When looking up what SharePoint is, you get a lot of different answers from the Internet:

• Microsoft SharePoint is a browser-based collaboration and document management platform from Microsoft - Wikipedia


• Microsoft's content management system. It allows groups to set up a centralized, password protected space for document sharing. Documents can be stored, downloaded and edited, then uploaded for continued sharing. - SAIT Polytechnic Teaching - Glossary


• SharePoint is a web-based intranet that can help improve your organization's effectiveness by streamlining the management of and access to data. - Creative SharePoint


• SharePoint is an enterprise information portal, from Microsoft, that can be configured to run Intranet, Extranet and Internet sites. - SharePoint HQ


• {..} SharePoint is a sort of sharing/blogging/wiki-style server that mainly provides a back end to Microsoft Office - Jack Schofield, Technical Writer Guardian newspaper, UK.

Microsoft itself describes SharePoint as Collaboration, Portal, Search, Enterprise Content Management (ECM) , Business process management (BPM) and Business intelligence (BI), so again a lot to chose from.


With regards to LAWTRAC, the application will run within SharePoint, it is after all, directory services built on top of a web server.


Adobe has even introduced a new "tag" that will work within the LAWTRAC ColdFusion environment that will invoke certain feature like document listing(s) and search functions.


Bottom line is this, your company can purchase SharePoint to build an enterprise wide set of applications to manage documents. But that is only one aspect of "Matter Management". No one is looking to SharePoint to manage alternate fee arrangements or provide a portal to collaborate with outside counsel. SharePoint can't manage budgeting, reserves, payments to parties or anything like that unless you contract with developers to build those specific modules.


And at the end of the day, do you really want your legal data... your corporate secrets in an environment that is considered 'enterprise'? Something to think about to be sure.


SharePoint is a server that manages applications - it is not itself 'the' application.

One advantage of LAWTRAC is giving the keys to perform background operations or "scheduled tasks" as they are called to your department administrator and not rely on the IT staff to set-up takings on the server.


These background tasks could be sending the nightly email to everyone in your legal department or kicking-off a weekly data feed to your accounts payable department.


There are a number of tasks available in your source code. Some align document categorization or index the documents in your document bank. Other functions to update currency exchange rates in invoice or matter records are also available.


To set-up your scheduled task all you have to do is give the task a unique name, tell it what template to execute, the time of day and how often you want the task to run.


Your repeat options are:

• Daily
• Weekly
• Monthly

Some customers choose to send out the 'nightly' email twice a day so they have two scheduled tasks to fire-off the notification emails at 5 a.m. and 1 p.m. How you choose to run your takings is up to you - after all, we gave you the keys.

Believe it or not, everyone on the planet is not using Internet Explorer to use LAWTRAC. Another popular Internet browser is Firefox.


One of the most common problems reported with Firefox is that internet sites look "grainy". This is not a problem in LAWTRAC, but is actually a function of Windows as it over compensates.


To counter this Microsoft has provided a "ClearType Tuner" online you can use.

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With Windows, ClearType delivers improved font display quality over traditional forms of font smoothing or anti-aliasing. ClearType improves readability on color LCD displays with a digital interface, such as those in laptops and high-quality flat panel displays. Readability on CRT screens can also be somewhat improved.


Windows 7 users should use the built-in ClearType tuner found in the Windows Control Panel under Appearance and Personalization to adjust their ClearType settings. Windows Vista users should use the online tuner found on this page to turn on and tune their ClearType settings from Internet Explorer. The tuner should be used with Internet Explorer because it depends on an ActiveX control. Alternatively, users can download the Windows PowerToy version of the tuner.

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The entire article can be found by clicking ClearType Turner.


We hope that this tip helps users of FireFox not only with LAWTRAC but other web sites and applications they happen across.