Optimising efficiency and reducing admin

We were managing a multijurisdictional, cross-practice project for a multinational food company. There were initially no formalised processes for receiving client requests or managing client billing. This meant the work was highly admin-intensive, and made it difficult to keep track of client requests and the overall budget.

We deployed the LPD team, who ran an options and recommendations report to identify process improvements. They focused on two key areas:

Service Helpdesk

Originally, client queries went into a central inbox, which included a large number of our lawyers from all practices and jurisdictions. Because the inbox was central and the requests weren’t targeted, this meant queries could easily be missed.

To solve this, the LPD team set up a smaller helpdesk team to manage the central inbox. Using Smartsheets, they track queries and triage them the relevant stakeholders.

This new standardised approach, alongside some of the automation benefits granted by Smartsheets, ensured that all requests were completed with enhanced visibility. It improved stakeholder engagement, as having this central source of truth meant stakeholders could input into the tracker where required, or see where their input is needed.

Billing

Before the LPD team stepped in, there was a significant administrative burden in matching PO numbers against matter numbers, with a lack of budget oversight. We needed to develop a process that gave our client peace of mind that they were being billed for work in a consistent, transparent way.

The LPD team used templates to standardise PO requests and closures, and a communications plan which proactively sent out reminders at key stages of the PO lifecycle. The team also deployed a dedicated LPM to provide financial oversight, operating a Smartsheet to actively track the status of PO’s and budgets. By having a central, single point of contact, this provided more visibility of budget and spending, both internally and for the client.