Migrate from Bill4Time to HighLevel

Bill4Time clients are both the billable entity and the organization. We split this into a HighLevel Contact (primary billing contact with name, email, phone) and a HighLevel Company (organization-level data: billing address, client type, account manager). The Bill4Time client ID is preserved as a custom field on both records for traceability.

Bill4Time projects (matters) map to HighLevel Opportunities. The project name becomes the Opportunity name. Project status (Open/Closed) maps to HighLevel pipeline stage. Bill4Time's projectType field is preserved as a custom pick-list on the Opportunity. The billingMethod (Hourly/Flat Fee/Percentage) is stored as a custom field.

Time entries have no direct HighLevel equivalent — HighLevel does not have a native time-tracking object. We create a TimeEntry custom object in HighLevel with fields for entry date, billable hours, labor hours, activity type, billable amount, and rate type. Each TimeEntry record links to the parent Opportunity (project) and Contact (user).

Bill4Time users are team members who log time. We create a HighLevel User record for each Bill4Time user (matched by email) and also create a Contact record to serve as the user profile in HighLevel. User fields: fname, lname, email, userType, status, department, billingRate, overtimeRate, doubleRate, payableRate are mapped to custom fields on the Contact record.

Bill4Time invoices carry laborAmount, expenseAmount, lateFeeAmount, paidStatus, invoiceDate, and invoiceTermType. HighLevel has no native invoice object. We create an Invoice custom object in HighLevel with these fields and link it to the parent Contact and Opportunity. The invoice PDF is downloaded and stored as a HighLevel File attachment.

Bill4Time expense entries track costs incurred against projects throughout engagement lifecycles. We create an ExpenseEntry custom object with fields for expense date, amount, category, description, billable status, and receipt attachment stored as a file reference. Each ExpenseEntry record links to the parent Opportunity representing the project and the Contact representing the client for proper data association.

Bill4Time Enterprise Add-On custom fields defined on client profiles, including text fields, number fields, date fields, list-based selections, client list selections, and user list selections, are parsed from the JSON customFields payload and created as equivalent HighLevel Contact custom fields. Each field type maps directly to its corresponding HighLevel field type to maintain data integrity throughout the migration process.

Bill4Time project-level custom fields defined in the project customFields JSON structure are read during migration and created as equivalent HighLevel Opportunity custom fields. HighLevel enforces a limit of up to 10 unique custom fields per custom object type and applies field uniqueness rules that must be respected during the schema creation phase.

Bill4Time's multi-level rate hierarchy (user rate → client rate → project rate → activity type rate → time entry rate) has no HighLevel equivalent. We store each applicable rate level as a separate custom number field on the Contact record: BillingRate__c, OvertimeRate__c, DoubleRate__c, PayableRate__c. The effective rate is resolved at migration time based on the hierarchy.

Bill4Time's LEDES billing export and UTBMS litigation codes are stored as text fields on time entries. We create HighLevel custom pick-list fields (LEDES_Code__c, UTBMS_Code__c, UTBMS_Code_Desc__c) on the TimeEntry custom object. Legal Enterprise Bill4Time accounts with LEDES billing land in the upper pricing tier.

Bill4Time files attached to clients, projects, or invoices are downloaded and re-uploaded to HighLevel Files associated with the matching Contact, Opportunity, or custom object. File size limits are respected (HighLevel's 25MB per file cap). Inline images in notes are extracted and rehosted.

Bill4Time workflow templates for repeating tasks lack a direct HighLevel equivalent and cannot be automatically migrated due to architectural differences between the two platforms. We export complete Bill4Time workflow definitions as JSON reference files for your HighLevel administrator to review and reconstruct equivalent logic using HighLevel's workflow builder interface. This migration limitation is documented upfront so your team can plan accordingly.