Orion Newsletter – September 2014
Orion Visual Analytics
Orion’s excited to announce another great addition to our software suite. Last week an introduction Webinar was hosted by Carl Mack, CEO of IntelliMetrics LLC. This gave you the first look at Orion’s new software enhancement, Orion Visual Analytics.
The Orion Visual Analytics platform provides Users easy to understand, concise insight into complex business questions. Orion Visual Analytics will give your Firm quick access to financial performance information at a variety of levels including; Firm Level, Location, Practice Group, Department and Attorney Level Client/Matter level.
This new platform enables Orion Users to gain insight from data more easily and more quickly than they ever have using traditional management reports or Excel spreadsheets. If you were unable to attend our demo last week, click the link below to watch it now. Carl Mack will also be presenting more information on the Orion Visual Analytics platform at our Orion User Group Meeting.
Orion Visual Analytics Introduction Demo
Watch the Recording Here
Orion User Group Meeting Keynote Speaker
Ari Kaplan will be opening our conference this year. Ari is an industry expert and very well known around the ALA. After nearly nine years practicing with large law firms in New York City, Kaplan, named to the inaugural Fastcase 50, has become a leading industry analyst in the legal community. He has been the keynote speaker for events in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and throughout the U.S., and has shared ideas with legal professionals worldwide.
Ari Kaplan’s first book, The Opportunity Maker: Strategies for Inspiring Your Legal Career Through Creative Networking and Business Development, was dubbed as a “must-have treasure box of marketing ideas,” and CEOs have described his new book, Reinventing Professional Services: Building Your Business in the Digital Marketplace as “an essential guide” that “expertly showcases the multitude of opportunities the digital age has brought to the professional services market.”
As the author of over 200 articles, Kaplan has received multiple Apex Awards for feature writing. He has been recognized in the Wall Street Journal’s Law Blog, the Chicago Tribune, the Miami Herald, the New York Post, the ABA Journal, Above the Law, the National Jurist, the Chicago Lawyer, and the California Recorder, among other publications. He also served as a legal commentator for CNET Radio and has been interviewed on CNN, WGN-TV Chicago, CBS Interactive’s BNET, WMGT-41 Macon, and Good Morning San Diego. Check out Ari’s blog here.
Orion User Group Meeting Information
The 2014 User Group Meeting is quickly approaching, but it is not too late to sign up! This two and a half day event will take place Monday, October 20 through Wednesday, October 22 (half day) and will be held at the Evergreen Marriott Conference Resort in Stone Mountain Park, Georgia.
Orion’s User Conference offers clients an exceptional chance to participate/integrate with fellow users while elevating their knowledge of Orion’s software. The focus of the conference will be on education in the form of general sessions and break-out sessions. These break-out sessions have been designed to provide in-depth knowledge of Orion while demonstrating practical applications to solve many challenging issues facing firms today.
The Conference Agenda
Click here to see exactly what topics Orion will be covering
Pre-Conference Registration
Click here to complete your registration form
More than 1 person attending from your firm?
*Remember* each extra attendee will receive a $200 discount on their registration fee
Overflow Rooms Available at Stone Mountain Inn –
Click here to make your reservation
Don’t miss this opportunity to discuss firm and software issues with Orion personnel and other members of the Orion community from around the country. Register today, we look forward to seeing you there!
Orion on the Move
As a proud supporter of the ALA, Orion is excited to be a part of these newly redesigned Business of Law Conferences, which offer attendees excellent educational and networking opportunities. So far we have attended the Chicago conference and we are looking forward to seeing you all at the Ft. Worth and Philadelphia conferences.
We’d also like to offer all ALA non-members a special savings, a $200 registration discount AND complimentary membership through 2014, for attending one of the four ALA Business of Law Conferences or the Human Resources Conference. Use this special promo code 14BPC200 to receive your discount. (Note: This opportunity is exclusive to our Clients and prospects who are not registered for a 2014 ALA Business of Law Conference or HR Conference and are not currently a member of ALA. To see if you qualify for membership, review the Eligibility Criteria.)
News from 4L Law Firm Services
“Legal Outsourcing Bootcamp”
The Law Practice Management & Technology section of the Chicago Bar Association is conducting a seminar on Friday, October 10, 2014.
