Finding the right legal management software can be a daunting task with many options to evaluate.
This comparative guide promises to cut through the complexity by directly contrasting core capabilities of Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS across critical areas.
You'll gain key insights into differences in document management, scheduling, billing and accounting, mobility, integrations, security, pricing, and more to inform your legal technology buying decision.
Introduction to Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS
Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS are both cloud-based legal practice management software designed to help law firms streamline operations and enhance efficiency.
Discovering Practice Engine
Practice Engine is an intuitive, cloud-based platform offering law firms robust features to manage cases and workflows. Key capabilities include:
- Financial management with billing, accounting, and reporting
- Client and matter management
- Calendaring, deadlines, and docketing
- Document automation and assembly
- Secure cloud storage and collaboration
With an easy-to-use interface and flexible workflows, Practice Engine helps firms improve productivity and profitability. The software scales with evolving business needs while ensuring data security.
Exploring SurePoint LMS
Similarly, SurePoint LMS provides end-to-end legal management capabilities leveraging the cloud. Capabilities include:
- Time tracking and billing
- Accounting, financial reporting, and analysis
- Client database and matter management
- Task delegation and case collaboration
- Document management and assembly
Designed for mid-sized to large law firms, SurePoint delivers operational efficiency through process automation. With configurable dashboards and flexible integration options, the platform can adapt to specific firm requirements.
Both Practice Engine and SurePoint enable enhanced visibility into legal operations while reducing manual efforts. With capabilities for security, backups, and mobile access, these cloud-based systems provide the foundation for scalable, tech-enabled legal practices. Evaluating specific feature-sets and integrations is key to selecting the optimal solution aligned to a firm's operational objectives and budget.
What is SurePoint software?
SurePoint® is a leading provider of award-winning legal practice management software designed to improve workflow and maximize law firm profitability. As a cloud-based solution, SurePoint offers easy access to features like matter management, time tracking, billing, accounting, and reporting from any device.
Some key benefits of SurePoint's legal software include:
- Streamlined workflows: SurePoint centralizes matter data, documents, emails, and more into a single platform. This eliminates duplicative data entry and enables smooth collaboration across a firm. Workflows can be customized to match each practice area's needs.
- Enhanced profitability: Robust time, billing, and accounting tools give visibility into a firm's financial performance. Features like automated billing workflows, payment tracking, trust accounting, and KPI dashboards empower data-driven decisions to boost revenue.
- Improved client service: With a holistic view of each client's matters in one centralized platform, firms can provide prompt responses and personalized service. Client portals also allow 24/7 access to case details, statements, and more.
As an award-winning legal technology innovator, SurePoint invests heavily in improving and expanding its secure cloud software. From solo attorneys to global law firms, SurePoint aims to provide best-in-class solutions to manage legal practices efficiently, profitably, and ethically.
Who is the CEO of SurePoint Technologies?
Eric Thurston is the president and CEO of SurePoint Technologies. He founded the company in 2001 with the goal of providing user-friendly, all-in-one software solutions to help law firms manage their finances more efficiently.
Under Thurston's leadership, SurePoint has grown into an industry leader, offering integrated practice management, accounting, and reporting tools to streamline workflows. The software aims to help law firms control costs, optimize cash flow, and make better business decisions with real-time financial insights.
Prior to founding SurePoint, Thurston spent over 15 years working in senior leadership roles at various legal technology companies. This extensive experience helped shape his vision for the type of financial management software law firms truly needed to simplify their operations.
As CEO, Thurston now oversees SurePoint's overall strategy, product innovation, and company growth. He continues working directly with customers to ensure the software evolves to meet law firms' changing needs.
Thurston holds a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University and an MBA from Northwestern University's Kellogg School of Management. He frequently speaks at legal technology conferences and aims to advance the efficiency of legal financial management.
How do I reset my SurePoint password?
To reset your SurePoint password, simply send an email request to SurePoint's support team at support@surepoint.com from the email address associated with your account.
The support team will verify your identity and send you an email with a secure password reset link. Click the link to be directed to a password reset form. Here, you can enter and confirm your new desired password.
