in this latest version, Novell addressed all of these issues and made a host of other improvements to almost every aspect of the program. After years of development, GroupWise finally seems poised to become the most powerful and highly integrated groupware and document management solution on the market, making a terrific fit for firms wanting to leverage their Novell investment. Architecture & SetupWhen evaluating GroupWise for your firm, architecture is of supreme importance. GroupWise 5.5 requires a Novell 4.1 server or better, and to fully enjoy the benefits of GroupWise, you should use it as your messaging and e-mail platform as well, which may require you to upgrade or replace your current e-mail system. Also note that GroupWise 5.5 doesn't store documents in their native format. Rather, it encrypts, compresses and stores them in databases known as BLOBS (a.k.a. binary large objects), meaning there is no way of retrieving your documents if your GroupWise system is down. These architecture issues will be show stoppers for a large number of firms that have already standardized on Windows NT or other mail platforms, or that don't want to upgrade to Novell 4.1 Prior to installing GroupWise, you must make sure you have the latest patches installed on your Novell 4.1 or higher server. (With Novell 4.11, this means a 24 MB download that will make substantial changes to your server.) You also need to make sure you're running the latest Novell Client32 software on the administrative workstation you're installing GroupWise on. My installation of the program went smoothly, and I liked the well-designed wizard that walks you through the numerous installation options. GroupWise's documentation is superb (all help and installation files are in HTML and can be viewed on Novell's Web site prior to purchasing the program, something I'd like to see the other vendors do). Every aspect of the installation is well covered within this documentation, and it even comes with numerous worksheets to help you document the process as you go along. Once you have your GroupWise software installed, you configure your GroupWise system and all document management services using NWAdmin, the Novell administration software. GroupWise is tightly integrated with the Novell operating system, so that when you add a new user to your network, you add that user to the GroupWise system at the same time. You also configure the document profile and create client/matter tables in NWAdmin by creating them from scratch or importing ASCII files. Finally, you'll need to configure what are known as the GroupWise agents—server-based processes that perform many of the program's functions. Like all of the programs reviewed here, use a separate machine on your network (i.e., apart from your main server) to providing indexing services. Administration & SecurityAs mentioned previously, administration of GroupWise is performed using NWAdmin. A major new document management feature in GroupWise 5.5 is the Librarian—a tag given to a user that gives him the right to manage and administer documents on the network, but not necessarily manage the network as a whole. Librarians can perform such important functions as deleting documents, copying documents from one library to another, resetting a document's in use status, restoring a document from backup and performing mass operations such as archiving documents. All of these functions are straightforward if you are comfortable using NWAdmin. An important new administrative function in GroupWise 5.5 is the ability to restore a single document in your GroupWise library from a backup. (In the past, if a single document was corrupted, the only way to restore it was to restore the entire library.) Another new feature (available for years in SoftSolutions and other NDMSs) is the ability to "echo" documents to your local drive in their native word processing format, allowing users to view, read and edit documents remotely or when the network is unavailable. These features go a long way towards overcoming my fears of entrusting a firm's precious documents to a BLOB database architecture that is impossible to get to if your GroupWise system is down, although I'd be even happier if the next release of GroupWise gave administrators the choice of storing documents in their native formats on the network. As currently designed, GroupWise does have one single point of failure: if the GroupWise server goes down or the index gets corrupted, users will not be able to retrieve their documents (except for those echoed locally). This is perhaps GroupWise's greatest weakness compared to Worldox and Docs Esq., both of which store documents in their native formats. One good thing about BLOBs: because documents are encrypted and compressed within them, there is no way for users to circumvent the system's security by "going around" the document management system. Design & Ease of UseBecause GroupWise is the first truly integrated messaging and document management product on the market, users should be able to quickly learn how to use its features since the interface is so similar to its other functions, like e-mail. For example, creating a pre-set search folder for frequently used documents is similar to creating a search folder for e-mails. A welcome interface improvement in GroupWise 5.5 is the new Documents Folder. By default, all new documents you create are stored in this folder. Integration with both WordPerfect 8 (service pack 4 or higher) and Word 97 is now seamless, using 32-bit ODMA integration. However, GroupWise 5.5 must be running in order for integration to work. In general, all of the integration problems reported in the last review have been dealt with, we suspect largely because ODMA 32 is now a more widely used and better-supported standard. Another area that GroupWise 5.5 has dramatically improved is searching. As mentioned earlier, GroupWise 5.5 finally offers QBE searching so that users can easily search by author, document type, document number, etc. Also, you can now easily create multiple versions of a document, check them in and out of the library and perform other DMS related functions. And for current SoftSolutions users, the SoftSolutions migration feature has been made even easier to use, and GroupWise will now seamlessly import SoftSolutions 4.1 datasets. Out of the box, GroupWise supports remote computing with its "Hit the Road" feature that allows users to take e-mails, documents and other info on their laptop. You can even manage your remote (off-line) documents to conserve disk space. As a true enterprise wide-messaging system, GroupWise comes with gateways for dial-up retrieval of e-mail and other documents. GroupWise also comes bundled with GroupWise WebAccess, providing users with much of GroupWise's functionality in their Web browsers, including downloading them in their native format. There is also GroupWise WebPublisher that lets GroupWise users publish documents from a GroupWise library to the Web. These advanced features require that your firm set up a dedicated server on the Internet—something beyond the resources of most small- to mid-sized law firms. However, the inclusion of these Web-related features in the standard package represents extraordinary value for users that do decide to use the Web. (The equivalent Web Server access does not yet exist for Worldox 8. PC Docs' CyberDocs is an additional $20,000.) ValueBecause GroupWise combines state-of-the-art messaging and document management services in one program, not to mention high-end Web features, it represents an extraordinary value over competing solutions—if your firm has a Novell network and is willing to use GroupWise as its e-mail platform of choice. Twenty five new-user licenses are available at the street price of around $2,500 (about $100 per license). The 25-user upgrade street price is also competitively priced, and any firm qualifies for the upgrade if they have a competing e-mail package.
