Move your firm across without losing the file
Matters, clients, time entries, invoices and documents brought off your current system and reconciled against the export, while your firm keeps working.
How do I move my law firm to new practice management software?
You export from your current system, import the matters, clients, time, invoices and files, then reconcile the result against that export file rather than against the old system's screens. Writford migrates from a LEAP export into its own legal software, and has moved a firm of 134 matters and 34,604 files this way.
- Can I move my firm off LEAP?
- Yes. Writford imports matters, clients, contacts, time entries, invoices, receipts, critical dates and files from a LEAP export. A real migration of 134 matters, 7,711 time entries, 155 invoices and 34,604 files has been done this way.
- Can we keep working during the migration?
- Yes. The export is a point in time and your firm carries on in the old system while the import is prepared. Anything recorded after the export is identified separately rather than being quietly lost.
- How do I know nothing was lost?
- The import is reconciled against the export file, not against a screen. Balances are compared in aged buckets, because the bucket names the cause: money over thirty days old matching exactly while the difference sits in current activity means recent work, not a broken import.
- What happens to fee earner names?
- Other systems export staff as codes rather than people, so a migration arrives with initials like SW and JB. Connecting each code to a real Writford account is a step in the import itself rather than something you discover afterwards.
- What if a record cannot be matched?
- It is reported, not skipped silently. Anything the import could not fully resolve, such as an invoice referencing a matter that is not there, appears in the job summary naming the values, so you can decide what to do about it.
- Will the files fit?
- Writford checks the size of the proposed import against your available storage before it runs, and tells you whether it fits, whether it is tight or whether you need more space, rather than failing part way through.
The matter file, not just a list of matter names
Matters, clients and contacts, time entries, invoices and receipts, critical dates and the documents themselves. A migration that brings across names and leaves the work behind has not moved your firm, it has given you two systems to look in.
- Matters with their references, area of law, status and dates
- Clients and contacts, linked to the matters they belong to
- Time entries with their activity type, amount and tax treatment
- Invoices, receipts and the fee earner each is credited to
- Critical dates and appointments
- Documents and files, with their folder structure
Checked against the export file, and against the right basis
The export file is the source of truth for judging an import, because the old system keeps moving after the export is taken. Balances are compared in aged buckets, since a bucket names the cause: everything over thirty days matching exactly, with the whole difference in current activity, means recent work rather than a failure.
- Compared against the export file, not against the old system's screen
- Aged buckets, because the bucket names the cause
- Both sides put on the same basis before any figure is compared
- Every figure states the basis it is on
Connecting exported staff codes to real accounts
Other systems export staff as initials. A migration therefore arrives with work credited to codes rather than to people, and until they are connected the fee earner reports are meaningless. Writford makes that mapping the last step of the import, beside the migration, rather than a setting buried in accounting forever.
- Imported staff codes listed after the import finishes
- Map each code to a real Writford account
- Fee earner reporting correct from the first day
- The step sits with the migration, not in front of every firm forever
You find out it fits before you start, not halfway through
A firm's document store is usually the largest thing being moved. Writford scans the proposed import, compares it against your available storage and tells you whether to proceed, whether it will be tight, or what plan you need, before anything is written.
- Scan and size the import before it runs
- Clear verdict: proceed, warning, or more space needed
- No partial import that fails at the last folder