By Legal Futures’ Associate iManage
iManage, the company dedicated to transforming how professionals work, today announced a new product, iManage Tracker, the industry’s first matter-centric task and checklist management system with built-in need-to-know security.
Tracker was developed in response to professionals’ need to effectively manage knowledge work rather than clerical tasks.
Unlike traditional process automation systems that automate individual clerical tasks, iManage Tracker is designed for knowledge workers that are tackling more complex and collaborative cognitive projects like deal closings, contract re-papering, mergers & acquisitions, and other knowledge work. This knowledge work does not lend itself to rote process automation, but to target milestones that have to be achieved. Designed with this distinction in mind, iManage Tracker takes the traditional task management paradigm of “Do this” and shifts it to “Accomplish this,” better suiting how knowledge workers think about getting work done.
The Only Task Management Purpose Built for Professionals
Several factors make iManage Tracker, which is fully integrated with iManage Work 10 document and email management, unique:
1) Visibility at client, matter, or project level
Tracker is organized the way professionals organize work, which is around clients and projects or legal matters. Unlike traditional systems, Tracker organizes tasks not only at the individual level, but also at the client, matter, or project level, providing an aggregated view into activities across projects. This can provide important oversight to a partner managing a client relationship for example, or a senior manager in a legal department tracking a major initiative. In addition, updates across multiple projects are easily obtained if a client, partner, or senior manager requests them.
2) Available where you work
Unlike other task management systems, which require users to enter a separate environment to manage tasks, Tracker is tightly integrated with iManage Work and Microsoft Office. Professionals never have to switch contexts, leave their working environment, or break their mental flow to attend to tasks. For example, a professional who receives a request for additional information in an email can create the task without leaving Outlook. Tracker is available right where knowledge workers work.
iManage Tracker works across iManage, and Microsoft Office, so users never have to leave their working environment.
3) One click away
Tracker ensures users are only one click away from getting to work. With a single click, users can file a document or an email that contains a request, assignment, or other obligation into iManage Work and simultaneously create a task in iManage Tracker. When the user opens that task, a link takes them right to the email or document that created the obligation filed in iManage – no more searching endlessly for something that was somewhere in an inbox.
4) Secured at a client, matter, or project level on a need-to-know basis
Integration with iManage Security Policy Manager means that Tracker can secure task lists with need-to know access and ethical walls, avoiding unintended disclosures of deals or activities – unlike traditional task management systems, where tasks and details around what people are working on are fully exposed and accessible, leaving open the risk of an information leak.
iManage will begin a client early acceptance program for Tracker starting in July 2020. Tracker is scheduled to be generally available in 2021, to iManage Cloud customers.
“Tracker is truly a product for our times,” said Dan Carmel, Chief Marketing Officer, iManage. “With fewer people physically in the office, quick check-ins on progress that used to be handled face-to-face are now relegated to emails and messages. Tracker tames that tsunami of messages and organizes information in a way that’s immediately actionable and efficient for everybody in the organization. More than any other task management system, Tracker works how knowledge workers work.”
With iManage Tracker, manage tasks and checklists across matters with secure, single-click action that links task to document, files your email, and adds task to dashboard.
