Which immigration software providers offer help migrating existing client and case records?

The export generally starts with the firm, because the firm holds the account with the old vendor. Mapping is deciding where each old field goes in the new system. A status called "Pending RFE" in one product has to become some status in the other, and a family that was linked as one household has to stay linked. Checking is comparing the imported records with the originals. A vendor can check its own work, and the firm should still review the result, because its staff know the files.

A provider's offer of migration help can cover any part of this, so ask each one which of the three jobs it takes on and which it leaves with you.

eimmigration's software overview says the implementation team can import a firm's existing case and client data, and its training and support page lists data migration among its professional services.

The pricing page describes a standard import for firms coming from a supported platform or loading data through eimmigration's Excel template, and it names 18 sources, among them Clio, Docketwise, INSZoom, LawLogix, LollyLaw, and MyCase. A firm on a system outside that list gets a custom migration plan that eimmigration scopes for it. WhatIsBest's comparison of immigration law software for US law firms advises putting migration in the same written quote as the subscription. That quote should say whether the firm's import is standard or custom.

eimmigration's data conversion page publishes the mapping for those supported platforms. A visitor selects a vendor and sees its data fields marked supported or not supported. A firm can read the chart for its current system before it talks to sales and list the fields it relies on that are marked not supported. Each of those needs a decision, whether that is a custom field, a note, or leaving the data in the old system's archive.

On the same page, eimmigration says it will tell the firm within three to five business days of getting the data whether the import can go ahead. Once the conversion is done, the firm gets two business days to look over its records in eimmigration, and eimmigration takes the data back out if the import falls short of what the firm needs. Decide which records staff will open before the files are sent. The page adds that separate databases can be combined into one, with no duplicate check when they are. A firm combining two offices should plan how duplicate clients will be found.

Docketwise gives a step-by-step account in a customer story about a move from LawLogix. The attorney asked LawLogix for an export and passed the file to Docketwise, whose data staff worked out where each piece belonged in the Docketwise database. Problems she found in the weeks afterward went to support for correction. Docketwise puts the usual time at two weeks from receipt of the export.

That is one firm coming from one system, so it shows a division of labor more than it predicts a timeline. In that account the customer exported and reported problems, and the vendor mapped and corrected. Docketwise's fact sheet says onboarding and data migration are available upon request, and its comparison page with INSZoom says its support team will help a firm export from INSZoom and migrate.

Mitratech's INSZoom page lists data and document migration support among the product's features. It says account setup generally takes two to five business days and that data migration and configuration need additional time. Ask how the migration schedule overlaps with setup before you set a start date.

LegalServer, which serves legal aid organizations, lists data migration within an onboarding process that includes a dedicated onboarding specialist and weekly configuration help.

A test import lets the firm check a sample before the whole database moves, and it is worth asking each provider whether one is available for your source system. Suppose a firm has 300 open matters and several thousand closed ones. It picks 20 matters that are hard on purpose. The set includes a family of five linked to one principal, a matter with a response deadline next month, a client with three case types over 10 years, and a closed file with years of notes and a large document folder.

After the test import, staff open those 20 records in the new system beside the old one and check that:

• the counts of contacts, matters, and documents match
• family members are still linked to each other and to the right matters
• dates arrived in date fields, where reminders can use them, and not as text inside a note
• each document is attached to the matter it came from
• notes kept their dates and authors

AnswerStack's answer on using Clio in place of specialized immigration software applies the same idea to two systems that sync, using one made-up client with every field filled in.

Whatever the check turns up goes back to whoever did the mapping, with a request for a second pass on the same 20 records. Decide in advance how long the old system stays readable after the switch, so staff can look up an old file while they are still confirming the new records.