How to Move Away from Spreadsheets to Improve Workflow & Matter Intake

Legal departments often start out using spreadsheets to track requests, log matters, and pull data for reporting. It works fine at first, but as the team grows and the volume of work picks up, spreadsheets quickly become more of a burden than a help.

Imagine you’ve got ten lawyers all trying to update the same file. It’s easy to accidentally overwrite data, enter information in the wrong cell, or duplicate something without realizing it. Then, what was supposed to be a simple tracking tool turns into a source of confusion requiring a lot of manual cleanup.

So, let’s discuss six practical steps legal departments can take to move away from spreadsheets and adopt a smarter, centralized approach to managing workflow and matter intake.

Step 1: Identify What Spreadsheets Are Failing to Do

Start by looking at how your team uses spreadsheets today. Are you tracking intake, assigning work, or reporting on team performance? Then, identify what’s not working. Are requests getting lost? Is it hard to see who’s doing what? Are reports time-consuming to pull together? 

Getting clear on these pain points helps you focus on what needs fixing and makes it easier to build a case for change.

Step 2: Map Out Your Ideal Intake Workflow

Before you start evaluating tools, take time to define what a better process looks like. How should requests come in? What information do you need up front? How should matters be assigned, tracked, and closed? 

For example, intake requests should include key details like the matter type, due date, urgency, and any supporting documents and be automatically pulled from sources like Slack or email. Those requests should be assigned to a lawyer based on their expertise and current workload, so work is distributed evenly across the team. Requesters should be able to track the status of their matters, and legal should be able to easily access all related documents easily.

Mapping your ideal intake workflow gives you a clear picture of what you actually need from a platform. It also helps avoid choosing a tool that looks good on paper but doesn’t fit how your team works.

Step 3: Evaluate Legal Intake & Matter Management Solutions

Once you know what you need, start comparing legal intake and matter management software solutions to find the right fit. Focus on tools that can support your ideal workflow for both now and as your team grows.

The best platforms offer strong integration capabilities so you can connect tools like email, Slack, or document management systems. Flexibility is also key so look for a software that offers full customization and no-code technology that allows legal to update forms, workflows, and automations without relying on IT.

Choosing a scalable, configurable platform ensures your team can manage endless amounts of matters while staying agile as business demands evolve.

Step 4: Link Your Intake Channels to Your Platform

Once you’ve chosen a legal intake and matter management solution, the next step is to connect your intake channels (i.e. email, Slack, and Microsoft Teams) to create a legal front door so requests can start flowing into one centralized system.

This allows requests to be automatically captured, routed, and organized with the right metadata, documents, and context attached from the start. Unlike spreadsheets, which are static and cluttered with rows and columns, a centralized platform like Checkbox lets you click into a matter, view its full history, access documents, and track progress, all in one place.

This shift away from spreadsheets turns intake into a streamlined, trackable, and manageable process.

Step 5: Customize Workflows

Once your tool is up and running, tailor it to your specific needs by customizing intake forms, approval flows, matter types, and dashboards.

Platforms like Checkbox that offer no-code configuration, enable your legal team to make updates on their own without waiting on IT. This not only speeds up implementation but also allows you to quickly adapt as your processes evolve.

The more control legal has over its workflows, the faster the team can scale and respond to changing business needs.

Step 6: Set Up Dashboards to Track & Report on Work

With all your matters flowing through one platform, you can finally move beyond manual tracking and start using real-time data. Set up dashboards within your legal intake and matter management software to monitor matter volume, turnaround times, team workload, and more.

This visibility helps legal stay on top of priorities, balance workloads, and make informed resourcing decisions. Just as importantly, it allows you to demonstrate legal’s value to the business with data that’s easy to understand and share.

This replaces the step of manually pulling data from spreadsheets with clear, reliable insights that are available 24/7.

Key Takeaways

By following these six steps, your legal department can move away from spreadsheets and into a smarter, more efficient way of managing workflow and matter intake.

From identifying pain points to centralizing intake, customizing workflows, and using data to show impact, each step brings you closer to a system that saves time, reduces risk, and empowers your team to scale with the business.

Spreadsheets may have been the starting point, but they don’t have to be the standard. With the right tools and approach, legal can lead with clarity, control, and confidence.

Ready to see what smarter legal work looks like? Book a demo with Checkbox and discover how our intake and matter management platform can help your team streamline processes, centralize work, and show legal’s value across the business.