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Today users demand to be able to "work from anywhere without restrictions", so every vendor claims "mobile user support", "Internet support", "work from anywhere", etc. However, as we'll show you, all mobile user support and synchronization technologies are not created equal and all the different "options" subtly hide frustrating limitations you only find out after the fact.
To us, "work from anywhere without restrictions" means just that -- you work as though you're in the office whether you're on-line or off-line. No limitations. No restrictions. If you're off-line, when you're done, simply update your office and mobile team members with all your work, and have them update you with theirs over the Internet -- without having to come into the office. Or, simply connect to the office via the Internet and work on-line in real-time.
With USB MasterFile, our revolutionary new way to go mobile, you can even run MasterFile from standard USB flash disks or external drives without restrictions. Just plug it in to any computer and you're good to go -- on-line or off-line.
Here's what we'll cover (click here if you're in a hurry!):
What exactly do you need to "work on anything, from anywhere without restrictions"?
A simple and fair question for a straight forward objective.
First we'll explain what we mean by "anything", "from anywhere" and "without restrictions".
- "Anything" means just that -- all evidentiary documents, transcripts, authorities, expert reports, work product, work in progress, all facts, arguments, issues, events, notes, commentary, player profiles, etc., etc. -- i.e. everything related to the case.
- "From anywhere" means just that too:
- Work remotely off-line when not connected to the Internet: in a plane, a court room or your client's offices. And then be able to bi-directionally synchronize with the office , i.e. both you and the office are updated with all of each other's work, over the Internet.
- Work remotely on-line connected to your office via the Internet with real-time access to the primary databases.
- "Without restrictions" means just that too -- your software doesn't restrict what you can or can not do when you're out of the office (perhaps just at home).
Now lets see what you'll need to go mobile with the "leading systems" and what you'll need to go mobile with MasterFile ...
Co-counsel, clients, remote offices, etc., are also "mobile users" -- i.e. remote users who need access.
E-mail is illustrated because with MasterFile you can optionally upgrade your present e-mail system to Notes e-mail. Notes e-mail is the choice of over 145,000,000 users -- that's comparable to Microsoft!
Note that a firewall should be used, but has not been shown for the sake of clarity.
To use the conventional technology of the "leading systems" over the Internet, you'll need to purchase, set-up, support, maintain, backup, upgrade, troubleshoot, secure, etc., six server systems, that's right six, as shown above, just so you can work on, or have access to, your litigation documents, work product documents, facts and e-mail.
And don't forget the end-users -- they're burdened with complexity of learning and tinkering with several complex systems when they're away from the office and need to get real work done. Even with all this, they are still faced with many, many restrictions and limitations, some of which are covered here.
Alternatively, MasterFile needs only one server -- in or out of the office, as shown above. End users have only one system to use, for everything without restrictions. And you don't even have to purchase the server software as an extra add-on -- it's already included with Lotus Notes workstation software, free.
Which solution can your organization afford, and which solution does your organization have the technical capability to support (or even wish to support)?
Some frustrations and limitations you don't need when mobile
(especially with 6 servers) ...
- Troubleshooting several "best-of-breed" systems that have been "integrated" together.
- Individually synchronizing three or more systems manually and then for each system, synchronizing each of your cases one by one -- a tedious, time-wasting error prone process.
- Discovering, while at your client's offices, you don't have everything you need because your system couldn't package up work product, for example, to take along when you left your offices, or PDF files are linked and handled "separately" and can't be taken on the road, or "edocs" came but pleadings didn't, and other dizzying permutations that are very real (no we haven't made this up) and very frustrating or more.
- Learning you've got hundreds of broken document links, you can't access your documents from the database, just because the drive letters, or network paths at co-counsel's offices, to the documents stored in the database don't match your home office.
- Finding out you still don't have full, unrestricted, on-line and off-line functionality over the Internet even after "mixing and matching" several expensive "Internet options".
- Finding an Internet connection to be able to work because your system doesn't store any data locally on your notebook.
