In the legal environment, the efficient production of documents is mission critical. Efficient document production results in timely and profitable response to clients, meeting of critical deadlines, and reduced administrative costs. At O2 Consulting, we practice a very methodical—tried and tested approach to word processing conversion.  Our philosophy is that word processing conversions can be challenging, but they should never be painful.  A successful conversion from WordPerfect to Microsoft Word  or even Word to word upgrades requires a solid, three phase approach:  Planning, Preparation and Training.  O2 Consulting brings extensive experience in implementing, customizing and training in Word, WordPerfect & document management solutions in the legal environment.  We use the current deployment methods and state of the art tools to make your project successful.

Phase One:  Planning
A very simple adage comes to mind.  Plan your work and work your plan.  Our strategy is to work with you and your team members to take a good look at where you have been—what has worked for you, what has not, and what needs to be added or updated as you move to Word.

Whether you are converting from WordPerfect to Word or migrating within the Word product line, O2 Consulting offers project management, consultation and planning services that will make all the difference. We understand documents and legal formatting. We can analyze your current document formatting, templates and macros, and assure a conversion plan that is realistic, fits your budget and assures continued productivity during the transition.

Our planning methodology may include one or more or all of the following tasks:

 

		Audit of the current environment.  What works for you now, what doesn’t and what have you discovered over the years that you don’t want to be without?
		Get user buy in!  User buy-in is so important to project success.  We enjoy working with the users/representatives of your firm and hearing their insights and hopefully assisting you with turning frustrations into productivity.  There are some really great ideas in your user group and user community and conversion projects are a great time to tap into them.  The planning phase is a great time to excite your user group about what is to come and get their input.  Never pass up an opportunity to grab a little PR.
		Analysis of your existing documents.  This is a critical task that will yield information such as:
			How much clean up will be needed.
			What is the best conversion tool to fit your requirements and your   documents?  O2 Consulting is a Microsystems partner.  When converting from WordPerfect to Word, a third party conversion tool is an absolute necessity.  We will work with to evaluate your options and pick the tools that best fit your firm’s needs.
			What kinds of Styles will be needed?  Templates?  Macros?  Other add-ins?  For example YreType or possibly other third party packages for templates and other utilities most commonly used in a law firm.
		Training plans.  How do we maximize the time we have for training?  Where are your users currently weak?  What features need to be emphasized?
		Document conversion plans.
		Incorporating Word and its customizations into your current environment—Outlook, your Document Management system or other applications that need to integrate.

Phase Two:  Preparation

		Test – Adjust – and Test Again!!
		Pilot group(s).  Piloting the proposed systems can spare a world of woes.  Users are the best testers and good testing leads to great rollouts
		Testing the roll out based on deployment method selected
		Test – Adjust – and Test Again!!

Phase Three:  Training

Training is so critical to getting all of the planning and preparation work out to your user group.
	Who gets trained and when? Before/after hours; executive briefings; weekdays; weekends?
	Schedule Floor Support. Floor Support is a critical bridge to training success!
	Development and testing of custom instructions on how to handle firm specific conversion issues.
	Documentation and/or handouts of Word features.  Development and customization of Word feature sheets, keystroke shortcuts, how-to instructions, etc. There are many creative on-line options available to you to make your project cost effective and use technology you have currently available in your organization today. Wrap up and follow up of project.
	How will we track issues?  How will we plan for updates that result from user group feedback?
	Will there be a centralized "help desk" for follow up questions/comments/problems?
	On-Going Issues:
		How will new hires be introduced to your firm’s system?
		How will new features and updates be rolled out?
		How will we evaluate our success?  And implement any changes that might come from our evaluation?
		How can we work with you going forward?