Dovetail Standard CPD Manager Dovetail Management Software Limited
Product Information Jan 2003
Standard CPD Manager was designed specifically for large UK law firms. It has been in widespread use since October 1994. This document outlines Points of interest: its content..
Components 2 A complementary product called GlobalCPD.NET will be made available in 2004. This is particularly suitable for firms who need to apply web technology to the delivery and administration of training across many UK E-mail 3 and overseas offices. It has been designed to cater for the CPD rules of several jurisdictions and professional bodies. CPD record 4
Clients include large & medium Task Manager 6 size firms such as: Monitoring · CPD Hours compliance Allen & Overy Publishing on the 8 · Law Society compulsory course compliance Intranet Berwin Leighton · Expenditure & activity Intranet Access to 10 Bird & Bird Communicating Training Records · Reminders & confirmations by email Clyde & Co Technical Info 17 · Information on the Intranet
Denton Wilde Sapte · Training Plans & Progress reports Frequently Asked 18
· Reports in portable (PDF) format by email Questions DLA Planning Report Samples 19+ Field Fisher Waterhouse · Trainee Solicitor PSC programme
Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer · Other Core programmes Professional Administration Herbert Smith · Accuracy and efficiency Lovells · Less time on basic, mundane tasks
Masons Business Development · Administration of client Seminars Norton Rose · Invoice & letter production Penningtons · Client delegates database
S J Berwin · Marketing Analysis Some of its components Page 2
Course Schedule CPD Training Publishing on the Data Warehouse Record Enquiry on Firm’s Intranet for ODBC / SQL the Firm’s Intranet Reporting Tools
Dovetail SQL Web Server giving fee-earners and support teams greater access to information via the Firm’s Intranet and third-party reporting tools. Front Office
Back Office
The Back Office system is for training administrators and managers.
Training Records Courses & Bookings Client for both Solicitors Training published on Training & Support Staff Programmes the Intranet invoice production monitoring
Law Society Skill-Base Compliance Financial Ledger monitoring
Automatic CPD Calculations Page 3 l Filters the hours accumulated by solicitors to check if they satisfy the current regu- lations of the Law Society of England and Wales. l Ensures ineligible CPD hours are excluded from calculations.
l Identifies individuals who are falling behind with their hours before it is too late to take remedial action. l Incorporates the transitional arrangements at the time the new scheme began in Nov. 1992 and its subsequent changes. l Allows amendments to be made retrospectively.
l Analyses non-structured training activities attracting CPD credit. (e.g. Legal writing, distance learning)
“Filters the hours accumulated l Caters for deferral of hours, authorised extensions and part-time working. by solicitors to check if they satisfy the current regulations of l Except in the case of deferrals and part-time working, the system merely requires the Law Society of England and the solicitor’s admission date to perform all the complicated compliance analysis. Wales.
Put the calculator away!” Law Society Compulsory Courses l A special report will tell you who has and who has not attended Management Course Part I. l It caters for single and multiple (modular) sessions. l Useful for estimating how many sessions will required over the next year or so. l The CPD Training record shows when this or the previous compulsory courses were attended.
E-mail Integration
· The names and default message are automatically generated. Quite an advantage when under time pressure.
· Encourage high attendance rates with timely reminders.
· Send reports by email.
· Reduce the circulation of paperwork.
· Produce booking confirmations, reminders and general emails.
Automatic transfer to MAPI compliant email systems. Handles deferrals, secondments & part-time working. Changes in regulations covered by the software maintenance agreement Calculated automatically. Page 4
Training records for all staff Page 5
l Training records for all staff may be maintained, not only admitted solicitors.
l Also caters for external delegates.
l System generated code for each individual is based on the person’s surname. Facili- tates name searching on merely the first two or three leading characters. A change in surname will trigger the appropriate re-coding of all related records.
l Ex-employee records retained on file and easily accessed.
l File import of joiners, leavers, transfers etc from personnel system.
l Can monitor staff CPD hours against an in-house standard. Task Manager Page 6
This optional module helps managers and administrators keep track of the administration workflow.
