Holiday Greetings - But No Cookies!!!
This year we have decided not to ship you cookies, but rather give you some information and some entertainment.
The entertainment is a Mike Rayburn CD that will be sure to make you laugh and make you cry.
Mr. Rayburn combines a voracious talent on the guitar with impeccable timing as a comedian. We hope you enjoy it.
This past year has been a very busy year at Basha Systems LLC. We wish to thank our clients and friends who made it possible.
Without you, we would not have been driven to produce such a wide range of high-end document assembly and case management applications.
The following are some of the highlights of our past year.
Wealth Transfer Planning (HotDocs)
Basha Systems completely rebuilt Wealth Transfer Planning
using HotDocs 2005, migrating the system from the now defunct SmartWords platform.
The system consists of over 60 templates, spanning over 2000 pages of documents and commentary.
In building the system, we have introduced a number of HotDocs innovations:
- Integration of a master parties list to centralize all "persons" data, with populators to
import complete contact data throughout the system, for trustees, executors, beneficiaries, witnesses etc.
- Interactive on-dialog, dynamic drafting tips, and fully integrated HTML help text for every field on
every dialog which can be printed out as a drafting aid.
- Standard and custom inserts that can be revised on an otherwise "locked" application to handle
customization of letterhead, title pages, signature blocks, notary and self-proving affidavits.
- Dynamic styling toolbars in both Word and WordPerfect that can with a single click change font, spacing, and numbering sequences to match user preferences.
- Widespread use of functions and data objects for more efficient and readable HotDocs code.
To view the screen shots and commentary for Wealth Transfer Planning, click here.
Nassau County Grand Jury System (HotDocs)
Basha Systems won a competitive New York State contract to replace and expand on an IBM-Mainframe based document drafting system to create grand jury documents
for the Nassau County DA. Taking full advantage of the HotDocs database connection, this system
captures the complete New
York State criminal code in a custom charges database, and makes it available for the creation of indictments and other grand jury documents.
In building the system, we have introduced a number of HotDocs innovations:
- Replacement of the HotDocs library with a single integrated template that runs a consolidated interview and launches the designated templates.
- Use of indexed repeats to allocate one or many defendants to prosecutorial documents, including details about
each defendant, as well as the particular charges against them, and any specific priors.
- Use of programmable dialogs to allow "previews" of selected charges as they would appear in the indictment.
- Use of pseudo-code in the database that is interpreted by HotDocs at runtime, to both determine
the relevant variables and to replace the pseudo-code with values derived from those HotDocs variables.
- Post-assembly macros that name and save documents based on HotDocs variables.
To view the screen shots and commentary for the Nassau system, click here.
Commercial Banking Systems (HotDocs)
A large New York law firm retained Basha Systems to automate a complete suite of commercial lending documents
for a banking client who had outsourced its entire transactional lending practice to a single law firm in exchange
for value based billing. We took at set of 47 lending documents and melded them into a single application that covers
the entire transaction from commitment letter to the closing statement to internal assignment. This system, built with
HotDocs 2005, includes several innovations:
- Support for combined Mortgage and Credit line transactions with constraints to ensure consistency between the
optional provisions for each transaction when such documents form part of a single larger transaction.
- Use of a custom interface, launched from a single HotDocs interview, that allows the user to assemble a single
master document (for draft purposes) and then to produce individual documents by merely changing an option in the interview.
- Reusable multipurpose insert templates for signatures, cover pages, ancillary documents using
indexed variables whose values are set by scripts prior to their insertion.
To view the screen shots and commentary for this system, click here.
NSBA Probate System V (GhostFill)
Basha Systems has partnered with the Nebraska State Bar Association to produce a probate forms application that combines the
text and guidelines found in the widely owned Nebraska Probate System IV manual with over 200 automated
probate and guardianship forms. The system is slated for delivery in March of 2006. During its preview at the annual
meeting of the Nebraska State Bar Association, the system was widely praised. Built with
GhostFill 5.3, the system takes advantage of
the full power of the GhostFill scripting environment to include:
- An integrated file manager, and optional document manager.
- Extensive commentary on each of the 200 forms to guide the practitioner.
- An integrated contact manager that can pull contact data from Microsoft Outlook into a central interested parties table.
- Extensive practitioner tools for reviewing estate documents and evaluating estate assets, including the ability to "customize" any form in the system.
- The ability to create firm-specific forms and to pull the data from the file.
To view the screen shots and commentary for Nebraska State Bar Probate System V, click here.
