- Case Study
star*time Narrative Content Review Module Increases Revenue
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman & Goggin
Challenge
Marshall Dennehey Warner Coleman and Goggin is
a Philadelphia-based Insurance Defense firm with
360 lawyers in 17 offices. In 2003 firm administrators
noticed that time records were regularly being
written off because they did not follow the grammatical
guidelines defined by their insurance company
clients. One of their clients, for example, did
not want to pay for any “telephone conferences”
unless the narrative specified who had approved
it.
Request
Marshall Dennehey requested that Select* Associates
design a program to prohibit the financial loss
associated with billing time entries that did
not satisfy their clients’ requirements.
Solution
Marshall Dennehey had already implemented Select*
Associates’ star*time application to provide
integrated time entry and time calendar inquiry/reporting
on all secretarial desktops. This also provided
an easy way to maintain up-to-date information
on time tracking statistics throughout the month.
Select* Associates created a star*time Narrative Content Review module, a rules-based content checker built directly into the star*time data entry application. This checker is designed to prevent “prohibited” phrases from being entered during the time recording process.
Select* Associates identified the time recording rules and included them in the star*time description analysis software. When a narrative rule is violated, the system notifies the user and provides details for modifying the time entry narrative. As an example, if a user enters the narrative “conference call with Joe Dash,” a message indicates that the person who approved the call must be specifically noted, enabling the narrative to be entered correctly.
The implementation of the star*time Narrative Content Review module also provides an easy way for the rules to be regularly updated. As rules are implemented or refined, they can immediately be put into place throughout the entire firm.
Results
Marshall Dennehey has greatly limited the amount
of time entries that are automatically written
off because of poor or incorrectly worded narrative
descriptions. In addition, Marshall Dennehey has
also greatly reduced the amount of in-house editing
and review required to insure that time entry
descriptions follow client guidelines.