“With so much going on have we forgotten anything?
“I’m on holiday next month! Will my manager know which critical tasks must be re-assigned and monitored?”
“A multi-user, shared task list. All members of the admin team share this information.”
Tasks listed depend on search criteria used.
“A choice of search criteria to pinpoint potential time management problems.” Task Manager Page 7
“It looks good but surely it requires a lot of time and effort entering and updating the task records?
No, it requires little effort.
Sets of standard tasks can be defined in templates. All you have to do is attach a template to the course requiring close monitoring”
Below, illustrates the details you may define for a task.
“The Percent Done field would be worth updating if the task is a lengthy process over several weeks.” Publish Courses on your Intranet Page 8 l Browser access to information published in a SQL Server database. “The Intranet team no longer has to waste time typing the course l The Back-Office system remains secure, available only to authorised schedule in an HTML editor! administrators and managers. Once we schedule the courses in Dovetail; the rest is automatic. l Seamless integration with your intranet design. Make it look like the house-style. Therefore, if course dates change, l A choice of simple and advanced search criteria. the intranet is updated automatically. l URL links to other documents e.g. agenda, speaker CV. Encourages the use of our intranet.” l Can exclude specific courses from publication.
Drill-down to see who has booked on a course event.
Publish Courses on your Intranet Page 9
“A choice of simple and advanced search screens.”
l Course titles are underlined (hyperlinked) if there is additional information in another HTML document like the one below.
“Links to other sources of course information on your intranet. So you could produce an agenda etc. in a WP system, publish it on the intranet and then have a seamless link to it from Dovetail.”
Technical summary
· A Dovetail C++ ISAPI program processes user queries. “Server-side multi-threaded
· Server-side multi-threaded processing processing.
· This means the processor can handle a large number of concurrent queries This means it can handle many without the performance degradation associated with older CGI technology. concurrent queries efficiently.” · Fits into the Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS) model
· All components supplied ready to run. Intranet Access to Training Records Page 10
“Encourages the use of the Firm’s intranet.”
“Privacy. No access to other records. Automatic Network domain logon authentication determines the record retrieved.”
“Indicates how many more CPD hours required to satisfy the regulations.” Page 11
Hyperlink to courses this individual has been booked to attend.
Support staff as well as solicitors can view and print their training record via the Firm’s private intranet. Pre-bookings Page 12
l Pre-booking is optional. For many courses you might, instead, simply record attendance when the registers are returned. l Pre-booking enables you to issue confirmations and reminders via email and memo. l Staff can use the Intranet to see course bookings. l Enter names directly or search by a variety of criteria to form a target set of dele- gates. For example, search for all Year 3 qualified staff who still need to attend a compulsory course or newcomers who need to attend a core course. l Create external delegate master details while entering Single bookings. l Automatic update of booking records if the event venue or start date is re-scheduled. l Booking Status reporting: provisional, confirmed, cancelled (apology), attended, un- registered, absent & no apology. l Monitoring of cancellations & non-attendance.
Course Scheduling
l Regularly repeated courses may be copied. Saves time and ensures consistency.
l Significant flexibility as to how much detail needs to be entered. Speakers, room- ing arrangements and so forth need not be entered.
l Changes in the event start date and venue automatically trigger an update to any pre-bookings.
l Different Admin Units can be allocated separate course code prefixes and access rights.
l Up to five interest areas per course. These are useful search criteria.
l Different Start and End times may be specified for the second and subsequent days of a multi-day course e.g. a weekend retreat.
l Warns if the course time overlaps with another for which the same room has been allocated.
l Internal speakers drawn from the staff master file. Avoids need to maintain a separate file.
l Monitoring of course cancellations by speakers.
l Global substitution of organiser and internal speaker on courses in a date range.
l On-line resource availability & diary booking while scheduling / re-scheduling.
Registering Attendance Page 13
l Block register any pre-booked delegates. On an exceptions basis, add and remove names.
l Adjustments may be made for partial attendance.
l Record preparation and presentation hours.
l Produce attendance signature forms listing pre-booked delegates or all those in a dept or sector.