- Finding out each system synchronizes differently, so:
- some don't synchronize at all and just let you review a small selection of documents without being able to actually work on them,
- some let you update the office with your work, but not vice-versa; that is, they don't synchronize bi-directionally,
- others update both ways, but only some of the information,
- you're unable to synchronize your work because you forgot you have to make a brand new replica because after each synchronization so now all your work has to be tracked down and redone,
- what you're able to do in the main database has been restricted because replicas have not been synchronized,
- most synchronize only from the office not on the road or from home,
- after buying their expensive "Internet option", you still can't synchronize your notebook when you're out of the office,
- you have to get your colleagues to stop using the database just so you can synchronize!
- Discovering that functionality is limited when mobile -- such as the lack of full text searching (as is the case with Worldox®, for example).
- Knowing you're exposed after your notebook mysteriously "vanished", because nothing was encrypted so all your documents, work product, strategy, argument, etc., are open for reading.
- etc.
Specific features you must have to "work from anywhere without restrictions"
Let's set out what you need to "work from anywhere without restrictions" and see how the various technologies stack up:
- First, you can't work without the documents -- something so obvious its mistakenly taken for granted!
You need to have all the documents (i.e. your evidentiary documents and current work product, work in progress, pleadings, correspondence received) with you, on your notebook, so you can access and work on them whenever you need to.
- Litigation document repositories are designed this way -- provided you're only interested in evidentiary documents and don't need or plan to work on your own work product, correspondence, pleadings or other work in progress documents not stored in the litigation support system.
- Leading DM systems are based on the principle that you just take a few documents with you -- usually the ones you're working on. Imagine if you're in court and need to locate one of your recent letters to opposing counsel, but don't have it because you forgot about it!
- CaseMap® doesn't take any documents when you go mobile because it doesn't have any sort of repository -- it just lets you link to files scattered all over your corporate network.
Also, just having "access" to your documents, only when connected over the Internet either in a "we host or you host" repository, is insufficient. What if you're in a courtroom? Or on a plane? Or at a location that doesn't have a high speed connection -- such as most of the developing world? Or simply want to work by the pool? Furthermore, when you need your documents, you don't need the headache of trying to find high speed Internet access to plug your notebook into.
And if you want to work on a document, you'll need your notebook anyway, unless you're going to download and work on confidential documents at an internet cafe.
- Second, you need to be able to do anything without restrictions: create or update work product, review evidence, create extracts, facts, set out argument, make notes, etc. -- just as though you were in the office.
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MasterFile's one click effortless, bi-directional synchronization of all work done off-line -- even securely over the internet.
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Third and importantly, you need to be able to synchronize all your work, i.e. documents, work product, work in progress, images, OCR, notes, commentary, facts, extracts, etc. with all team members (i.e. any number of other mobile users, branch offices, co-counsel, etc.), and you want to be updated yourself.
You'll also want to synchronize all your case files, all at the same time and with just one mouse click. Anything less means you'll be synchronizing three or more "best of breed" systems separately, and then for each system, synchronizing each of your cases, one by one, manually. Imagine having 6 active cases and 3 products to synchronize: you'll have to manually perform more than 18 separate synchronization tasks every time you leave and return to the office (and without any errors or complications). Now imagine faced with this when you're in a rush, which is probably most of the time.
Basically, you simply want to update head office and have head office update you, even when you're on the road -- a simple enough concept but rarely implemented because it requires secure, bi-directional, automated, transparent workstation-to-server and server-to-server replication of everything in order to provide remote users, remote offices (locally or globally), co-counsel or war rooms near real time data across the Internet.
And you want the option to switch between on-line, real-time access mode and synchronized, off-line mode on the fly.
Furthermore, when synchronizing, sophisticated features such as these make life easy:
- All new document information is synchronized first. You can then decide which specific image files you want to transfer, rather than wasting time waiting for hundreds of unnecessary bulky image files to be downloaded.
- Synchronize at will, transparently, from the office or on the road -- no need to advise every user in your office to stop using the database and no need to wait in line for other users to finish synchronizing.