The seminar “Legal Outsourcing Bootcamp” is sponsored in part by Orion’s business services partner, 4L Law Firm Services. Mike Marget of 4L will be the luncheon speaker. Other presentations will include such topics as:
- Outsourcing Work to Experienced Attorneys Outside Your Firm
- Outsourcing e-Discovery
- Cloud Computing and Outsourced IT Support
- Virtual Assistants and Workflow
- Ethical Rules Related to Outsourcing
This CBA Seminar can be attended in person or online. To register please click here.
Orion and 4L partner together to provide our small to midsize law firms with outsourced bookkeeping/billing and virtual desktop services. Mike Marget is the Senior Managing Director of 4L Law Firm Services, and has over 30 years experience in senior administrative and financial positions with several major law firms. For more information on 4L, feel free to email Mike Marget.
Orion and Affinity Consulting Group
In this edition of our Orion Newsletter, the Tech Tip is written by Debbie Foster – one of the managing partners of Affinity Consulting. She will also be presenting a session highlighting “Process Improvement” at our User Group Meeting next month. Affinity and Orion have maintained an excellent relationship over the years. Both companies have a reputation of being valuable business partners to their Clients by providing top-notch customer service. Affinity consultants are legal process, technology and management experts who can help you run an efficient and profitable law firm. Reach out to them for the tools and experience you need to optimize your practice. Below, we have listed some of Affinity’s upcoming webinars which are now open for registration. For more information on Affinity Consulting, check out their website here.
iOrion® Contest Winner Announcement
This summer we ran a special contest for iOrion subscribers, and randomly selected one of them to be the winner of an iPad mini.
Congratulations to Amy Rosenthal of Cowan Liebowitz & Latman!
Did you miss our informative webinar on our latest version, iOrion 2.0? Check out the links below to view a recording as well as the presentation slides. iOrion 2.0 features many new updates and enhancements to iOrion, our complete financial and practice management mobile application that allows legal professionals to access data from Orion using any recent-model iOS device.
iOrion Version 2.0 Webinar
Webinar Recording
Presentation Slides
If you haven’t made the addition of iOrion at your firm, it’s not too late! Contact our Support Desk to subscribe to iOrion.
Orion’s Knowledge Base
Orion has released a valuable tool to its clients, known as the Knowledge Base. Many of you are already taking advantage of this when seeking support or general Orion knowledge, but we wanted to take a moment to remind our Happenings readers of this resource. Orion’s Knowledge Base contains hundreds of helpful articles and video tutorials, written by our IT and Support Staff here at Orion. If you don’t already have access, please email the Support Desk and we will get you set-up with your username and password.
Support Corner
Financial Management
We received a Trust Check written incorrectly and it has already been deposited in Operating Account. How can I correct this?
For example, you entered and paid a Voucher on the Trust Account in the amount of $1,500.00 and distributed it to the Client/Matter as a TAP. The Attorney has now changed his/her mind and only wants to bill the Client/Matter $1,000.00. You have already deposited the Trust Check into your Operating Account. What can you do now?
There are several steps involved with fixing this problem. First and foremost, if the TAP created by the original Voucher has been invoiced, you will have to Unpost and Void the invoice. After that (or if the TAP had not been invoiced), take the following steps…
For the complete tutorial, click here.
Practice Management
How can I globally edit a custom field or notes on multiple contact records?
Orion provides a Global Edit Wizard for firms using Orion’s Practice Management Systems that allows for edits of both standard and custom field “en mass”.
Commonly, this feature is used in firm marketing efforts to mark contacts with detailed notes after a mass mailing or other communication is completed.
The feature can be accessed from the Contacts Screen by right clicking and selecting Global Edit…
For the complete article, click here.
Tech Tip
Outlook Email – QuickSteps
– Debbie Foster, Managing Partner at Affinity Consulting Group
Outlook 2010 and 2013 has a little magic… and that magic is called Quick Steps. Simply put, Quick Steps are easy-to-use one-click buttons which perform multiple actions at once. And, they are totally customizable by you. And, they can do LOTS of different things. Quick Steps is a great way to help you get control of your Outlook inbox. Here is a screen shot of my Quick Steps…
To read the rest of the article, click here. Debbie will also be presenting at our User Group Meeting next month so make sure to sign up if you haven’t already.
Do you have a topic that you would like to see featured in our upcoming publications? Send the Support Desk an email and let us know what you want to see in our Tech Tips.