Project Management / Case Management Made Easy

We are often asked about what project management systems and case management systems should a law firm choose. I typically recommend three different types based on our past use:

Hosted Project Management System– www.basecamp.com is a great tool that many companies use for project managements and file tools. Pricing ranges from $24 to $149 per month. We used Basecamp for a few days, but felt our own system was simpler. Don’t get me wrong, BaseCamp is simple to use and loved by many. It was just not right for our company. We gladly recommend it for many firms though and millions of other users are using BaseCamp on a daily basis. Check it out to see if its a good fit for your firm.

Installed Project Management System – www.activecollab.com is a solid tool that can be installed to manage clients, files and projects. It competes directly with BaseCamp. The system is well designed, easy to use and looks good. We used the system for a few weeks to demo and decide whether it was right for our firm. Again, we chose to go our own route, but ActiveCollab is defeinitely worth the look. Pricing is $399 + the time to install / customize / train on the system.

Custom Project Management System – Finally, you can go the custom route. Custom project management systems range from very simple applications, to complex full case management solutions.We designed our own portfolio/project system that we use daily and syncs with our web site and team. For pricing, solutions range from a few hundred dollars to tens of thousands of dollars, depending on the scope of the project.

Conclusion
In general, when choosing a project management system, make sure you test out various options. KISS is the best accroynm to think of:”  Keep It Simple Stupid.

With any project management system you need to be able to use it quickly and easily. I prefer simple solutions over solutions that offer tons of options, as we find more people will use the system.