BY KEVIN HARRIS – SENIOR PROJECT MANAGER AT ORION
Murphy Austin Adams Schoenfeld LLP (www.murphyaustin.com) is a mid-size business law firm based in Sacramento, California. The firm recently installed Orion’s Financial Management system to address the limitations of their previous software.
Sarah Soloaga, Controller at Murphy Austin, explained that their previous financial management system did not provide the robust reporting capabilities they needed, such as the ability to track client origination and split responsibility between two or more attorneys who share the management of the same client or matter. They also wanted the capability to track historical values for split assignments and the percentages assigned at a point in time.
The firm had previously been calculating expense reimbursements manually, which was neither sustainable nor easily trackable. With Orion, they discovered they could record these expense reimbursement requests from not only the desktop application but also via iOrion, Orion’s mobile platform designed for iOS and Android devices.
When viewing the online demonstration Orion provided, Murphy Austin was pleased to see that Orion’s reporting capabilities squarely addressed their reporting needs and realized that they could get a lot more value out of Orion’s system than their existing software. Overall, they found Orion’s interface to be more modern and its capabilities more targeted to their needs.
Converting Murphy Austin to Orion went well. “We were really impressed by the installation team,” said Soloaga. “This was one of the smoothest software conversions we have ever experienced.”
According to Soloaga, now that Orion is installed, expense reimbursements can easily be completed online. The firm’s users simply attach back-up documents by either scanning or taking photos of receipts while completing requests in iOrion. Orion uses much less paper and tracks more effectively than their previous manual methods.
The system recognizes all changes made in the assignment history, and has handled origination splits involving up to four attorneys. Reporting is faster and tracking is more detailed, allowing the firm’s management team to access information from the system to assess timekeeper and firm productivity.
The firm’s billing process has also improved. Using the pre-bill feature has enabled the accounting department to bill clients much more quickly than before. Murphy Austin values the Orion features which enable them to save PDF images of vendor invoices, expense reimbursement request receipts, client invoices, client payments and supporting documentation associated with adjusting journal entries in the general ledger. This tremendously reduces filing requirements and eliminates time chasing down paper copies.
“Orion has streamlined our accounting processes for both attorneys and staff,” said Soloaga, “which helps everyone work more efficiently and productively. Orion is a major improvement over the system we had before and we are very pleased we made the switch.”
For more information about Orion, email info@orionlaw.com or visit www.orionlaw.com.