iManage Network 4.1 NetRight Technologies In the past, large firm document management was synonymous with one company —PC Docs. With the arrival of NetRight iManage, however, large firms now have a choice. iManage Network 4.1 is a sophisticated document management system that can handle millions of documents on local and wide area networks. Since law firms live by documents, iManage is an excellent choice for larger firms needing to track and manage their documents—particularly for firms looking to move from SoftSolutions. iManage Network is built on a 32-bit, three-tiered client/server architecture. The first tier consists of the File Server (where the actual documents are stored), the SQL database (which stores information about the documents, like profile fields), and the full-text index. The middle tier is the iManage DMS Server, where the iManage Network software is installed. It controls access to the documents and services users' requests. The third tier is the client PCs. There are several advantages to having the middle- tier DMS server. Users only access the middle tier; the middle tier obtains the document and passes it to the client PC. It functions as a firewall, since users have no rights to the document file server and cannot get documents through a "back door." Since users don't have a connection to the file server and SQL database, fault tolerance is built-in. If there are network problems or a server goes down, users can continue to work on documents on their PCs. The only access to the file server is when documents are opened and closed. Finally, since the client PCs don't directly access the SQL database, fewer SQL licenses and connections are needed. With just a few SQL connections, the middle tier can service many users. iManage Network integrates with most 32-bit applications, plus WordPerfect 6.1. "Integration" means that iManage takes over file functions such as Open, Save, Save As, Close and Exit. WordPerfect (6.1, 7.0, 8.0), PowerPoint, Quattro Pro and Presentations use ODMA integration to work with iManage. For Word and Excel, NetRight provides macro integration. For other applications, iManage Network provides a non-integrated mode. Here the functions of the program aren't altered, but iManage will mark a document as checked out (preventing others from editing it) when opened. When the document is exited, iManage will check it back in. The iManage Network desktop provides standard document management functions, such as searching, versioning and tracking a document's history. There are several other useful features. "Roles" can limit access to certain DMS functions, such as deleting documents. These roles can be assigned to specific users, such as temporary secretaries. Groups of documents can be logically saved into project folders, which can be made public (shareable) or private. Profile and full-text searches can be saved and rerun. These saved searches can likewise be made public or private. For SoftSolutions customers interested in moving to iManage Network, NetRight provides a iManage Conversion Kit for SoftSolutions. The Network Conversion Wizard, part of the Conversion Kit, automates most of the conversion of SoftSolutions profile information and documents to iManage. NetRight will also provide technical assistance in the conversion. For any firm looking for an "industrial strength" document management system, iManage Network is it.