- You want replication to work simply, reliably and robustly -- your work is too valuable to get lost in a technical "glitch". One "leading" litigation support product repeatedly states in its documentation that the two databases being synchronized are backed up before proceeding. What if that was your system and you had 3 branch offices, co-counsel and 10 mobile users in the field and they need to synchronize? What if they begin synchronizing simultaneously?You need to be able to full text-search all the documents you have with you -- this is so obvious it is self-evident, yet many leading DM systems do not provide full text searching when you're disconnected. Litigation document repositories let you full text search, but they don't let you take your work product, pleadings or current documents with you!
 You need to let not only single mobile users, but also mobile teams to go on the road -- such as a work group in a war room at your client's offices -- all working and collaborating together. They'll need to share one common copy of the database, with one of the team member's notebook acting as a remote "mini-server" for them.- If you don't want to take the entire case, then you need to be able to select what you want to take with you when you leave the office, and add more while on the road.
- You do not want to send confidential work-product or other documents by e-mail because they're typically large attachments and, more importantly, not secure. For example, sending a 200 page report via e-mail to 5 people is not a good idea because:
- It'll clog your notebook's mail system.
- It'll clog your office's mail system.
- You'll end up with multiple copies of the document and finding the latest draft may get confusing.
- The document is not protected by any security.
Instead, what you need is to be able to synchronize the database on your notebook containing your revised documents with your office, and then e-mail links that point directly to them in the database. Links that will locate the document for any user using the database wherever they are -- in the office or on the road. Links that will control access to the document, letting only those allowed to see it have access to it.
- You'll want to be able to encrypt your information -- documents, notes, strategies, arguments, facts, courtroom exhibits, timelines, etc. -- on the fly: automatically and transparently so your information is secure should your notebook "disappear".
- You want all this without the additional cost and headache of purchasing, setting up, training and supporting special "Internet options", without requiring costly state-of-the-art server hardware and without the escalating monthly cost of web-based solutions.
Dataflight® advises to use Concordance® remotely you must install and support their FYI Server® on a dedicated server. In particular, they suggest a dual processor Xeon server (i.e. equivalent of 4 CPUs) with at least 2G of memory.
Summation® specifically state that running LG, LG Gold and iBlaze® over a Wide Area Network (WAN) is "NOT recommended, and NOT supported" [emphasis theirs and the Internet is a WAN]. They advise that you must install and support WebBlaze®, Citrix MetaFrame or Microsoft Terminal Services server.
And you want all of this to be quick, easy and simple.
Only one system delivers everything you need (listed above) -- MasterFile
MasterFile's mobile support is second to none. How? Because MasterFile uses Lotus Notes' replication, synchronization and encryption technology -- the acknowledged standard by which all others are measured. Organizations with global operations, thousands of databases and hundreds of Notes servers depend on Notes' to replicate gigabytes of data securely, efficiently and reliably everyday to keep every database upto date with the latest information.
And with USB MasterFile, our revolutionary new way to go mobile, you can run MasterFile from standard USB flash disks or external drives without restrictions. Just plug it in to any computer and you're good to go -- on-line or off-line.
The choice is yours: secure, on-line, real-time access or full unrestricted off-line functionality with full bi-directional synchronization while away from the office, both without special "Internet options" and for all your work.
Robust, workstation-to-server and server-to-server replication was a design specification for Notes' database architecture from the beginning. It was not an afterthought as with every other database technology. And it has matured for over 20 years.
Many companies have tried to develop database replication technologies that compete with Notes - but have yet to do successfully, including Microsoft Exchange.
"Synchronization of Outlook with Exchange is significantly less efficient than replication of Notes with Domino."
-- Gartner Group [emphasis added]
"Exchange [2003] can also now support RPC over HTTPS, meaning your users can work securely from a remote location without needing a cumbersome VPN, though we found configuration dauntingly complex."
-- Email Servers, PC Magazine, 2 February 2004 [emphasis added]
Domino is a quiet workhorse with over 145,000,000 e-mail users and comparable market share to Microsoft, but rarely gets adverse publicity, unlike regular press alerts about security breaches in other e-mail systems.
In fact Notes is used for the US Navy's global classified network connecting every Navy ship in the world:
The bottom line is Notes mobile support technology is built for business: it works exactly the way you expect and is easy to use. No ands, ifs, or buts. It's that simple!
MasterFile -- We focus on the technology so you can focus on your cases.
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