Specifying Document Settings for the firm
Specifying Document Settings for the firm
Documents and research can be associated with Amicus data, regardless of format, directly from all Microsoft Office applications (including Word, Excel, and Outlook), and from WordPerfect. Or, external documents can be attached directly from Amicus Files, Contacts, and E-mails. Documents can also be generated from Amicus Files and Contacts based on the firm's Merge Templates. Search functions include the ability to search Document Details, as well as the full text of the documents themselves. It is important to properly configure Amicus to take full advantage of these features.
This topic covers:
User-Managed versus Amicus-Managed documents
Decide which level of document management meets the needs of your firm:
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User-Managed—This mode gives Firm Members the flexibility to individually manage their documents. Documents attached to Amicus records can be saved to any location the user prefers. It also supports an embedded Windows Explorer view within File Details for ease of reference to network folders relevant to a specific File. This mode does not guarantee accessibility by all Firm Members. However, if your firm or individual departments utilize designated network locations for sharing documents, each user can specify that location relative to their individual workstation in their preferences, and you can set a default for this preference in Firm Settings which will be automatically assigned to new users— see Document management: Overview.
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Amicus-Managed—This mode provides an always-accessible solution. It is ideal for firms that desire greater control of document location, accessibility, and document versioning. (Note that document versioning is supported only on Documents associated with a matter File.) Editing is controlled by enforced Check In/Out functions that protect it and allow users to track who is working on a document.
As an Amicus Administrator, you can choose this option to designate Amicus to be in charge of managing Amicus documents. This will result in all these documents being automatically uploaded to the firm's designated Managed Documents location—by default the following folder on the Amicus Attorney Application Server:
\Amicus Attorney Server\SharedDocuments
You may choose to use this default location for Managed Documents or designate a different location. Although this location can be on a different server, note that full-text searching can be performed only on documents that reside on the Amicus Server.
Amicus automatically creates folders and subfolders when required.
Documents assigned to a File (or both File and Contact)—Whenever a document is edited and checked in, it becomes the new current version, and the original one remains accessible as a prior version.
Current version:
\FILES\<ShortFileName>\<DocumentName>
Prior versions:
\FILES\<ShortFileName>\AA_Prior_Versions_a06fea24\<computerfilename>_<DocumentHistoryID>
Documents assigned to only a Contact—Whenever a document is edited and checked in, it simply replaces the old document.
\PEOPLE\<DocumentName>_<ContactFullName>_<ContactID>_<DateTimeAdded>
If your Amicus database already contains Document records that point to computer files on your network, then upon enabling Amicus-Managed mode, those documents will be physically moved and the Location paths updated in the Amicus records. For more information, see Changing to Amicus-Managed Mode.
Document templates for Assembly
The Document Assembly function requires that the word processing document templates be accessible from the Amicus Attorney Application Server. It is not necessary that each individual user have direct access to these templates. Template files are stored by default under in subfolders under
\Amicus Attorney Server\DocumentAssemblyTemplates
Library Resources
Similar to the way in which external files can be attached to Amicus Files and Contacts as Documents, items may be attached to Amicus Library Pages as Library Resources. Unlike Documents, Library Resources are always user-managed.
It is important to ensure that Library Resources on Firm Library Pages are available to all users and are indexed for full-text document searching. The method you choose to manage Documents affects how you prepare for Library Resources:
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User-Managed Documents—We recommend that you create a \LIBRARY subfolder in the Shared Documents location for storing Firm Library Resource files. Users will be able to designate the location of Firm Library Resource files either via their mapped drive to the Shared Documents location (e.g. Z:\LIBRARY\abdg92.doc) or, if UNC paths are utilized at the firm, then via a UNC path (e.g. \\Alaska\SharedDocuments\LIBRARY\abdg92.doc).
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Amicus-Managed Documents—We recommend that you create a \LIBRARY subfolder that is accessible to all users, and configure it for indexing (as described above). Users will need to designate the location of Firm Library Resource files via a UNC path, e.g. \\Alaska\SharedDocuments\LIBRARY\abdg92.doc.
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