HR Management System (GhostFill)
Basha Systems built and continues to maintain a document assembly system for NetEffects, Inc., one of the most successful and innovative computer
consultant placement firms in the country. The system encompasses over 200 forms, covering all aspects of the hiring and placement
process, including client-specific forms. NetEffects had two unusual requirements - they required continuous updates to their templates to keep
up with the documentation requirements of their clients and they wished to be able to send combined document sets of over 100 pages average to .pdf.
To meet these needs, we introduced several innovations:
- Using Citrix Systems GoToAssist remote desktop support, we hold regular meetings to review changes on our client's desktop.
- With GhostFill's export utility, we can deliver incremental updates to a live application in a matter of minutes.
- GhostFill's ability to act as a COM server and run other applications gave us the ability to integrate a custom DLL from
Litera (part of the Litera Change-Pro Suite) to create PDF files from RTF without having to launch Microsoft Word.
- By integrating a third utility, QuickPDF, we were able to assemble Word files, convert those files to PDF, fill other
PDF files, and combine all into a single PDF file.
To view the screen shots and commentary of the NetEffects HR system, click here.
Online Law Practice (DealBuilder)
Basha Systems is working with a Florida law firm to build a completely on-line law practice, offering legal services direct to
consumers over the internet. We built the system using DealBuilder Server.
We took advantage of DealBuilder's powerful relevance
engine to automatically determine the appropriate questions from the template markup. We built into the system a number of innovations:
- Extensive use of ActiveText to personalize the prompts for variables.
- Use of lookup tables to deliver customizable prompts based on the jurisdiction for which the documents were being created.
- Development of dynamic FAQ's for each page to provide extensive on-screen help.
To view the screen shots and commentary of the online, click here.
Foreclosure Litigation (Time Matters & HotDocs)
A large national law firm retained us to build a system that ties together Time Matters and HotDocs into a single system for
handling high-volume real estate foreclosures. The system tracks the court calendar in Time Matters and handles the document creation
with HotDocs using information contained in the Time Matters database. Working with the attorneys, we created a system that
tracks the legal work flow,
- Rather than "selecting documents", the system looks at the phase of the litigation and determines which documents are required.
- The system only asks questions relevant to a particular phase of the proceedings.
To view the screen shots and commentary of the foreclosure system, click here.
Conversions and Rebuilds (To HotDocs, GhostFill and DealBuilder)
In the past decade, Basha Systems has worked with numerous document assembly platforms, including Word Merge text, WordPerfect Forms,
IBM OfficeVision, MasterDraft, Microsoft VBA, Acrobat, HotDocs, CAPS Author, SmartWords, WinDraft, PowerTXT, GhostFill, DealBuilder, and
Perfectus. A Client may start out on one-platform, which, for a number of reasons, may no longer be the appropriate platform for that product, and
need to convert the templates or application to another document assembly platform. We believe that this work product should never be wasted, and have
developed a range of tools and processes to analyze and capture the business logic of the existing system and then to port it over efficiently to a new
platform, We then improve on and extend that business logic. If you have a legacy document assembly application or if your current application needs a
tune-up, don't despair. We can work with you to make the system more powerful and easier to maintain in the future.
LFMS, RRMS and FLIP Upgraded (Time Matters)
Basha Systems has created numerous add-ons for Time Matters which it sells through its online store, on the LexisNexis Time Matters store, and through Blumberg Excelsior.
These packages have recently been rewritten to take advantage of the features in Time Matters 7.0.
LFMS is a complete litigation files management system, useful for handling the document production for a small litigation.
RRMS is a record room management system that can be used by a small to midsize firm to handle tracking files internally. FLIP for Time Matters
is a complete rebuild of the File Label Index Printer marketed as a stand-alone product by BlumbergExcelsior. Each of these systems are available
directly from Basha Systems.
Tablet PC's - The Future of Document Assembly
We are exploring with several of our clients, the porting of document assembly systems to Tablet-PC's. By this we mean the slate-model tablets that are between 1 and 2 pounds.
In moving to a Tablet, certain design and usability issues need to be addressed so that the system can be used efficiently with a stylus, instead of a
keyboard. We are in the process of building a large application for the Tablet-PC using GhostFill. GhostFill was chosen because it allows infinite
customization of both the interface and scripting events that call other programs.
2006 Beckons!
As you can see, Basha Systems LLC has had a banner year. The future can only be more exciting. From all of us at Basha Systems LLC,
Seth Rowland, Ian Burrows and Rose Rowland, we wish you all a happy and healthy new year.
