Avis clients sur Actionstep

Actionstep allows you to build custom workflows that you can use to manage any aspect of your practice. We believe in workflows so much that we dedicated an entire podcast episode discussing our experience with another lawyer obsessed with workflows too.

We have over 50 workflows that help us to structure processes within our tax-litigation files, as well as for administrative matters, such as asking for client testimonials. We give our team peace of mind that nobody will miss anything as we have built in automated tasks, templates, checklists, and deadlines at every step of the process. We can make sure that the most appropriate team member performs each task. The workflows are also a great resource to help train new team members because we created detailed descriptions of how to complete each task with links to our internal knowledge base to give team members additional support where needed.

In addition to custom workflows, Actionstep also allows you to gather custom data so that we can make more informed decisions.

Actionstep is unique and sophisticated. However, Actionstep falls behind its competitors and is underdeveloped in some key areas, such as budgeting capabilities, template user experience, graphical displays, mobile applications, and reports.

Prospective users should not underestimate the commitment and resources required to build workflows and implement Actionstep. Building workflows requires time, money and, most importantly, grit. Not everyone is ready to make this investment in the future of their firm. Although you can outsource the technology aspect of inputting the workflows to the system, you need people within your firm identifying the steps and tasks that you want to build into the system. We are a very process-driven law firm with a lean focus, so Actionstep is perfect for us, but if you aren't familiar with process mapping it can be a daunting task.

When you get over the initial investment of mapping your processes, you will see first-hand how quickly Actionstep improves your firm's ability to grow and deliver better value to your clients.

We hope that Actionstep will continue to develop its product to address its limitations and bugs. Actionstep has promised that it is working to address the concerns that our firm and other users raise in the LinkedIn user forum and UserVoice feedback. We hope that Actionstep continues to improve the product, and we look forward to more progress. If so, we expect to continue to use Actionstep for a very long time.

We like the matter dashboard a lot and it's probably the firms favorite feature since all the most important information is readily available.

INTEGRATIONS:

If you're looking to switch to AS because of the integrations they offer make sure they actually work exactly how you intend them to.

Lawpay: If you use lawpay their integration is useless since it only grabs new charges and does not include any past due amounts. I brought this up because we really wanted this to function, but we were told they would not fix the issue.

InfoTrack - One of the reasons we switched to AS and they don't actually integrate in US, even though their website states they do...

Outlook - The bottom bar of the desktop version may not bill the correct amount. I asked for this to be fixed since it's easier to use this bar than the right bar they have, but it's been over 9 months...

BILLING:

If you close your billing at the end of the month be prepared to manually enter Trust payments to allocate the funds on the closing date and not for the next billing cycle, since the automated billing will automatically post these payments on the date you are running them, not on the date which you wish will be allocated. Another feature I have brought up, but essentially fell on deaf ears.

If you work with probate matters where you don't bill your time, so you input a $0 amount, and you have matters that weren't worked on for the month, you cannot filter out between the two, so you'll end up printing bills for all matters. This is something i asked to have fixed in July 2021 and have yet to hear back regarding a fix (3/3/22)

That you are able to operate your whole business on the one platform. Everything from the initial client contact through to completion of services, incorporating a single place to track all project related emails, time tracking for employees, easy billing process, tracking of invoices, creditors, production of financial reports, outstanding billing reports and numerous other customisable options.

The only downside I can think are that it is a little expensive (but then I am only a sole trader now not working full time, so if I was working this business full time then I would probably feel differently on this factor)
It is generally easy to use, but maybe not as intuitive as programmes like Xero or MYOB, but that said I feel this system does a hell of a lot more than they do.

It's thorough knowledge of the special rules that apply to law firms; the ability to modify your processes to reflect your specific jurisdiction and forms. I like the ability to see who did what, and when. There is a lot of accountability in this system.

Some of the accounting modules are (rightly and deliberately so) difficult to correct if an error is made in parts of the accounting system. The system forces a great deal of transparency. They just need to update all the accounting modules.

The ability to build my practice management system my way, using tools available within Actionstep and also through the integration of other applications.

The need to manually link incoming emails to matter files. I mention this because I came to love the ability to create a unique email address for each and every matter, but I do acknowledge that the need for higher levels of security is the reason that this feature had to be retired.

The potential - it seemed like it was going to help me automate and streamline

The level of set up involved. The subscription basis meaning time put in not retained. The email functionality - non existant. The integration with Xero - very minimal and wont do the same standard of invoicing. The support in WA - customer support online not bad, although timewise for WA meant they were responding when I wasnt at work. When I requested local support they kept sending me to interstate firms. One very helpfully said he would fly over and solve all my problems - it would take three days plus travel from Qld - in the vicininty of $10,000

the display of the program is good and some of the support team is quite responsive

The invoice system is terrible as it is not able to add it back to the matter.

Further, the invoice system does not accept other currency billing method - this must be changed asap. Other CRM can amend the invoice on the matter file - not like actionstep need to download and upload the documents manually - that's ridiculous

The product is easy to use. It provides many opportunities for making the running of a law firm a seamless process. The support is excellent. In our firm, we are able to keep tract of Matters, Clients, Calendars, and we are just starting to use ActionStep more in-depth with respect to storing documents, creating correspondence, and billing. I cant say enough about how this software helps to organize our small firm and keeps us on track with respect to keeping track of revenue goals, etc.

Integration in our firm was somewhat difficult only due to time constraints; nothing to do with the product itself.

The fact that it is 100% web and cloud based.

The lack of cohesion between :- 1. Actionstep (ie the software provider), -2. the separate company which implements the installation and maintenance; and - 3. The 3rd party add on providers (ie the conveyancing add on is done by a company called Konekta) is problematic and horrendous to navigate. This software is full of issues and there is no accountability by anyone.
When issues arise, my experience was that each of the 3 before mentioned parties blame each other and then come up with excuses.
There are no workable precedents in my field (conveyancing – I also pay $49 for the add on). I found errors in the documents and some documents are out of date (by a number of years - and versions). Very embarrassing and potentially dangerous.

This is by far the best of the mainstream programs for document assembly. The tasked based orientation of the program is great once set up. Support has always been helpful and knowledgeable. Very easy to customize. Strong reporting.

While having a strong feature set, I feel the software is missing a few key integrations. The software really needs to integrate with LawPay, OneDrive and Quickbooks(I believe these were all under development, but not available when I last checked).