Four levels of support for users of software in a legal department

Based on a recent consulting project, I realized there are as many as four levels of people who can help in-house lawyers and others best use their software applications. The first responders are the admins who among themselves can solve many questions. Next to be called in are power users. Power users spend lots of time with an application and perhaps have taken a course on it. Whoever is in charge of the matter management system should be a power uer. Or the resident SharePoint expert.

Third, the administrative group may have an IT person or two who can solve more significant problems – login problems or printer defaults – and decide when to go to the fourth level: dedicated IT support.

Each level triages for the next level. Somewhere the vendor of the software may even pitch in as might a user group.