Once submitted, you will be able to log into your SurePoint account immediately using your new password. The whole process is quick and secure.
If you have any trouble resetting your SurePoint password, Legal Buddies can connect you with specialized virtual assistants to handle legal tech systems and provide smooth technical support. With deep expertise in legal software and technologies, our virtual assistants become valuable extensions of your team to enhance efficiency.
Contact Legal Buddies if you need urgent technical support integrating your core systems, while keeping operational costs low. Our virtual assistants are trained on 70+ legal softwares to drive productivity and heighten focus on high-value legal tasks.
Comparing Core Functionality
Side-by-side analysis of core features including document management, calendars, templates, workflows.
Document Management Showdown
Both Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS provide robust document management capabilities to streamline creating, managing and reusing legal documents.
Practice Engine features customizable document templates to easily generate repeatable legal documents. Users can create templates for briefs, motions, agreements, and various other legal forms. The templates auto-populate key details, ensuring accuracy and consistency. Practice Engine also includes version control to track document edits.
Similarly, SurePoint LMS has document assembly functionality, allowing combining reusable components into new legal documents. Users can save custom document templates for future use. SurePoint also automatically names and organizes documents using defined rules to keep files organized.
Overall, while both systems enable creating templates and reusing legal documents, Practice Engine provides more flexibility for customizing templates to individual needs. SurePoint LMS takes a more rules-based approach to document management.
Scheduling Essentials
Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS provide the essential scheduling and calendaring tools legal teams need.
Practice Engine integrates directly with Outlook calendars for easy event scheduling. Users can view colleague availability when booking meetings and events. Deadline reminders also sync automatically to Outlook.
SurePoint LMS includes its own built-in calendaring system instead of integrating with Outlook. The calendar links with case details and automatically schedules key dates and deadlines based on rules. Users can also manually add events as needed. Custom calendar views help easily track deadlines.
In summary, Practice Engine aligns with workflows built around Outlook, while SurePoint LMS provides a self-contained calendaring option. SurePoint LMS provides more robust options specifically tailored to legal calendaring needs.
Workflow Automation Insights
Optimizing workflows is key for law firms to work efficiently. Both Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS provide workflow automation to streamline legal processes.
Practice Engine features custom workflows that lawyers can build themselves without IT help. Workflows automate multi-step legal tasks by applying logic rules. Key data also flows between connected workflows.
SurePoint LMS provides workflow automation using out-of-the-box templates for common legal workflows. Workflows connect directly to associated legal matters and drive task assignment. Checklists track matter progress and task completion.
In conclusion, Practice Engine delivers more flexibility for lawyers to build customized workflows, while SurePoint LMS offers pre-configured templates to accelerate setup. SurePoint LMS provides richer connectivity between workflows, matters, tasks, and other components.
Ease of Use
Assessing the usability, learning curves and intuitiveness of the UI and navigation.
Navigating User Interfaces
Both Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS provide intuitive dashboards and menu layouts tailored to law firms. Key highlights:
- Practice Engine uses a clean, modern interface with logical grouping of features into clear modules like Calendar, Tasks, Documents, and Billing. This makes it easy to navigate different firm functions.
- SurePoint organizes its dashboard using tiles for each module. The visual design aids quick orientation, though some users may prefer text-based menus.
- For detailed reporting, Practice Engine has custom reports and visual dashboards. SurePoint focuses more on prebuilt reports for common metrics.
- Overall, both systems aim to reduce the learning curve via thoughtful information architecture. Practice Engine seems more flexible for power users.
Smooth Implementation and Onboarding
Migrating data and training staff can make or break a new system rollout. Here's how the two platforms compare:
- Practice Engine offers both light and full-service onboarding packages. The full-service option includes data migration, tailored training, and launch planning for faster adoption.
- SurePoint also provides implementation consulting and admin training. But some users report needing more post-launch help to utilize advanced features.
- Both systems have mobile apps to support on-the-go access and learning. But Practice Engine's iOS and Android apps provide more functionality for attorneys and paralegals.