Training Programmes
l Link courses, exams and assignments to PSC or other programmes such as trainee seat inductions.
l Individuals may be enrolled on more than one programme.
l Individuals may be excused or given exemption from programme elements that have been flagged as mandatory for the rest of the cohort.
l Automatic personal training schedules and progress reports.
l Provides management with an ‘at a glance’ status report.
PSC Training Programme
l Organise, schedule and monitor programmes. For example, issue a personal training plan and progress report before each Seat Move. Reduce a complicated set of arrangements to a simpler, ‘personalised’ timetable for each individual.
l Seat plans: Start and End Dates. Allows for `split’ seats.
l Progress Report highlights exceptional items such as non-attendance on compulsory courses.
l May be varied for each intake. Recognises that the curriculum may change e.g. introduction of Electives.
l Elements may be courses, examinations or assignments.
Financial Control Page 14
l Standard reports on expenditure and income.
l An optional ledger module for analysing costs against: - the Firm’s nominal accounts (objective analysis) and - the training department’s own subjective codes
l The ledger analysis module will produce: - Totals & detailed breakdown by nominal account - Monthly Income & expenditure per account against budget - Totals & detailed breakdown by course - Statistics such as average spend per person per course - Analysis by supplier/provider and customer account
l Transaction types: purchase order commitments, estimates, journal transfers/ recharges, sales and purchase invoices. Evaluation Forms Management
l This module enables you to keep track of the issue and return of forms for: Authorisation to attend Course Evaluations Post-Course Reviews
l The evaluation forms may be printed from Dovetail if you wish. If so, then the inter- nal and external course forms may contain different questions.
l Audit reports enable you to monitor issues and returns with the minimum of effort.
Skills Database
l A range of skills may be recorded for each staff member.
l The skill sets are user-definable e.g. languages, supervisory, IT etc.
l Competency levels are expressed in numerical terms to make it easy to search for skill gaps.
l But qualitative remarks can also be entered.
l Standard comments to 'explain' numerical rates may be stored in a comment bank to ensure there is consistency of data entry over time and between operators.
l A variety of reports from flexible search criteria. Client Training Database Page 15
l The system has the functions required to manage client seminars.
l Produces booking confirmation and reminder letters.
l Mailshot controls (e.g. liaise with client partner before seminar invitation sent)
l Unload attendance history and contact information for targeted mailshots.
Marketing Analysis
l A Booking Analysis report can reveal trends in the bookings over the months preceding each course and to what extent specific marketing activities have generated demand.
l Particularly useful for monitoring fee-charged courses with attendance targets.
Invoice Production
l Client training invoice & credit note production
l Consolidated invoices & pro-forma invoices
l Sales Daybook for audit trail maintenance
l Hierarchy of Pricing Methods (e.g. multiple booking & early booking discounts)
l Fees and payments tracking
Multiple Admin Teams/Units
l Partitions may be established in the database to allow different admin groups to work independently but share the benefits of common core files.
l Sets of parameters govern how these partitions are arranged. Example 1 Each office administers its own local courses while a central head office unit organ- ises national, firm-wide courses. Local offices might be granted read-only access to national event details.
Example 2 One unit is responsible for client seminars while another looks after all staff training. Data would be filtered so that each unit had a partial view of the database files.
