Using extranets for complex case management reporting needs

Although many think of extranets now of being SharePoint like systems which do not have the capability of tracking very complex litigation information, that is not the case.

We have many systems in place for our clients where we track information in multiple hierarchical levels. One example is that of a multiple plaintiff case where plaintiffs many have multiple surgeries, or they may have a long work history or a long history of using a certain product or a long medical chronology.

In all situations like this, we start with a single case, attached one or many plaintiffs to a case, and then track a myriad of data points -- many with rows and rows of date-based chronological data -- and then also provide the ability to report on all this data in a variety of ways.

Once you take all this -- and then factor in that we could have hundreds or thousands of like cases -- it becomes a complex tracking system very quickly. It is a far cry indeed from some of the "single screen" extranets we can all sign up for and use at no cost.

Those certainly have their target market and appeal - after all who does not like a useful, free application -- but it should not be confused with the functionality and utility of a complex case management application.