Migrate from Aderant Expert to Odoo CRM

Aderant Expert clients map directly to Odoo res.partner records. The client name maps to partner.name, email to partner.email, phone to partner.phone. Address fields (street, city, state, zip) map to the address fields on res.partner. Primary attorney or client manager in Aderant resolves by email match to Odoo res.users and populates partner.user_id.

Aderant Expert matters map to Odoo crm.lead records with type='opportunity' for active billing matters and type='lead' for prospective new-matter leads. Matter name becomes lead.name, matter status (Open, Closed, On Hold) maps to crm.stage via value mapping against the stage sequence defined in the Odoo CRM pipeline. Each matter's client_id foreign key resolves to the migrated res.partner.id.

The attorney-to-matter assignment table in Aderant Expert maps to the many2one relationship crm.lead.user_id. Each attorney email resolves against migrated res.users records — matched by email address. Unmatched attorneys are flagged before migration; the firm's admin assigns them to a fallback user or creates Odoo user accounts first.

Time entries from Aderant Expert map to Odoo account.analytic.line records (Timesheet module). Each line stores the attorney (user_id), matter reference (account_id linking to crm.lead), date, hours, and billing rate. Original entry dates and hours are preserved; Aderant billing-code descriptions map to analytic account tags in Odoo.

Aderant Expert billing records (draft, submitted, paid invoices) map to Odoo account.move records with move_type='out_invoice' or 'out_refund'. Line items carry the linked matter (analytic account) and client partner. Invoice status (Paid, Unpaid, Written Off) maps to Odoo's payment_state field. Historical paid invoices land as locked records in Odoo.

Aderant Expert's conflict-check results have no native Odoo equivalent. We preserve the conflict status (Cleared, Review Required, Conflict Found) as a custom selection field (Conflict_Status__c) on res.partner. Firms requiring automated conflict screening must implement a custom Odoo add-on or use a third-party legal conflict tool post-migration.

Aderant Expert trust-account balances are legal-specific — client funds held in IOLTA accounts with three-way matching (total received, total disbursed, balance). Odoo accounting lacks native three-way trust matching; we map trust balances as custom monetary fields on res.partner and create individual account.move records for each deposit and disbursement. Firms with active trust accounting need a custom Odoo add-on or a separate IOLTA module post-migration.

Client-specific billing guidelines in Aderant Expert (e.g., 'No charges under $50', 'Block billing allowed', 'Discount 5%') map to Odoo account.fiscal.position records. Each fiscal position defines tax and income account mapping rules. Billing guideline notes are stored in the fiscal position description field and applied automatically on invoice creation in Odoo.

Documents attached to matters in Aderant Expert are exported as binary blobs and re-uploaded to Odoo as ir.attachment records linked to the corresponding crm.lead. Folder hierarchy in Aderant maps to Odoo's document sub-folder structure. Large documents (scanned PDFs, Word files) are re-hosted in Odoo's filestore; file size limits from Odoo apply (default 25MB per attachment).

Aderant Expert calendar entries (depositions, court dates, client meetings) map to Odoo calendar.event records with the attorney as organizer (user_id), the matter as linked record (res_model='crm.lead', res_id=mapped lead ID), and original start/end times preserved. Recurrence patterns in Aderant Expert are translated to Odoo's RRULE format for recurring events.

Free-form notes attached to matters map to Odoo note.note records. Each note preserves its body text, creation date, and the attorney who created it (user_id via email match). Notes are linked to the corresponding crm.lead via the note's res_model and res_id fields so context is preserved in the Odoo lead view.

Aderant Expert attorney and staff users map to Odoo res.users by email address — the primary key for matching. The migration validates that each Aderant user email resolves to a unique Odoo user before record assignment runs; unresolvable users are flagged and assigned to a system administrator placeholder in Odoo.