Case Study: Using PowerHouse to Manage Email Workflow Across Multiple Organizations & Workflows
A modern approach to case management
Situation
Outside counsel for Valora’s Fortune 50 multinational consumer products client must store and manage over 25 years’ worth of exhibits, depositions, interrogatories and responses, with several thousand more files coming in each business day.
Challenge
Manually managing the growing backfile generated from hundreds of lawsuits was becoming a logistical problem that needed a more automated and efficient solution. The project required that all files be processed, AutoClassified and made available for use in the DMS within 24 hours.
Solution
Valora designed a seamless workflow that integrated natively with the client’s incoming and outgoing email stream. Email files are automatically copied to a Valora-only email box[1] with their attachments in tow. Valora’s PowerHouse system automatically received the emails, separately managed the email from its attachments, extracted key rich metadata from both, and provided a workflow routing disposition for each. The entire process takes less than 2 minutes.
As part of this effort, PowerHouse extracted upwards of 18 unique metadata fields, depending on Document Type, Email Sender and other circumstances. By the end of the project our system was supporting over 250 distinct document types.
[1] A process sometimes known as email “journaling.”
Results
Utilizing PowerHouse as “middleware” between the client’s email system and its document management system enabled the client to remove its year and a half backlog within 2 months of operation. By the end of the project our system supported steady-state operations of between 1,000 – 4,000 new emails every day.
Solutions Applied: