Migrate from Centerbase to Freshsales

Centerbase clients migrate as Freshsales Contacts. Each client record carries contact details, address, and custom fields. Client-matter relationships are preserved by mapping the primary matter to the Contact as a linked Deal so your team retains the full client history in Freshsales.

Organizations stored as clients (corporate clients, law firm divisions) migrate as Freshsales Accounts. The Account holds the organization-level data while individual attorney contacts link to the Account, maintaining the organizational hierarchy you had in Centerbase. All standard address, phone, website, and industry fields map directly, and custom fields on the organization are transferred to the corresponding Freshsales Account custom fields.

Centerbase matters map to Freshsales Deals with direct field translation for matter name, responsible attorney, opposing counsel, court information, and dates. The matter stage (open, pending, closed) translates to Freshsales deal stage values. If you have multiple matter types, each maps to a separate pipeline in Freshsales.

Matters contain legal-specific fields with no Freshsales CRM equivalent: court name, case number, jurisdiction, opposing party, and legal-specific dates (filing date, discovery deadline, trial date). These require a Freshsales custom Matter object or custom fields on the Deal record. We flag these during the schema audit and deliver a field-creation plan before data lands.

Centerbase billing entries, time slips, expense records, and LEDES-format invoices have no Freshsales equivalent. Freshsales does not include a billing or legal accounting module. These records are exported as a reference CSV and your firm rebuilds billing reporting using Freshsales Products and Deals if needed.

IOLTA and client trust account records in Centerbase do not translate to any Freshsales object. Trust accounting is a legal-specific compliance requirement that must remain in a dedicated legal accounting system. We recommend keeping Centerbase accessible in read-only mode for trust account history.

Any custom fields configured on Centerbase matters migrate as custom fields on the Freshsales Deal record or in the custom Matter object. Freshsales custom fields support: text, number, decimal, date, dropdown, checkbox, multiselect, and lookup. We map each field type to the nearest Freshsales equivalent and flag any that exceed Freshsales limits.

Custom fields on Centerbase clients migrate as custom fields on Freshsales Contacts and Accounts. If the same custom field appears on both client and matter, we create parallel fields on the Contact and Deal to maintain the data relationship. Field type mapping respects Freshsales supported types, and any picklist values are replicated so downstream automation and reporting remain consistent.

Documents attached to matters or clients in Centerbase are exported and re-uploaded to Freshsales Files linked to the corresponding Deal or Contact record. File size limits and format compatibility are checked during the export phase. Any documents that exceed Freshsales storage limits are flagged, and we provide guidance on compressing or archiving them before the migration run.

Court dates, depositions, client meetings, and deadlines stored as calendar entries in Centerbase migrate as Freshsales Events with original start and end times, owners, and linked Deal or Contact associations preserved. All event details, including location, description, and recurrence patterns, are transferred to maintain accurate scheduling and avoid double‑booking.

Email activities logged against matters or clients in Centerbase migrate as Freshsales Tasks with Type=Email, original timestamps, sender/recipient details, and linked Deal or Contact association maintained. The task subject line is populated from the email subject, and any attachments are recorded as file links on the task for reference.

Phone call records and attorney notes attached to matters or clients become Freshsales Tasks with the appropriate activity type and original creation timestamps. Owner assignments resolve via email matching against Freshsales users. If a call duration was recorded, it is stored in a custom numeric field on the task for reporting purposes.

Centerbase users and attorneys resolve to Freshsales users by email address. Unmatched users are flagged before migration so your team can create their Freshsales accounts or assign records to a fallback owner. We also map user roles and profiles where possible, ensuring that permission sets align with the original Centerbase access levels.

Matter-triggered automation rules, document merge workflows, and stage-advancement logic in Centerbase do not migrate. They require Freshsales Workflows or Sales Sequences to be configured from scratch on the destination side. We export the workflow definitions as a configuration reference. Our export includes trigger events, conditions, and action sequences so your admin can replicate the logic efficiently in Freshsales.