Worldox 8 World Software Corp. Worldox 8 builds upon the strengths of its predecessor, Worldox 96. As such, it is an evolutionary upgrade that adds important new features to the standard Worldox set without making any fundamental changes to the program's design. This is a good thing because Worldox has already proven itself as a highly reliable, easy to use and maintain NDMS that deserves the many inroads it's made into the law firm marketplace. Current Worldox customers will find upgrading to Worldox 8 a painless and seamless experience, and new users should appreciate Worldox's ease of use and rich feature set. Architecture & SetupWorldox has a unique, two-tiered architecture that combines the benefits of a traditional file manager, such as Windows Explorer, with a dedicated document management system. Besides ease of use, this unique design gives Worldox an advantage over its competitors because there is no single point of failure. If for some reason, the Worldox index were to get corrupted and had to be rebuilt, users could still search and retrieve any document on the network by browsing the folder structure. It is even possible to perform profile searches in Worldox without the index, although of course, this will be slower. Furthermore, because Worldox does not rely on powerful and complex database technologies (like SQL) that require dedicated servers running Windows NT, the costs of installing and maintaining Worldox can be dramatically lower than other solutions. Worldox will run fine on older networks running Novell 3.x, Windows NT—even Windows 95 peer-to-peer networks. The only additional requirement is that a workstation running Windows 95 be dedicated as the profiler and full-text indexer. Installation and configuration of Worldox is easy. The program comes on five diskettes (I'd like to see this replaced with a CD) that installed quickly on my Novell 4.1 server. I then configured the firm profiles and added users. Adding a workstation client is simply a matter of running an executable, taking only about a minute per machine. One feature I'd like to see in future releases is the ability to read the Novell 4.1 NDS tree or the Windows NT domain so that users can be easily imported from the network operating system (a feature that exists in both Docs Esq. and GroupWise). Integration with WordPerfect 8 (service pack 4 or higher) and Word 97 is especially painless. Worldox uses ODMA integration and copies all the necessary support files and registry entries every time it loads. The only requirement is that Worldox must be running prior to launching your word processor. In my testing, I never experienced an integration problem, which was not true for either GroupWise 5.5 or Docs Esq. Law firms migrating from older NDMSs, such as SoftSolutions and PC Docs Classic, should be interested to know that Worldox comes with powerful, built-in conversion tools to help firms migrate their datasets and documents to Worldox. While it takes the services of a skilled integrator, there are no additional software costs involved. Administration & SecurityWorldox administration is performed through the Worldox administrator program, which can be run from any workstation on the network. Here, the administrator can add or delete users, set up security for documents, perform archiving functions, etc. The major new additions in Worldox 8 are an archiving feature, new and enhanced security functions, and the addition of WAN-related features (now called Domains) that let a Worldox administrator centrally administer remote Worldox sites. Like both GroupWise and Docs Esq., Worldox 8 now allows you to assign a "document life" to document types. Periodically the administrator can run archiving reports to determine which documents qualify to be archived or deleted. Worldox has the unique option of archiving files in the industry standard PKZIP format. This dramatically saves on disk space, compresses many files into one archive file and allows them to be viewed and extracted while compressed. Worldox 8 has considerably beefed up its security features. File level security can now be implemented, and individual rights can be granted to specific documents. These new security features are both powerful and intuitive. Another feature that administrators should like is the fact the menus are now completely customizable in Worldox 8. Worldox administrators can now create one or more menu systems and assign menus to individual users. Design & Ease of UseThe Worldox client, which I already considered the best in the business because of its flexibility and ease of use, has been further improved in Worldox 8. For example, users can now add comments to any profile they create, and these comments can run up to several pages of text. These comment fields are full-text searchable by the Worldox search engine. The new "speed folders" feature gives users immediate access to favorite folders. I especially liked the new Quick Pick feature, an optional method for finding documents. From the Quick Pick dialog box, users can search for a document on any profile field, perform a QBE or full-text search, and list their favorite files and folders. Quick Pick makes the task of finding documents easier than ever. Worldox 8 now includes the latest release of Isys (5.0) as well as new 32-bit viewing technology. Isys is an extremely fast and capable full-text searching engine licensed from Odyssey Development. In the past, a corrupted document had the potential to stop or crash the Worldox indexer. The new 32-bit technology features automatic error detection and correction. Together, these improvements greatly enhance the speed and reliability of the Worldox search and indexing engine. Remote users will find that Worldox 8 has made their jobs easier. Worldox 8 automatically detects when the workstation is operating disconnected from the network and provides seamless operation using a local mirror drive. Documents can be checked in or out and "locked" to prevent other users from changing it. When the network connection is reestablished, Worldox synchronizes the mirror drive with the network. For an introductory period, the Web Server will sell for $2,000, instead of the standard price of $5,000. World Software is also planning to release a Web Server module, to be available as a separate component. According to the company, the Web Server will provide user access to documents and the full range of Worldox Search capabilities via a browser. ValueAt $295 a license with no additional server fee, Worldox is a good value. The program can be used on virtually any network without requiring substantial upgrades or new servers, is easy to use and very simple to maintain. It should be on the short list of any small- to mid-sized firm looking to implement a document management system.
