BigHand setup

The following step take you through the process of setting up the integration between ALB and BigHand.

ALB configuration

To configure ALB:

1. From Utilities » System Parameters,

• Digital Dictation Provider should be set to IRIS.Law.BigHandDictation.dll|IRIS.Law.BigHandDictation.BigHand. This is the Dynamic Link Library and Class Name which integrates with BigHand. Note the pipe character separating the two.

• Default Activity Code for Dictation should be set to whatever you wish to be the default for time recording e.g. Preparation

• Digital Dictation Turned On should be set to Yes. This can only be done by Advanced Legal support. It tells ALB to call BigHand when the relevant buttons are pressed.

BigHand configuration

To configure BigHand on each PC:

1. Click Start » Run and type Regedit.

• For 32 bit machines locate the registry key: HKEY_Local_Machine/Software/BigHand/TotalSpeech.

• For 64 bit machines, locate the registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\BigHand\TotalSpeech.

2. Right-click and modify and set eventScript key to IRIS.Law.BigHandDictation.BigHandCOMInterface. If the event script is not present you will need to manually create it.

• New String Value

• Name eventScript

• Value Data IRIS.LawBigHandDictation.BigHandCOMInterface

3. Click OK.  

To tell BigHand to call ALB:

1. Click Start » Run and type Cmd.

2. Type C:\Windows\Microsoft.NET\Framework\v4.0.30319\regasm.exe "C:\Program Files\IRISLaw\PMS\IRIS.Law.BigHandDictation.dll" /codebase (Note the space).

BigHand integration

Important BigHand version 4.3 is supported for ALB version 2.1.0 onwards. The All Users group in the BigHand System Admin tree needs the right to "Run Script Events" and the right to "Enable Client API" and, if using in a Terminal Server environment, the relevant BigHand plugin must to be installed.

Reviewing documents

ALB includes document routing functionality that enables fee earners to review documents on screen and approve or reject them, before they are committed to paper. For your firm to take advantage of this feature, the system administrator must enable document routing in Utilities » System Parameters.

To work with document routing, fee earners and support staff need to create a view for My Home Page that contains the Document Review element; see Customising My Home Page.

Fee earner role

As a fee earner, you use the Document Review element of My Home Page to view a list of matter-related documents produced by a support staff member for a given period. By default, you will see all documents produced today with status Ready for Review. After checking a document, you can approve or reject it.

Support staff role

As a support staff member, you create documents as normal and they are automatically given status Ready for Review and can be viewed by the fee earner. You later check for rejected and approved documents. Amend any rejected documents and change their status to Ready for Review so that they reappear in the fee earner's list. Send approved documents to print, email or fax.