ANSWER: While I have changed the details about your firm slightly at your request, you should know you are far from alone in your situation. In fact, I have several clients in nearly identical circumstances with similar equipment and practice specialties. While I am not an expert in the specific tax law resources available, your letter raises issues for small firms in all practice areas.

Given the current pace of technological change, you will find a few new ground rules to consider. First, if you can buy it, it is already obsolete. Better than any previous business, the computer industry has figured out how to force people to regularly replace functioning equipment for newer models. The corollary to this rule is that while you may have been able to use your initial purchases for 10 years, your time frame for replacing everything you are about to purchase will be substantially less the next time.

The second rule is that whenever you purchase hardware, there always will be something better coming soon that will cost a lot less. While you can drive yourself crazy with buyer’s remorse, you are better off remembering that instead of waiting, you had daily use of the new computer, printer or whatever. This is a helpful mindset since as you plan your purchase, you also should consider the difference in cost between a minimum or recommended configuration and the next step up for each component.

For example, I recently upgraded my computer. I had a Pentium 200 with 64 MB of RAM and a 3-GB hard drive, a 15-inch monitor with tape backup and CD-ROM drives. I bought the P200 2½ years ago for about $2,800. It started with 32 MB of RAM and I added 32 MB early in the second year along with a second hard drive for more storage. While it still works fine, is still under warranty and would be serviceable for someone who did basic word processing and little else, I was finding many of the programs I work with required more-powerful computers, work better with a larger monitor and need more hard drive space than I had.

My new computer is a Pentium III, 550 MHz with 256 KB of RAM, a 17-inch monitor and a 20-GB hard drive. I opted for an internal tape drive and a CD writer. The new equipment cost a little less than the old one. Of course, if you were to look at the original configuration the company recommends, the base price was much lower.

Anticipation

It is important to anticipate your future needs as much as possible. Based on years of experience, I know it is always better to buy everything you want with the initial purchase than have to upgrade parts later on. This ensures that your entire computer is under warranty and the parts are more likely compatible. For instance, the manufacturer offers my computer initially configured with 128 MB of RAM. For $180 more, I was able to have it set up with 256 KB. If I were to buy the additional RAM later, as I did with my earlier computer, it would be more expensive. And I also would be paying a consultant or vendor to install it. Bumping up the RAM is relatively inexpensive but will provide the daily benefit of faster processing. Of course, this philosophy leads to bracket creep, by which the actual price of the computer is higher than planned and is multiplied by the number of computers purchased.

Another consideration when purchasing computers for the first time in a decade is that in addition to hardware price creep, you soon will find yourself in the land of software creep. This is where you suddenly have more-capable computers that can accomplish more and you end up “needing” to buy more software. For example, beyond word processing and time and billing, you now will be able to consider case-management programs, fax software, e-mail, accounting programs, voice recognition and more. The transition from DOS to Windows is dramatic. Added to the normal stresses of getting the firm’s work done, new computers and programs can easily overwhelm attorneys and staff. It is sort of like living in the United States your entire life and suddenly moving to a new country. Some of the words are familiar, but much isn’t and must be learned quickly if you’re going to find your way.

Finally, the other major change in the landscape is that it is highly unlikely you will find a single vendor or consultant who can help you with all the tasks necessary to upgrade your systems. These have become too complex and law firms’ needs are so specialized that it is rare to find a vendor who can install the network and is knowledgeable about the legal software applications each law specialty requires.

There are also issues of expectations in working with vendors and consultants. Many times, lawyers expect a consultant to take charge of the entire process. While a consultant can guide the process and nag vendors, they can never learn or know as much about the particular personality and needs of your firm as you and your staff. Don’t expect that hiring a consultant will allow you to delegate the entire conversion. You must stay involved in the process to ensure it is designed for your firm and its personality.

Training

The worst thing you can do is spend your entire budget on hardware and network infrastructure and leave nothing in terms of time or money for training your staff on the new system. Time spent designing a careful transition to the new system can have a big payoff in productivity. Over the years, I have found that most secretaries were unfamiliar with some of the advanced tools available in WordPerfect 5.1. Often, in training on a new version, secretaries will first learn about tools they could have been using in the prior product had they been aware of them. Use of tables for formatting documents is something many people didn’t master in the DOS version of WP 5.1. Similarly, many people were unaware how to incorporate whole documents of boilerplate into new documents or to create and use fill-in-the-blank merge forms.

In helping firms set up a new Windows versions of word processors, my first step is determining what macros and forms have been used in the current product. The goal is to ensure that when these are moved to the new system, they will have the same functionality. Generally, the Windows versions do not require as many macros to accomplish tasks as their DOS predecessors. Many of the functions, such as printing an envelope, have been added to the menus. Customizing the main toolbar to include frequently used features such as envelopes, footnotes, paragraph numbering and quick words can greatly smooth the transition. Setting up a handful of macros that generate merge documents for letters, fax cover sheets, memos and pleading captions can go a long way toward keeping people productive in the new system. It is important to do this planning and design prior to installing the computers and training the staff.

One of the toughest decisions is which word processing suite to purchase. Either Microsoft Office 2000 or Corel WordPerfect Office 2000 will meet most law firms’ basic needs. My July 5 column discussed the new features of both products and criteria to consider in making a choice. Whichever you choose, I strongly recommend you purchase one copy of the other for emergency and conversion situations.