Docs Esq PC Docs Docs Esq. is the new product from PC Docs designed to provide small- to mid-sized firms with a majority of the features of PC Docs Open at a more competitive price. According to PC Docs Corp., Docs Esq. provides more than 90 percent of the features of the larger product (exceptions include some customization tools, a security-level feature for NT servers, and routing products for tight integration with e-mail products like Microsoft Exchange—all high-end features not required by most smaller firms). Docs Esq. is available only from selected Docs Esq. authorized integrators who have specialized knowledge of law office information systems (a complete list can be found on the company's Web site). Architecture & InstallationThe Docs Esq. architecture is based on a powerful and complex database technology known as SQL. An "open" technology in use in large businesses because of its power and reliability, it has been widely adopted in high-end accounting systems, document management systems, Web sites and other areas that require very robust databases. SQL has the downside of being very complex to understand, administer and troubleshoot. Skilled SQL administrators need to be well versed in the SQL query language and other highly technical areas, and such employees demand a premium on the market. They are typically found in larger law firms with a dedicated IS staff. Because SQL's resource demands are so high, it is recommended that your network be comprised of three systems: a document server to store the documents (either NT or Novell), a separate database server to run SQL (Windows NT server running MS SQL 6.5 is the preferred operating system) and a third workstation to index documents and profiles. Installing Docs Esq. is involved because you have to install and configure an SQL database as well. However, the documentation is very clear and well illustrated. A nice feature of the server installation is the ability to import users along with their assigned rights from either a Novell 4.1 or a Windows NT network. Once SQL and Docs Esq. are installed on the server, you complete the installation by adding Docs Esq. to workstations and integrating the product with your word processor and other essential office applications. The process of integrating Docs Esq. is not nearly as seamless as it was with GroupWise and Worldox. After adding the program to the workstation, I had to manually change the workstation path variable (a holdover from the days of DOS that should not be required in a 32-bit environment), tweak some registry settings and manually copy template files from the server to the workstation. This process is unnecessarily difficult and needs to be improved. Administration & SecurityOnce your SQL database is setup, you use the Docs Esq. administration program to add users, document types, groups, security, etc. The majority of these features are straightforward, although the number of options in some of the features, such as Launch Methods, are highly technical and will likely bewilder the average small-firm administrator. Like GroupWise, Docs Esq. has tight links to your network so it's easy to synchronize the program with network resources and users. You can setup multiple remote libraries (useful in WAN environments) and, as the administrator, you are given very precise control over the large number of features in the program. Security features are also robust. Administrators can create groups of users with different rights to documents and libraries, and security is enforced by both the network and SQL server validation. My only real complaint here is that this level of control is almost too much of a good thing. The extraordinary feature set of Docs Esq. can be overwhelming, clearly shows the large-enterprise roots of the program. I would have preferred to see a more stripped-down version of the program that would be easier for more administrators to understand. Design & Ease of UseThe user interface of Docs Esq. is very different than either GroupWise or Worldox. It's based around the idea of a "desktop," with icons from which you can launch your applications and frequently used searches. The projects feature lets users group related documents in a folder. Unlike the Worldox model (which combines a file manager with a NDMS), the Docs Esq. user has no knowledge of where the documents are actually being stored on the network. The idea is to hide the underlying directory structure from the user. My problem with this design model is it's a point of failure. If the Docs server or index goes down, users will not be able to get to their documents. (This is also true of GroupWise.) When you save or open a file, the Docs Esq. profile kicks in, allowing you to easily assign an author, document name, client, matter and description. Searching is also straightforward. You can easily perform QBE searches and full-text searches from the same dialog box. Docs Esq. uses the Verity search engine, which provides some high-end search functions such as Soundex (the ability to search for words that sound like a given word) and Stem (searching for a specified word along with its stemmed variations). However, searching seemed slower than with Worldox or GroupWise, a combination I suspect of the Verity engine and my relatively low-powered NT server. Remote users that need to work on Docs Esq. at home or on the road must purchase a separate module called Docs Unplugged. While powerful and highly customizable, I believe this should be a part of the base package, as it is with Worldox and GroupWise. For law firms that wish to have their documents available from the Web, you can purchase a separate program called CyberDocs, which, as I mentioned previously, is quite expensive. ValueFor most small- to mid-sized firms, Docs Esq. is not a good value. To begin with, the software costs are higher than the competition's. Docs Esq. costs $289 per workstation and $1,995 per server if you don't already own an SQL database such as MS SQL 6.5, and $249 per workstation and $1,295 per server if you do. In addition, you have to pay extra for Docs Unplugged for your remote users. ($79 per user or $49 per user if ordered at the same time as Docs Esq.) Then, you have the additional costs of implementing SQL in a small firm environment, which includes purchasing the SQL software and a separate server to run it on. Finally, the power and sophistication of the product is a mixed blessing because it requires more expensive skills to maintain and administer—skills that, in my experience, are severely lacking in most small- to mid-size law firm environments.
Guy Wiggins Esq. is the co-author of many books, most recently
"The Lawyer's QuickGuide to WordPerfect 7/8" published by the ABA.
He is also a principal in LexTech, a legal technology consulting
firm located in the New York City area. He can be reached at guy@lextechinc.com
or via the Web at www.lextechinc.com. As of October 1, 1999 WORLDOX costs $350 per license.
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