- For self-guided learning, Practice Engine has the edge with interactive onboarding checklists, webinars, and an online knowledge base.
Support and Self-Help Resources
Ongoing learning resources and help guides are vital for long-term usage.
- Practice Engine provides embedded help widgets, user manuals, an online knowledge base, interactive tutorials, webinars, and email support.
- SurePoint LMS offers an online knowledge base, documentation, email and phone support, and some basic training videos. But support for advanced features is more limited.
- For community sharing, Practice Engine has an exclusive user forum with discussions and peers insights unavailable in SurePoint.
In summary, both systems aim to provide intuitive interfaces for legal workflows, with Practice Engine offering more flexibility and smoother onboarding. Ongoing self-help resources favor Practice Engine as well for sustained user adoption over time.
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SurePoint LMS Training and Empowerment
SurePoint LMS offers robust training resources to help legal teams get up to speed quickly. Let's review the on-demand help guides, engaging onboarding programs, and continuous learning opportunities available.
On-Demand Help Guides
SurePoint LMS has embedded user assistance content and support documents accessible within the platform. These on-demand help guides walk users through core features and workflows step-by-step.
Law firms can leverage the searchable knowledge base to quickly find answers to questions. The help guides use screenshots and clear instructions tailored to different user roles. Firms can also submit support tickets if they need further assistance.
The on-demand help content reduces ramp up time for new users. It also serves as a quick reference for power users who need a refresher. SurePoint LMS aims to provide an intuitive user experience, with helpful training resources built right in.
Engaging Onboarding Programs
In addition to the on-demand help guides, SurePoint LMS offers interactive onboarding tutorials. These walkthroughs introduce admins and end-users to the legal management system through step-by-step guidance paired with helpful tips.
The onboarding programs are designed to be engaging and educational. They allow new users to explore key features at their own pace. Short quizzes reinforce learning, helping onboarding participants retain information.
These tutorials establish a solid foundation in the system, setting up legal teams for long-term success. The onboarding content is regularly updated as well, ensuring users are learning current best practices.
Continuous Learning through Webinars
SurePoint LMS also provides ongoing training opportunities through live webinars and pre-recorded learning sessions. These administrator-led webinars offer continued education on advanced functionality, new features, and updated workflows.
Legal teams can register for upcoming webinars on relevant topics to further develop their SurePoint LMS skills over time. Recordings of past webinars are also available on-demand to accommodate busy schedules.
By investing in continuous learning, law firms can fully leverage the capabilities of SurePoint LMS. As the system expands, so too can the expertise and productivity of its users thanks to these helpful training resources.
Assessing Mobility and Integration Ecosystems
Examining access options and extensibility of both legal practice management platforms.
On-The-Move Access Solutions
Comparing mobile applications and remote access for lawyers on-the-go.
Legal Buddies understands the need for legal professionals to access files and information securely while away from the office. Both Practice Engine and SurePoint offer mobile apps and remote access capabilities to keep lawyers connected.
Practice Engine's mobile app allows users to view and edit matter details, time entries, documents, calendars, and more. The app offers robust search capabilities to quickly locate records. Users can also capture expenses on-the-go through the app. For remote access, Practice Engine offers a web-based portal with full platform functionality.
Similarly, SurePoint delivers mobile access through iOS and Android apps focused on time capture and expense reporting. Users can view matter summaries, edit time entries, and snap photos of receipts for expenses. SurePoint also provides browser-based access to the complete system.
When evaluating mobility ecosystems, Legal Buddies recommends examining user feedback on app reliability and performance. Also review remote access features to confirm full platform functionality is available externally. Prioritize solutions allowing anytime, anywhere access with seamless synchronization.
Expanding through Third-party Integrations
Reviewing major integrations to enhance functionality including CRM, accounting tools.
To augment system capabilities, both Practice Engine and SurePoint integrate with popular third-party software solutions.
Notable Practice Engine integrations include Salesforce CRM, QuickBooks Online, Box, Dropbox, and Office 365. These integrations aim to streamline workflows by eliminating data silos. For example, syncing client and matter data with Salesforce CRM can reduce manual data entry.
