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Legal Budgeting Project

Legal Budgeting Project. by Jason Huszar. Overview. Newland Communities Largest residential land developer in the United States 23 Offices Nationwide Approximately 200 employees IT Director (“Firefighter”) Oversee and manage IT operations and strategic technology initiatives

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Legal Budgeting Project

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  1. Legal Budgeting Project by Jason Huszar

  2. Overview • Newland Communities • Largest residential land developer in the United States • 23 Offices Nationwide • Approximately 200 employees • IT Director (“Firefighter”) • Oversee and manage IT operations and strategic technology initiatives • Legal Department • Approached to manage project • Team: Accounting, Legal, IT, Software Provider

  3. Introduction • Problem Statement • The legal department lacks the ability to analyze legal expenses across projects by vendor (Law Firms) and cost codes. • Business Objective • Conduct positive NPV project that will reduce the time requirements of Newland’s General Counsel, and staff, to review legal expenses.

  4. Constraints • Maximum of 6 months to complete • Minimize time commitment of team members • Cannot Utilize Newland’s in-house developer • General Counsel = difficult requirements gathering • Project not to exceed $30,000

  5. Requirements • Development a method for retaining vendor information when processing multi-project invoices. • Cleanse accounting data to ensure accuracy and user-acceptance. • Report formatting must be clearly labeled and easy to read. • Phase 2: incorporate budget variances. • Phase 3: Dev. Advanced Analysis dashboard for General Counsel (Time, Region, Vendor, Type)

  6. Problems • Multi-Project invoices lose vendor specific information during A/P processing • Vendor Duplication • 2003 legal expenses miscoded • Lack of procedure to prevent vendor duplication and miscoding of expenses • Current accounting system report format

  7. Problem Solutions • Multi-Project Invoices • Modify reimbursable corporate job master record to associate with respective project job • Vendor Consolidation • Develop vendor consolidation layout template for software provider and ensure proper implementation • Miscoded Expense • Obtain approval and reclassify all 2003 expenses to appropriate legal designated cost codes.

  8. Problem Solutions • Lack of Coding Procedures • Create and disseminate proper legal coding procedures • Current Report Format Unacceptable • Develop cleaner on-page layout and larger font size

  9. Progress • Design Document Created/Gen. Counsel approved • RFP submitted/Proposal approved • Reclassification of 2003 Expenses and Coding Procedure Implemented • Vendor Consolidation List Created and Approved(6000 -> 4000) • Vendor Consolidation Tested in Test Environment

  10. Progress • Reports Implemented in Test Environment • Vendor Consolidation will be implemented into Production Environment July 12, 2003. • Formal Report Review on July 14, 2003. • Report Implemented into Production Environment on July 21, 2003.

  11. Summary • Within Budget • Slightly Delayed • Project resulted in many positive changes • Phase 2: Budget Variance Reports • Begin Mid/Late August • Phase 3: Legal Data Mart/Advanced Analysis Dashboard • Begin Early October

  12. Legal Budgeting Project Questions?

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