Upgrade Update

Perry has a server and a new desktop, Monique (Perry's legal assistant) got her new machine, and Harriett now has a laptop. I'll keep the specification details short. Lets just say Perry called DELL and explained his goals. He requested the best value for his dollar and packages started showing up at the law firm. I'm relieved that the hardware is finally out of the way, now maybe we can start getting down to the business of blogging =)

Perry's first college room-mate, Dave Broeckleman of Strategic Network Consultants, has successfully got the Zivley Law Firm server up and running. Dave says he has been trying to get Perry away from using AOL and peer to peer networking for many years. Nevertheless, he was thrilled to be helping Perry with the hardware upgrade. He has now successfully migrated all of the Zivley Law Firm directories over to the server and has also set Perry up with a new e-mail address at his zivleylaw.com domain.

Perry is happy because he no longer has to wait 10 minutes each morning for his machine to boot up and he doesn't have to rely on a peer to peer network to manage his data. The days of the computer constantly being thrown into lethargic mode every time his paralegal needs to access a shared directory on his hard drive are finally over!

Now it's time to begin testing the real usability of this upgrade. As of now, Perry's filing system will not change that much, he typically nests his relative client files within their respective directories on his hard drive. Now he will just be storing all of that data on his server drives.

To better manage the wealth of knowledge living within each case that Perry handles, he hopes to soon be able to easily tag (add meta data) into every file that he or his paralegal creates -- word docs, spreadsheets, presentations, deposition transcripts, photos or videos. Each element of every case that the Zivley Law Firm handles will not only be redundantly backed up in to perpetuity but as it is being archived, the data base will be growing infinitely smarter. By each author having the capability to instantly wrap the content of a file with meaningful meta data a tremendous value will be packed in to any search query made on the firm database in the future. Tagging is a great way to share legacy information among colleagues at a law firm. I wonder how many law firms are guilty of inefficiently managing their knowledge bases?

Knowledge Management is a whole other topic worth exploring in a separate post so I'll save it for later. I just wanted to send out a quick update to catch everyone up on the happenings at the Zivley Firm. I realize it has been a while since the last time I published, and believe me I know all about consistency being key. So find it in your heart to forgive me and I'll do my best to have some engaging footage to publish again next week. On that note, I'll leave you with a short movie that I made in hopes of bringing you a little closer into the upgrade process over at the Zivley Law Firm. Until next time, may all your days be real and meaningful. Thanks for dropping by!