Migrate your Aderant Expert Sierra data

Client records in Expert Sierra carry contact details, billing addresses, credit limits, and client-level billing preferences. We map Client IDs and all associated contact fields directly to the target system and preserve client-specific billing terms across the migration.

Matters are the central work container in Expert Sierra, housing practice area, responsible attorney, status, open/close dates, and billing arrangements. We migrate all matter records with full field fidelity and rebuild matter hierarchies where sub-matters are used.

Time entries link to a matter and a user, carrying rate, date, duration, and narrative text. Rate structures differ significantly between source and destination systems, so we preserve the raw hours and amounts as exported and flag any rate-reconciliation work required post-migration.

Invoices, payments, adjustments, and write-offs are complex objects with lifecycle states. Expert Sierra stores billing records at the matter level with invoice numbering schemes, tax codes, and approval workflows. We map invoice headers and line items; approval queue states require re-establishment in the target system.

Trust Accounts hold client funds separately from operating accounts and are subject to jurisdiction-specific accounting rules. We preserve all trust ledger entries, running balances, and client trust links, but flag any jurisdiction-specific compliance fields that may need manual verification in the destination system.

Documents attached to matters are migrated with their file names, storage paths, and matter associations. We handle the file store mapping directly. Complex version histories or document management system metadata beyond basic file attachments require pre-migration scoping.

User records include login credentials, role assignments, department, and billing rate defaults. We migrate all active users with their current role and permission profiles. Users are mapped to the destination system by email address, and deactivated records are flagged for review rather than automatically imported.

Expert Sierra supports custom fields on most core objects. These fields are preserved during the cloud migration from on-premises Expert, but any custom field that is not natively supported in the destination system must be mapped to an equivalent custom field or property in the target platform.

The chart of accounts — including operating accounts, trust accounts, and any cost-centre sub-accounts — is migrated as a complete structure. Account numbers, names, types, and bank reconciliation settings are preserved 1:1.

Activities include notes, calls, tasks, and calendar events linked to matters or clients. Not all activity types are consistently recorded across firms, so we scope the full activity history before migration and filter out stale or duplicate entries to avoid target-system bloat.

Expert Sierra connects to over 55 third-party applications including e-billing platforms, document management systems, and accounting software. We catalogue all active integration endpoints during discovery and provide a re-connection checklist so each integration is tested post-migration.