Since January of this year, the ClaimKit team has been building software for surety claims. It’s been quite an experience. And I want to tell you about it, while simultaneously telling you about our software.
8 Features, 8 Stories
There is a story behind everything that has gone into our software. Whether you want to buy our software or not, I think the information will be valuable to you. You will start to think about the reasons and logic behind your software. While our software may not be the solution for you, maybe you will be able to imagine your ideal tech experience.
Today we are going to talk about buckets.
If you have been reading this blog since the beginning, then you know about my Bucket Theory that I described in February:
Construction consultants and attorneys should not receive and review large, unorganized document dumps — this is the equivalent of drinking from a fire hose.
Attorneys and consultants should be reviewing information that is delivered in smaller, organized batches. Before the attorney and consultant receive documents for review, someone else should take the time to organize the documents.
I call this the Bucket Theory.
As a surety attorney, I did not have the pleasure of implementing the Bucket Theory. I have talked to numerous claim professionals that simply don’t have a system that organizes documents into buckets.
So when we designed our software, we implemented the Bucket Theory.
In our software, a construction document from a contractor must be placed into one of three buckets:
- Company Files
- Financial Files
- Project Files
Project files is a generic name that is replaced by the actual project name or names (e.g. CDOT Highway 81). If there is more than one project, then your buckets will expand from three.
If you are having trouble visualizing buckets, then try to imagine the perfect email inbox. Imagine an email inbox that automatically sorts out your correspondence. Personal emails go into one folder. Emails from work go into project-specific folders. And all other emails go into a catch-all folder.
The purpose of buckets in our software is threefold.
First, by sorting documents into one of three buckets, we ensure that similarly grouped documents remain together. This ensures faster review and analysis. When a consultant looks in the CDOT Highway 81 bucket, they know they are looking at documents pertaining to that project. When an accountant looks in the Financial Info bucket, they no they are reviewing financial documents.
Second, buckets allow our users to set up permissions for other types of users so that access is appropriately limited. Accountants can only see the financial documents; construction consultants can only see the construction documents. Of course, some users, like attorneys and in-house claim handlers get access to everything.
That’s how we implemented the Bucket Theory with our software. It’s simple, just the way we like it.
