Product News

LSC preferred supplier’s status The LSC have recently sent out questionnaires to their contracted practices and are asking about their case management and accounts systems. DPS submitted SPOC files for testing by the LSC some time ago (about 6 months). We are pleased to report that all the DPS produced files successfully passed their tests and were accepted by the LSC online systems.

Is this a precursor to the block contracts that everyone has been waiting for? Are practices going to be asked to submit electronically as a condition of being awarded block contracts?

We don’t know but it is better to be ready now than rush later. You must use DPSv1.2 or later to use this facility.

Lord Carter ‘The future of legal aid’ on Monday 17^th July at The Law Society’s Hall, London. A conference where Lord Carter of Coles is giving the keynote speech and taking part in the debate on the ‘the implications of the Carter report as it relates to criminal defence practice’

Clearly most criminal legal aid practices are concerned over the future as it relates to their businesses and this debate will help shed some light on other practices views. DPS have a large software presence in the criminal legal software market and have to ensure that their software fulfills the practice needs for years to come.

The latest reports from DPS crime show the unsocial hours worked by fee earners and also fees earned for the practice over any set period of time. This is increasingly important as practices move towards bonus related payments. In a market where pay levels have not risen for many years paying fee earners according to their billing is becoming the norm.

Scott Ridley, DPS Technical Director, will be attending the conference and said, “it is critical that we keep ahead of our criminal client requirements because when you operate at the level of the market that they do efficiency is the key”.

Team Talk Digital Dictation On Citrix Team talk has now been in use on Citrix for nearly a year now. One of its key features is its simple installation. A trained engineer can deploy the Team Talk Citrix software within an hour. It is a fully certified Citrix product that can be used across the internet both simply and easily. Now installed at 3 client sites the Citrix version resides with the standard network version. For more information please contact bbostoff@dpssoftware.co.uk

DPS Case, Criminal Billing & Accounts Training Courses

If you have not had a training course on DPS or Cashier for over 18 months then you are probably out of date. We have set up a series of open course training dates. This means you can pay a delegate rate and send as many staff as you like to be trained. The delegate rate is £195 per person for the one day refresher courses and £350 per delegate for the 2 day supervisor courses. If you have recently moved to the One Office SQL or simply need a refresher course then this is certainly a cost effective way to get software skills. All DPS courses are CPD rated and count towards your annual training target.

The course schedules are available from our web site. You can book either on the web site www.dpssoftware.co.uk or by calling Maria Di Carlo on 0208 804 1022 or email mdicarlo@dpssoftware.co.uk

DPS Quality Control Survey We have set up a quality control survey form on our web site. This gives you the opportunity to tell us how we can improve the service that we give you as a company. We are aiming to improve our client satisfaction scores and would really appreciate your views on this. As a big thank you for filling in the form we will donate £3 to children in need for every completed survey form. So thank you in advance for helping us to improve our service to you. To complete the survey forms please click here.

Web Based Quoting Module DPS have developed a brand new web based quoting module for conveyancing & HIPS work. This is a smart program that runs on the back of your own web site. It looks at the style of your web site and adopts it for the quoting module. This is a very easy to set up module that allows a firm to quote for HIPS, sales, purchases, and joint sale and purchases. Once the module is loaded onto your web site it simply asks for the type of transaction and property price that a quote is required for. Once this information has been entered a complete on screen quote is produced. All the fee rate tables and disbursements are user adjustable and well documented. You can try out the system on the DPS web site at www.dpssoftware.co.uk/webquote

REMINDER SDLT form training
If you are on One Office for SQL then you could be using the SDLT form right now. Look at the ‘How Do I notes’ on our web site for instructions.  www.dpssoftware.co.uk/howdoi/ If you would like training in using the SDLT form then please let us know and depending on demand we will run a workshop for you on this subject alone. Remember One Office allows you to complete the SDLT forms in DPS off line and then submit. If you want to take advantage of this facility will need to register with the government gateway http://www.gateway.gov.uk/.

REMINDER HIPS module complete
The HIPS upgrade is available on the web site as an upgrade. For more information and to download it now use the link below more

Crime Corner

CDS Overtime Reports the CDS opened and closed class reports have been changed and now include the social and unsocial hours worked by each fee earner during any period of time. These reports can be exported to excel and then using simple formula calculate overtime payments for each period. The enhanced reports can be loaded onto your system, just email support on support@dpssoftware.co.uk and they will schedule the installation for you.

Coming Events REMINDERS BOOK NOW

17^th July 2006 - Law Society – Chancery Lane – London - Lord Carter ‘The future of legal aid’ on Monday 17^th July at The Law Society’s Hall, London. A conference where Lord Carter of Coles is giving the keynote speech and taking part in the debate on the ‘the implications of the Carter report as it relates to criminal defence practice’ DPS are exhibiting and attending at this conference.

August 2006 – Open User Training Dates – We are running open user training courses. There are several dates available through August 2006 but please book early as spaces are limited. To book one of the courses please do not hesitate to contact Francesca Bongiorno on 020 8804 1022 or e-mail fbongiorno@dpssoftware.co.uk. Alternately courses can be booked online. Please visit our website on www.dpssoftware.co.uk/training.asp.

18 October 2006 DPS User Meeting – Law Society – Chancery Lane – London – We were to have a mid year user meeting but no dates seemed to suit people – The annual meeting has been booked now and we look forward to seeing everyone again. Please book early so we can let the Law Society know numbers well in advance. book & more

LEGAL IT 2007 – 14 and 15 March 2007 Olympia 2, London This is the largest exhibition of its type in the UK . DPS are on stand 24. We will be showing the latest software.

Client Focus

Rich & Carr – Leicester increased their usage of DPS case management across the whole practice. DPS have created a link between their Case and the practices TFB accounts software. This means that the systems use a single database for clients and matters.

Digital Dictation was the next project to tackle. Senior partner Mark Tildesley looked at several systems including Big Hand, n-flow and Winscribe and Team Talk from DPS.

Team Talk from DPS was chosen primarily because of it’s simplicity in use and minimal user training required. Its ability to be used on their terminal services network was also critical.

Soon after installation it became apparent that some secretaries were used to the foot pedals working one way and other secretaries working another way. DPS changed Team Talk so that each secretary could be set up so that their foot pedals worked in their individual required way.

Three months after installing the system it is already paying dividends. For more information call Jackie Rough on 0208 804 122 or email her on jrough@dpssoftware.co.uk 

Dion’s Support Section

Dion Theodorou welcomes Lee Murdock to the support desk. Lee has had extensive help desk experience and joins us from an internet provider. Lee specialises in case management at DPS and digital dictation products!

He can be reached on our support line which is 0870 4130393

Lee has extensive support experience and has proven himself popular with clients and the team alike. Welcome to the company Lee, good to have you on board!

If support does not meet your expectations or you have suggestions for change please tell us Improve Support

Who's Who

Barry Bostoff – Sales Manager Barry joined DPS in April 2002, and is now our Sales Manager, running a team of 4 direct sales people, 2 account managers and the marketing team.

So well done Barry and keep up the good work!

Conveyancing & Family Updates

Send to a other DPS Users in your practice

Why not forward this email to a colleague and suggest that they register for their own E-News by clicking here REGISTER

Feedback

We welcome your feedback and suggestions for news, events or further uses for this Newsletter.

Please forward any comments or suggestions to mdicarlo@dpssoftware.co.uk