Penningtons Solicitors LLP — Case Study
Context
Penningtons Solicitors LLP is a commercial and private client law firm, with its principal office in the City of London and further offices in Basingstoke and Godalming.
Driven by a need to better support their current and potential new working environments, Penningtons looked to deliver more efficient non-core services, including document management. The company identified that a single service provider offering a single set of storage and service protocols would deliver a far more cohesive solution – Saracen Datastore secured the office wide contract following a review of the market and existing suppliers.
The Brief
To rationalise and modernise Penningtons’ records management system and provide a more responsive, better connected storage programme for 16,000+ boxes of business critical documentation ( Client Files, Deeds and Accounting Documentation)
The Solution
- Reducing the number of different suppliers and storage ideas to a single provider with a single set of protocols. Complete project managed storage transfers from existing suppliers; in house records areas as well as Penningtons' own off-site storage units.
- An intelligent approach to combining both the in-house and off-site records systems, whilst ensuring service levels to each partner would not be compromised. Implementation, office wide, of the RSWeb.Net® online inventory and ordering system linking in to Penningtons' internal records system.
- Complete file audit of 30,000+ previously unmanaged files – barcoding and referencing back to Penningtons' original inventories and updating systems accordingly to reflect the reality.
- To facilitate the seamless and efficient transfer of more than 5,000 files per year between Penningtons and Saracen Datastore – maintaining security, integrity and ensuring Penningtons' internal service levels to each partner is not compromised with the implementation of round the clock servicing with emergency retrieval options.
- Delivery of a comprehensive training programme on systems and best practice for Penningtons' staff.
The Future
The partnership continues to work hard on continuous service improvements. The next joint venture, having established a sound operating platform, is for the production of a records management policy that sets out the standards and instructs users on inventory best practice and retention scheduling whilst also defining the protocols for migrating all future documents safely and securely to the off-site Saracen Datastore Records Facility.
Highlights
- Integration of in-house records systems with offsite records management system
- File audit of 20,000+ previously unbarcoded files cross matched to Penningtons' in-house records system
- Active management of 5000+ files in transit each year
- Daily Delivery windows for each office ensuring the files reach the client when they need them
- Comprehensive training programmes
We've been delighted with the service provided by Saracen Datastore. The complex task of managing the transition went very smoothly, and our new integrated document storage system has exceeded our expectations. It is now a remarkably quick and easy process to retrieve any given file.
Louis Tolaini
Senior Office Manager
Penningtons LLP