Reports Page 16
They are produced in portable document format (PDF) and include the following: l CPD Training Record with full analysis of compliance with Law Society regulations. l CPD Compliance Summary report Lists staff and to what extent they have met the required hours. A derivative of this allows you to compare hours against an in-house minimum re- quirement. Automatic memos may be issued to those falling behind with their hours. l CPD Compulsory Course report Who has done/needs to do the Management course. l Searches on Internal & External courses - variety of listings l Searches on student/delegate - variety of listings l Who has & Who has Not attended a Course l Seat Move Mailing Pack Memo, training diary and progress report for PSC trainees before a Seat Move. l Training Programme monitor. An automatic at-a-glance listing in spreadsheet style which highlights exceptional items such as absence or no pre-booking. l Trainee Seat Movements l PSC Intake Allocation-to-Events Planner l Assignment & Exam Results Summary Samples appended to this l Multi-purpose Class Lists document. l Class Registration Signature Forms l In-house Schedule for publication l External Course Bookings/Attendance figures l Status & Cancellations Listings (Attendees, cancellers etc.) l Mail distribution lists l Speaker Commitments and Cancellations l Name Badges l Statistics by Office, Group & Type of training l Booking Source Analysis Booking trends for comparison with marketing activity and price incentives. l Unpaid invoices, Sales Daybook & Price Book l Skills reports l Evaluation Forms l Evaluation Forms Management audit reports
Technical Information Page 17
Programming language ...... C/C++, Java, JavaScript
Operating environments ...... Windows ‘95/’98, NT, NT Terminal Server, Windows 2000, XP, Citrix Server
Networks ...... NT, NT Terminal Server, Novell, Banyan Vines
Email-enabled application ...... Integrates with 32 & 16-bit MAPI compliant email clients.
Multi-user ...... Multi-user system. Locking down to table row (record) level.
File structure ...... Back-office system uses ISAM (Indexed se- quential access method). A heavy-duty, data- base file format for C programs, developed by Informix. Front-office modules use Microsoft SQL Server.
Disk Space ...... Back-office - 50Mb Front-office - 50Mb
PostScript ...... Documents are programmed in the Adobe PostScript language. An API call to Adobe “Written in C++. Acrobat Distiller (v4.0) converts the files to PDF format for display and printing. First released in October Printer Specification ...... Preferably PostScript quality laser printers. 1994 and used in many leading City firms in a
Location of Programs & Data .. If need be, the data and executables can be variety of operating sited on separate servers. environments.”
PC’s ...... Pentium II or above with at least 64 Mb memory to accommodate multiple open applications.
Frequently Asked Questions Page 18
Is it bespoke software? Add-on bespoke components are written but the core system remains a standard product with many parameters to accommodate site-specific memo formats etc. The core workflow functions are common to all sites, as indeed are the Law Society training regulations.
Is it used in other sectors? It is not a general-purpose package for use in any type of business sector. It was developed specifically for law firms. That is why the Law Society CPD training regulations are built into the system.
Would we receive enhancements? The user-base receives regular updates: new reports, new functions etc. at no extra charge. If several users request the same feature and we think it improves the product then it is added to the standard version.
Can we import joiner/leaver/mover information from a feeder system? Yes.
Are you prepared to write components on a bespoke basis? Yes, but there would be a charge for the work. The type of work falling under this category would have to be fairly significant in terms of programming time and remain compatible with the core product.
Is there software support? There is a support contract to ensure the product continues to keep in step with the Law Society’s train- ing regulations. There were significant changes in December 1997, 1998.and yet again in November 2001. The maintenance contract provides for direct support by email and telephone.
What resource input is required from the IT Department? Very little other than: - Ensure the server data is archived daily - Load the appropriate Adobe PostScript drivers on the PC’s. - Keep us informed of any planned changes to the operating environment, which we ought to know about.
Can you convert our current data? Yes, we have always converted user data. It ensures there is a smooth transition for administrators. It also helps us identify any shortcomings in the system or the source data.
How would you go about the conversion? In two stages, a dummy run followed by a live run. Simply supply the current database for us to con- vert. Dovetail programs plus the converted data would then be installed to enable your staff to examine the system closely before committing the Firm to any expenditure. There would be no charge for this work if you decided not to proceed. That’s the way we have always conducted business. Can we access the Back-Office system from several offices? Wide-area-network access is possible with Microsoft NT Terminal Server/Citrix technology. Does it handle the regulations of other jurisdictions such as the New York Bar Association? No but the GlobalCPD.NET system, which will go on general release in Autumn 2003, has other juris- diction CPD rules built into it. This product is aimed at meeting the needs of large firms with many over- seas offices. Dovetail Management Founded in 1990, Dovetail Management Software Limited is a Software Limited privately owned company, specialising in niche application markets and services. 41 Highway Avenue Maidenhead Berkshire SL6 5AH United Kingdom
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