Measure whether staff receive usable inquiries

The operational decision

Assess the approved handoff fields without rewarding unnecessary data collection. Intake measurement should show whether the firm receives usable inquiries and timely operational handoffs. Call volume alone does not establish legal merit, client acceptance, revenue or an improvement in professional outcomes.

Prepare the workflow

Define completeness for the initial stage and mark optional fields explicitly; do not treat a long narrative as a more complete inquiry.

Example wording for approval

“A complete example inquiry contains the approved category, contact route and request status. It does not need a detailed account of the underlying matter.”

Worked example

A fictional inquiry includes a broad service category and a usable callback preference but no optional postal address. Another includes a detailed narrative but lacks a valid contact route. If the first-stage definition requires only the approved category and contact, the first is more complete for staff action. Score against the agreed fields, not word count. Keep optional omissions distinct from defects so the metric does not encourage the assistant to collect unnecessary information merely to improve a dashboard percentage.

Handoff record

Record these task-specific fields: required fields, optional fields, sample size, reviewer.

Acceptance check

Compare a brief complete inquiry with a long narrative missing a callback route. The score should favor usable approved fields rather than length.

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