Migrate from Aderant Expert to Salesforce Sales Cloud

Aderant Client maps to Salesforce Account — the core business-relationship record in both systems. Client hierarchy (parent-client billing arrangements) maps to Salesforce ParentId on Account. Multi-office clients with separate billing entities require one Account per billing entity, with all linked via Parent Account relationships.

Aderant Matter maps to Salesforce Opportunity or a custom Matter__c object depending on your use case. Opportunities work best for matter-based selling (contingency, project billing). Custom Matter__c objects preserve matter numbers, phase codes, responsible attorney, and billing arrangement as custom fields without conflating legal matters with sales pipeline stages.

Aderant matter phases (case opening, discovery, trial prep, settlement, closed) have no direct Salesforce equivalent. We migrate phase values as a custom pick-list field (Matter_Phase__c) on the Matter__c or Opportunity object so phase history reporting is preserved and attorneys can filter matters by lifecycle stage in list views and reports.

Aderant Contact (client representatives, opposing counsel, third parties) maps directly to Salesforce Contact. Each Contact links to an Account via AccountId. For matters with multiple client contacts, Salesforce Contact Roles or Account Contact Relations capture the relationship. If a contact serves multiple clients, Account Contact Relations provides a flexible many-to-many model.

Aderant Attorney records (with bar number, billing rate, department) map to Salesforce User records. We match by email address. Unmatched attorneys are flagged for Salesforce user provisioning before the migration — no billing history lands without an owner. Your Salesforce admin receives a pre-migration report listing any unmatched attorneys with their Aderant credentials for user account creation.

Aderant Time Entry maps to Salesforce Task with custom fields: Hours__c, Billing_Rate__c, Matter_Billed__c (lookup), and Billable__c (checkbox). Original narrative text migrates to Task.Description. Non-billable admin time maps to standard Salesforce Tasks without billing flags. The WhatId polymorphic relationship on Task links each entry to the corresponding Opportunity or Matter__c record for cross-object reporting.

Aderant Bill (invoice) has no Salesforce native equivalent. We create a Bills__c custom object with fields: Invoice_Number__c, Invoice_Date__c, Amount__c, Status__c, Matter__c (lookup), and Client__c (lookup). Historical invoices are preserved as read-only records for financial reference. Individual invoice line items migrate to custom Bill_Line__c child objects when detailed billing history is required for reporting or reconciliation.

Aderant Expense maps to a custom Expense__c object with fields: Amount__c, Date__c, Category__c, Matter__c (lookup), and Reimbursed__c (checkbox). Client-reimbursable expenses link to the Matter and Client for billing reconciliation. Expense categories are preserved as pick-list values so your team can run expense reports by category in Salesforce reports without manual re-categorization.

Aderant eBilling guidelines (client-specific billing rules, prohibited expense categories, rate caps) have no Salesforce equivalent. We preserve guideline rules as a custom long-text field (eBilling_Guidelines__c) on the Matter object for reference during invoice preparation. Your billing team can review guideline requirements directly within Salesforce when preparing client invoices, reducing the need to consult external documents during the billing cycle.

Aderant Trust Accounting (client funds held in trust, disbursements, balance tracking) requires a custom Trust_Account__c object with Deposit__c, Disbursement__c, Balance__c, Matter__c (lookup), and Client__c (lookup). Trust accounting logic is destination-side configuration — FlitStack migrates the data only. Your Salesforce admin must build Flow automation or Apex triggers to calculate and maintain running balances (sum of deposits minus disbursements) per trust account after migration.

Aderant documents attached to matters (pleadings, contracts, correspondence) migrate to Salesforce Files (ContentVersion). We download source files and re-upload to Salesforce's file storage, linking each to the corresponding Account or Matter record. Original file names, create dates, and owner attribution are preserved during the transfer. Files exceeding Salesforce's 25MB per-file limit require chunked upload or external storage configuration.

Aderant calendar entries (depositions, court dates, client meetings) migrate to Salesforce Event with original start/end times, subject, and attendee links preserved. Court-mandated deadlines that drive matter milestones map to Salesforce Tasks with custom deadline fields. The Event.WhatId relationship links calendar items to the corresponding Matter Opportunity or custom Matter__c record so attorneys see related events in the matter's activity timeline.