Features

• Marketing – maintain a vast array of useful marketing data against potential and current clients:
  Client Relationships – define simple or complex client groupings and associations
  Key Personnel – define key personnel and contacts for each client
  Practice Contacts – define contacts within your Practice for each client
  Professional Connections – define other professional advisors used by your client
  Preferences – define the likes or dislikes of your client contacts
  Principal Activities – define the diverse areas of business practised by your client
  Analysis codes – define your own set of analysis codes
  Countries of Business – define other countries your client operates in
  Scratchpads – define your own set of informative scratchpad areas
  Comments – record user comments at client, matter and bill level
  Source of Introduction – analyse your sources of business
  Referrals – analyse referrals made by your fee earners, clients, suppliers or professional advisors
  Potential Work Areas – define other areas of work you are marketing to your client
  Publications – define publications your client may like to receive or events to attend
  Financial Profiles – define simple financial profiles for your client - capitalisation, profitability, number of employees, etc.

• Mailing – interrogate marketing and financial data via SiMS Multi-Criteria Searching software to generate reports or mailing lists directly into your Word Processing system

• Experts – maintain your own register of experts and expert witnesses. Record fields of expertise, countries of qualification and comments on performance. Use a selection of criteria to quickly display or list suitable experts.

• Monitor Profitability – at branch, department, work type, partner, fee earner, client and matter levels.
  
• Control Costs – monitor exposure, disbursements and WIP within your own defined limits.
  
• Standard Reporting – a vast array of standard reports is available in a variety of sequences.
  
• 3rd Party Reporting - use industry standard reporting tools to access data via ODBC/JDBC links.
  
• SiMS RDBMS - includes three different levels of reporting tool to provide faster access than ODBC/JDBC drivers. The most innovative is a specialised graphical drill down product allowing optional overnight scanning of queries which can then be distributed to fee earner’s desks via a simple web browser.
  
• Exception Reporting – present fee earners with a short list of critical items to review each day to avoid distributing mountains of paper each month.
  
• Incentive Reporting – available at partner, managing fee earner and fee earner levels. Select the type of incentive reporting which best suits your practice needs.
  
• Financial Accounting – fully compliant with Solicitors’ Accounts Rules, includes sales and purchase ledgers and a simple but effective suite of nominal ledger software. All modules are fully integrated.
  
• Multi-Currency –post your financial transactions in a variety of currencies. Profit and loss on exchange is automatically handled.
  
• Interest – calculate client interest according to Law Society Rules. Run mixed money accounts to maximise interest earned for your clients and the Practice.
  
• Controlled Trusts – automatically handle payments and receipts of Controlled Trust monies. Ensure the Practice does not earn interest on Controlled Trust deposit accounts.
  
• Bank Reconciliation – automated software to simplify your bank reconciliation processing. Optional electronic interfaces.
  
• Time Recording – distributed or centralised time entry via traditional timesheet (in units or hours and minutes) or via the SiMS On-Screen Timer. Both allow summarised narrative and attendance note input if required. Track chargeable and non-chargeable time and missing time sheets.
  
• Billing – produce your own single or multi-matter bills via computer or use our traditional manual billing procedures.
  
• Credit Control – issue reminder letters and/or statements to improve your cashflow, record credit history for future reference.
  
• Performance Data – automatically maintained for all fee earners.
  
• Money Laundering Act – monitor compliance on newly created matters.
  
• Practice Rule 15 – monitor compliance on all new business
  
• Gross Fee Certificate – automatically analyse income for Professional Indemnity cover applications
  
• Enquiries - provided in all application areas. Drill down to see full transaction information. Record user comments and borrow archived items via SiMS enquiry software.
  
• Archiving – a fully integrated archiving module allowing users to store and track the whereabouts of matter correspondence files, associated legal documents, deeds, wills and other safe custody items.
  
• Y2K – SiMS has been fully compliant since its inception in 1991.
  
• Third Party Integration - SiMS supports electronic links to numerous third party Office Automation and Spreadsheet environments. SiMS can also import and process data from electronic banking and disbursement control systems.
  
• Automatic Run Control System - allows unattended production of daily, weekly, monthly and annual reporting processes.
  
• Real-Time – file maintenance and transaction processing functions are fully real-time. Data for reporting at period-end is immediately accessible without further consolidation.
  
• On-line Help - SiMS provides full on-line help and context sensitive lookup facilities.
  
• Security – SiMS provides its own controlling environment to handle all user interfaces. Access to the application is controlled by a simple menu system which includes security to control individual user access.
  
  SiMS is completely developed using PROGRESS software - www.progress.com