SurePoint also integrates with accounting tools like QuickBooks but offers less CRM flexibility with specific solutions for Clio and Rocket Matter. Box and Office 365 integrations mirror Practice Engine's offerings.
When examining integration ecosystems, Legal Buddies looks at integration breadth, data sync reliability, and ease of setup. Companies should review their tech stack and identify key systems to integrate for maximum efficiency gains.
Tailoring through Customization and APIs
Assessing capabilities for tailored configurations, custom fields and API access.
To optimize legal practice management systems, Legal Buddies examines customization and API capabilities for tailored enhancements.
Practice Engine enables administrators to create custom fields, layouts, templates and processes through its setup tools. Users can build tailored matrices capturing matter-specific data points. Developers can leverage Practice Engine's REST API to extract data and build custom integrations.
Similarly, SurePoint offers configuration tools to amend rules, processes and fields to support specific firm requirements. SurePoint also provides developer access through APIs to extract data and power custom solutions.
When reviewing these tailoring capabilities, Legal Buddies looks for easily approachable tools for citizen developers alongside more advanced options for dev teams. Strong self-service customization balanced with API access delivers flexibility legal teams need as workflows evolve.
Harnessing SurePoint's Robust Integrations
Exploring leading platforms SurePoint LMS integrates with to augment functionality.
Office 365 Synergy with SurePoint
Examining bidirectional sync and access for contacts, calendars, documents with Office 365.
SurePoint offers native integration with Office 365, enabling legal teams to directly access contacts, calendars, and documents from within the platform. This seamless connectivity empowers users to view up-to-date Office 365 data in SurePoint without toggling between systems.
Specifically, the integration facilitates:
- Bidirectional sync of contacts and calendars between SurePoint and Office 365 in real-time. Any updates made on one platform automatically reflect in the other. This ensures continuity and consistency of data access.
- Centralized document access by surfacing Office 365 files directly within SurePoint. Legal professionals can instantly view, share, and collaborate on Word, Excel, PowerPoint files without leaving SurePoint.
- Enhanced calendar management with the ability to directly create, edit, and track appointments, events and tasks in Office 365 calendars from within SurePoint.
The out-of-the-box integration spares legal teams the hassle of manually exporting and importing data across platforms. With seamless Office 365 connectivity, SurePoint users stay continually aligned while streamlining legal operations.
Seamless QuickBooks Accounting Integration
Streamlining billing and accounting by connecting natively with QuickBooks.
Recognizing billing and accounting as pivotal legal functions, SurePoint furnishes native integration with QuickBooks Online and Desktop.
The robust integration enables law firms to:
- Automate invoicing by syncing billable hours tracked in SurePoint directly to QuickBooks for instant invoice generation. This removes manual data entry and saves valuable time.
- Streamline revenue tracking with automatic population of payment receipts from QuickBooks into associated matter profiles in SurePoint. This provides up-to-date visibility into cash flows.
- Enhance reporting by allowing direct access to accounting data like budgets and expenses from QuickBooks while in SurePoint for consolidated reporting.
With the ability to push key financial data between the platforms, legal teams can sharply boost productivity around billing, payments and reporting - while maintaining quick access to critical practice management capabilities in SurePoint.
Zapier and IFTTT for Automated Workflows
Leveraging Zapier and IFTTT to connect countless apps for automated data flows.
To further expand the possibilities, SurePoint integrates with both Zapier and IFTTT (If This Then That) - enabling law firms to easily connect with thousands of web apps and trigger automatic cross-platform workflows called Zaps and Applets respectively.
Some ways legal teams can utilize Zaps and Applets include:
- Automatically creating SurePoint contacts when new Stripe customers are acquired for prompt account linkage
- Syncing important emails from Outlook into associated SurePoint matters instantly for centralized information access
- Updating Trello boards as new SurePoint tasks are completed to notify colleagues
- Appending Excel rows with SurePoint matter data to dynamically track key details and KPIs
The integration potential is vast. Legal teams can take advantage of the broad Zapier and IFTTT connectivity to instantly transfer information between SurePoint other apps as soon as data is created or updated - delivering tremendous efficiency through process automation.