Updates

Another major issue that has arisen since you bought your last computers is that of maintenance releases. The underlying operating systems (Windows 95, Windows 98 and Windows NT) are much more complex than the DOS versions they replaced. The variety of hardware and software that needs to interact also is much greater. As a result, vendors regularly find problems and offer fixes. These maintenance releases generally are distributed free through the vendor’s Internet web page. It is important to monitor these releases to ensure smooth sailing.

For example, Corel WordPerfect recently released its first update for its newest word processing suite, WordPerfect Office 2000. Among the items it fixes are envelope printing and virus software. You must be constantly vigilant to keep your system virus-free. The most-popular virus-scanning software (Norton Anti-Virus and MacAfee Virus Scan) generally come with most new computers. You probably will see a monthly reminder on each computer that you need to update your virus data files. You should do this to protect against new ailments dreamed up to destroy or tamper with computers. With wide e-mail and Internet use, the transmission of these files has been improved so a virus can wreak havoc globally in a few hours.

In addition to fixes by software companies, many vendors of hardware components do the same. You should check periodically for new printer drivers and software that runs your monitor, modem, etc. Each machine in your office will require similar maintenance.

Improvements

When upgrading Timeslips billing software, take some time to understand the vendor’s changes and improvements since your last copy. Often, firms had to create work-around solutions for tasks now incorporated into the software. Two of the most-common improvements I see deal with multiple billing rates and clients’ nicknames and file numbers. Both are handled better in newer versions of Timeslips. Timeslips 9 is a major change from previous versions and has been plagued with problems. While most of these are resolved now, most Timeslips certified consultants recommend firms upgrade to version 8 rather than 9 unless they have a compelling need for a feature only available in version 9. Take a look at the features list closely before buying an upgrade to see which is best for your firm.

Once you have your system installed, customized, and your users trained and transitioned, you will need to perform periodic maintenance on each computer. This includes backing up each computer’s software at least once and daily backups of the server. It is wise to have at least a master tape of each computer because the time it takes to back up the system is shorter than the time to reinstall and reconfigure all the software commonly loaded onto today’s workstation.

As for the system server, firms should do daily backups and at least one tape should be taken off-site each week. The purpose of an off-site backup is to protect the firm’s data from true catastrophe. In terms of disaster planning, your thinking should be, “What happens if I can’t get back into the office tomorrow due to fire, flood, etc.?” The issue of contingency planning is beyond the scope of this column, but will be discussed soon.

Any software you’re buying now should be certified to run next year. While your word processing software could continue to run, you are really better off moving to a Windows version so you can more readily share information with the other software programs introduced into the office. For instance, with a Windows word processor and fax software, plus a modem, you can fax documents prepared in your office to clients without printing them and going to a fax machine. Similarly, you will be able to attach them to e-mail messages.

Network options

Your firm is at the borderline size in terms of which network option to consider. Depending on your budget and your vendor’s support and expertise, you might want to splurge on a Windows NT server. Assuming your firm will continue to grow, this would be the best option in terms of allowing you to add new users to the system without slowing down your existing staff. Your other option would be a peer-to-peer network using the network options built into Windows 98. While this is much less-expensive, some software programs have problems in such a configuration. It must be installed very carefully so everyone sees shared drives with the same drive letters.

One dynamic to consider when upgrading is the impact of adding lawyers to the firm’s network. There are many subtle and not-so-subtle issues that come into play when lawyers begin to take on tasks formerly performed by their staff. Often, while lawyers are enthusiastic about learning to do documents by themselves, their secretaries worry their jobs might be eliminated. The reality is usually somewhere in between. Both jobs will change slightly, but most lawyers still need assistance in managing the papers, people and other aspects of their practice.

It is important, however, that in your enthusiasm to embrace computers, you assure your staff you don’t plan to do their jobs. You also may have a situation where some lawyers are motivated to learn about the new computers while others are resistant. You may need different strategies and training techniques to work with each. The trick with resistant lawyers (and secretaries, too) is to identify which of their tasks could more easily be accomplished with one of the new computer tools. For some lawyers, it might be as simple as having access to the firm’s contact list or entering their own time into the firm’s billing system, eliminating much of the proofreading required with manual entry.

There are many challenges to upgrading your system. Talk with your colleagues before proceeding. Learn what worked for them, what didn’t, who they liked working with, who they didn’t have good experiences with, etc. The process is similar to renovating your house. First, do your homework. Second, set a reasonable budget and expectation level and finally, execute your plan!

Carol L. Schlein is president of Law Office Systems, a Montclair-based training and consulting firm assisting small- and medium-sized law firms with technology. She formerly chaired the Computer and Technology Division of the ABA’s Law Practice Management Section and is the author of The Lawyer’s Quick Guide to Timeslips, published by the ABA. She can be reached at carol@losinc.com.

Questions for Carol L. Schlein on law office technology may be faxed to New Jersey Lawyer at (732) 750-0010 or mailed to “Law Technology Questions,” New Jersey Lawyer, Woodbridge Corporate Plaza, 485B Route 1, Suite 100, Iselin, N.J. 08830.