Xakia has transformed decision making and resource allocation for JERA

One of a Japan's largest energy companies, JERA, uses Xakia's matter management software to empower its legal team with at-a-glance insights to optimize its resources and improve efficiency.

Deputy General Counsel Angela Yuen said: “I love the dashboard, but I also love running the reports. I love playing with the different filters and then seeing what I can produce and then what information I can draw from the data that has been entered. I find that quite fulfilling … I’m very proud of our team and what we are doing.”

Industry

Energy

Key results

Administrative time saved
Multiple languages accommodated
Quarterly reports to upper management have become simple, convenient and effective

Challenge

Prior to every team meeting, a manager would ask each employee to fill out a Microsoft Word template with their tasks, cases and issues they were facing. Then, they’d meet collectively to discuss the information. That free-form text file was JERA’s only method to monitor workloads and spot issues.

“Gathering enough data to run an efficient and effective meeting was impossible,” said Shozo Miyata, a Legal Ops professional in the Legal Department.

“The information will reflect what an individual wants to convey, but there is always a gap in the information that management wants to know,” he said. “In order to meet a common goal or understanding about the work, it takes a considerable amount of time.”

Because each person approached the Word document in different ways, the topics discussed in team meetings varied widely. And beyond the difficulty assessing individual workloads, it was “very hard to get a clear picture of the whole picture,” said Sawako Ohgi, General Manager for the Strategic Legal Unit.

Ultimately, the team lacked visibility as to JERA’s legal needs, with no way to measure the volume of legal work, the resources needed and the time spent on various requests. That made it tremendously difficult to prioritize and to allocate resources effectively.

Approach

The in-house legal team leaders at JERA wanted a visual way to consolidate seemingly amorphous data and glean concrete insights. They sought a true understanding of the type, volume and complexity of team members’ work, as well as deadlines, to effectively assign projects and determine future workforce needs. For quarterly reports to upper management, they wanted to offer streamlined assessments of their work, including the number of projects and corresponding risk levels.

JERA’s need coincided with Xakia's introduction of its legal matter management software in the Japanese language.

Deputy General Counsel Angela Yuen said, “The team considered peer products with similar features but ultimately chose Xakia for its legal intake tool, as well as customization options and the ability to accommodate multiple languages.”

Xakia now serves as the central matter management software for the corporate legal department. The dashboard displays active matters, showing the originating department; risk level; and type, size and complexity of the work. Project loads and deadlines are available at a glance, and individuals can use the Matter Card View feature to manage all of their tasks and deadlines.

Results

Xakia has transformed decision making and resource allocation for JERA’s legal group.

Xakia's legal analytics software helps JERA make data-driven decisions

Managers use the Xakia legal analytics dashboard to quickly make informed decisions, such as assigning work to a particular in-house resource or outsourcing it.

Increased visibility helps meetings run more efficiently

Department meetings run more efficiently because project information is consistent and clear, and managers can easily explain decisions by pointing to the shared data. The visual display transforms data and analytics into an easy-to-understand format.

Automated reports to stakeholders to show the value of the Legal Department

Quarterly reports to upper management have become simple, convenient, and effective. From a strategic perspective, the data informs decisions about recruitment, training and development.

“I love the dashboard, but I also love running the reports,” Ms. Yuen said. “I love playing with the different filters and then seeing what I can produce and then what information I can draw from the data that has been entered. I find that quite fulfilling… I’m very proud of our team and what we are doing.”

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