Delving into Billing and Accounting Capabilities
Comparing capabilities to track time, expenses, generate invoices and manage payments.
Efficient Time and Expense Management
Legal Buddies understands the importance of accurately tracking billable time and expenses. Our talent pool of paralegals and legal assistants leverage tools like Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS to simplify time-keeping and expense reporting.
With customizable data fields, automatic time capture features, and flexible reporting, these solutions help streamline administrative tasks. Legal teams can configure time and expense workflows to match their unique needs. Pre-built integrations with popular calendar and email platforms also auto-log billable activity.
By centralizing time and expense data, legal professionals gain more visibility into budget vs. actuals. This allows for better forecasting and resource allocation decisions.practice engine and SurePoint LMS empower legal teams to:
- Log time in real-time via desktop and mobile apps
- Assign billable time to appropriate projects and clients
- Capture expenses on-the-go with receipt uploading
- Set up rules to track time automatically
- Generate insightful time and expense reports
- Identify inefficiencies and optimize workflows
With robust time-keeping and expense management capabilities, practice engine and SurePoint LMS reduce administrative burdens for legal teams.
Streamlining Invoicing and Payments
Generating professional invoices and simplifying client payments is crucial for law firms. practice engine and SurePoint LMS provide easy-to-use tools to:
- Generate customized invoices from captured time and expense data
- Send invoices directly via email or print them out
- Allow online payments through integrated payment gateways
- Accept ACH transfers, credit cards, and eChecks
- View historical invoices and payments in one system
These solutions also help track accounts receivable, sent invoices, and payments owed. With configurable workflows, law firms can tailor invoicing and payment processes to best suit their cash flow needs.
By centralizing billing and payment activity, legal teams gain complete visibility over budget vs. actuals. This allows for better forecasting, identifying potential issues sooner, and making any process improvements.
With streamlined invoicing and payment capabilities, practice engine and SurePoint LMS reduce administrative hassles for law firms while improving cash flow.
SurePoint LMS Accounting Insights
An accounting dashboard is essential for legal professionals to gain financial insights. SurePoint LMS provides real-time analytics into:
- Budget vs. actuals comparison
- Past invoices and payments
- Accounts receivable trends
- Expense breakdowns
- Revenue and profitability forecasts
Robust reporting features also help legal teams generate financial statements like:
- Cash flow statements
- Profit and loss reports
- Balance sheets
- Aged receivables reports
These insights inform better decision making around growth opportunities, cost management, profitability, and cash flow.
SurePoint LMS delivers easy-to-interpret financial analytics for legal professionals through historical tracking, reporting, and forecasting tools. This empowers law firms to spot issues sooner and capitalize on new opportunities.
By leveraging solutions like Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS, legal teams can transform billing, accounting, and financial reporting. This leads to enhanced visibility, better decisions making, process improvements, and growth opportunities. With streamlined capabilities provided by talent partners like Legal Buddies, legal professionals can reduce administrative burdens and unlock new levels of operational efficiency.
Ensuring Security and Compliance
Both Practice Engine and SurePoint Legal Management System offer robust security and compliance standards to keep legal practices' data protected. However, there are some key differences in their specific approaches.
Robust Data Protection Measures
Practice Engine utilizes enterprise-grade security protocols like SSL/TLS encryption for data in transit and at-rest encryption for stored data. It also performs daily backups and allows practices to set customized backup schedules.
SurePoint also uses SSL and at-rest encryption but goes a step further by leveraging blockchain technology to decentralize storage across secured nodes. This eliminates single points of failure. SurePoint performs hourly backups with unlimited file versioning.
Comparing Hosting Solutions and Compliance
As a SaaS platform, Practice Engine is hosted on AWS servers based in the U.S. It is SOC 2 Type II audited annually to validate security controls and data protection policies.
SurePoint is self-hosted, giving full control over data location and servers to the law firm. For larger firms concerned over jurisdiction issues, this can be beneficial. SurePoint meets ISO 27001 and ISO 9001 standards for information security and quality management.
