SOLUTIONS
BY INDUSTRY
Unity Change Management Success Kit
Introduction
What is “Change Management?”
Change management is the process of preparing your legal and surrounding teams for the addition of Unity into your company’s process. It is a critical step in ensuring the proper onboarding of the software and building long-term acceptance of the new system.
Why is Change Management Important?
Successful adoption of a new tool or process sets the stage for how your organization will co-exist with Unity. Change management prepares your team for the “why” and “what” of implementation: why are you bringing on Unity and what problems are you solving by the addition of Unity? If your team understands these two items, the implementation becomes a goal for the entire organization to work towards.
What is Unity?
This may be the first time your team members are hearing about Unity. Below is a product overview that provides insights into the tool and its uses to get your team up to speed.
How to Prepare Your Team
The following items will prepare your teams for onboarding Unity. Keep in mind, each team is unique and these items may need to be adjusted or customized for your needs and style. Your implementation manager will discuss each item below in detail prior to going live.
Communications
- Communication is Key! Provide expected delivery dates, system expectations, and training opportunities early and often. If necessary, Unity has communication templates available to assist with starting these conversations. View the Unity Implementation Communications Library and view the “Internal – Team Communications” templates. During implementation, your team will also have discussions about notifying your vendors of the transition and templates will be provided.
- Provide Assurance: Do you have team members who need extra assistance or are hesitant of a SaaS solution? Provide a list of resources for asking questions during implementation and opportunities to showcase the tool in action. Early exposure lessens the uncertainty of your team members.
- Plan for Change: Your Unity system will change. As your team grows and evolves, your SimpleLegal system will as well. Providing assurances to your team that Unity does not need to function as it does at go-live, nor should it, they can provide insight, feedback, and suggestions as they use the tool. More importantly, allow Unity to mature alongside your needs.
System Training
To unlock the full potential of Unity, join our regular training sessions and explore our library of training videos and feature success kits. These resources are designed to help you quickly grasp the platform’s capabilities, giving you a competitive advantage in managing your legal operations. Dive into our Learning Library to browse through our various training options today! Browse through our learning library.
Recommended Training: Administrator Training and Invoice Reviewer Training
Go-Live Overview
- Collect vendor contacts
- Create/upload vendor contacts in Unity and give them CounselGO Admin role (Recommended two weeks before go live so that vendors can submit timekeepers, review their open matters, and add additional CounselGO users)
- Turn on system invoicing and agreed upon day/time (to be determined with client during a weekly call)
- Stabilization period – Review the first few invoices together, discuss invoice/line-item flags, and confirm AP receipt of approved invoices.
Common Questions and Answers
- Can you provide insights into the vendor portal, CounselGO? CounselGO is a portal for submitting invoices to clients who are using Unity to manage their e-billing and legal matters. CounselGO also helps track matters referred by clients and the timekeepers who work billable hours on those matters. Using CounselGO allows vendor law firms to deliver invoices to clients in a manner that makes tracking, review, and processing efficient. It’s very likely that your vendors are already using CounselGO with other Unity clients so this should be a somewhat seamless process for them. If they have not used CounselGO in the past, the vendor communications will provide insights, training, and next steps to get them prepared.
- What to expect with user adoption and training? Communications and training options will be provided during implementation as part of the change management of Unity. Keep in mind, each team onboards differently so your team may mix and match onboarding options.
- How to keep projects on track? It is highly recommended to hold weekly Internal meetings with Legal, AP, Finance, IT etc. so that we can make the most productive use of our Unity weekly meetings.
Implementation Tips and Tricks
- Tell your team why you’ve decided to add Unity to your legal team! What problems are you trying to solve and what are you excited or eager to implement with this new system? Your excitement will help your team get on board.
- Provide updates and your progress. Your team will be more responsive to onboarding a new system if they understand the work that is happening to assist them in the future. Updates and progress reports, even milestones you have accomplished, will build excitement for the coming launch.
- Give your team ample time to learn about the tool and opportunities to ask questions (e.g. training, documentation) and provide feedback to your implementation team with scheduled Q&A sessions or an inbox to send suggestions.
- Take some time to review your existing data (e.g. matters, vendors, etc) to see what data is working and, more importantly, what is no longer working for your team. Does all data need to be brought over? Should anything be cleaned up or organized in a more meaningful way?
Post Go-Live Resources
Once your system is live, the following resources are available to your team:
- Unity Support ([email protected])
- Unity Resource Center (within the Unity application)
- SimpleUnityLegal WalkMe (within the Unity application)
- CounselGO Support ([email protected])
- Customer Success Team (introduced during implementation)