Advanced Access Management
Both solutions provide role-based access control to manage staff permissions. Practice Engine has preset roles that can be customized as needed, while SurePoint enables creating roles from scratch.
SurePoint also enables finer access restrictions like time-bound access and conditional access policies. Its integration with Okta allows leveraging adaptive authentication factors like biometrics or hardware keys for managing admin access.
Overall, while both Practice Engine and SurePoint offer adequate security capabilities, SurePoint provides more advanced options focused on decentralized infrastructure and granular access management suitable for large firms. When evaluating options, firms should assess their specific needs around compliance, backups, hosting, and access control.
Analyzing Pricing and Contract Flexibility
Legal professionals seeking operational efficiency may find promising options in Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS platforms. Comparing their pricing models and contract terms can clarify total budget impact.
Understanding Pricing Strategies
Practice Engine uses per-user subscription plans ranging $45-$150 per month. Volume discounts apply beyond 10 users. Custom enterprise quotes are available for larger teams. SurePoint LMS pricing starts at $99 per user per month for core features. Add-on modules have separate fees.
Both platforms offer predictable per-user pricing rather than variable usage-based fees. SurePoint charges extra for advanced functionality, while Practice Engine bundles features into plans. Weighing add-on needs and user count can determine best value.
Contract Terms and Exit Paths
Practice Engine annual contracts auto-renew monthly with 30 days notice to cancel. SurePoint LMS requires 1-year minimum contracts also auto-renewing monthly thereafter. 30-90 days notice is needed to prevent renewal.
Shorter initial commitments with Practice Engine allow flexibility if still evaluating platforms. However, both platforms impose no early termination fees, enabling exit if systems don't meet needs before renewal.
Total Cost Impact Evaluation
With identical $99 per user starting rates, upfront costs appear on par. But SurePoint's required add-on fees for functionality like accounting integration inflate actual spends. Practice Engine's flat-rate plans simplify budgeting without hidden extras.
Still, larger teams can achieve volume discounts with Practice Engine, while SurePoint offers custom enterprise pricing. Evaluating feature must-haves, user counts, and contract comfort clarifies which platform offers optimal value. Connecting with Legal Buddies for talent support can further maximize operational efficiency.
Wrapping Up with Informed Recommendations
Key Insights to Consider
Practice Engine and SurePoint LMS both offer robust financial management capabilities for law firms. Some key differences to consider:
- Practice Engine provides intuitive accounting with automated trust reports. This simplifies legal accounting workflows. SurePoint offers advanced accounting integrations but the setup process can be more complex.
- SurePoint LMS has strong reporting and analytics features to uncover financial insights. Practice Engine focuses more on streamlining day-to-day accounting.
- Practice Engine is likely the better option for smaller firms looking to simplify financials. SurePoint provides enterprise-grade customization for larger firms.
Choosing the Ideal Legal Management System
When selecting a financial management platform, first assess your firm's size and needs:
- Smaller firms should consider Practice Engine for its simplicity and ease-of-use. The platform minimizes accounting legwork so firms can focus on legal work.
- Larger firms can benefit from SurePoint's expansive accounting integrations, automation potential, analytics, and custom workflows. The advanced capabilities justify the steeper learning curve.
Also factor in accounting expertise and tech skills on staff. Practice Engine requires less specialized knowledge to operate. Next, determine if accounting and reporting or reducing accounting tasks is a bigger priority.
Embarking on the Legal Tech Journey
When ready to implement a new financial management system:
- Consult accountants to determine required accounting capabilities and integrations upfront. This ensures seamless adoption across financial workflows.
- Gradually transition accounting tasks onto the new system rather than abruptly switching over. Slowly ramping up better mitigates disruption.
- Leverage vendor onboarding resources like setup wizards, live training sessions, and chat supports. Don't hesitate to ask platform reps questions!
The legal tech transformation requires planning but can yield great efficiency gains. Evaluate options like Practice Engine and SurePoint based on firm needs and resources. Then utilize ample vendor resources to ensure smooth adoption.
