Migrate from Synergy Matters to Nutshell

Synergy Matters Clients (attorneys, staff, contacts at the firm or at opposing parties) map directly to Nutshell People. We extract the client name fields from the Synergy Matters MySQL CLIENTS table and load them as Person.firstName and Person.lastName. Email addresses, phone numbers, and mailing addresses from the client record map field-for-field to the Nutshell Person object. If a Synergy Matters Client record has no email address, we flag it for manual review before the migration commits.

Synergy Matters stores the law firm's own organization details and client-organization data in separate MySQL rows. We map these to Nutshell Companies (called 'account' in other CRMs). Company name, website, industry code, and employee count from Synergy Matters map to Company.name, Company.website, Company.industry, and Company.employees respectively. Multi-office organizations from Synergy Matters create multiple Nutshell Company records linked by a custom parent-company field if the firm maintains that hierarchy in the new CRM.

Synergy Matters Matters are the core record of a legal case or engagement — they contain matter number, description, responsible attorney, client reference, status, and billing ledger. We map each Matter to a Nutshell Opportunity: the Matter.description becomes Opportunity.name, the Synergy Matters client reference links via Person lookup, the matter status (Open/Closed/Pending) maps to Nutshell pipeline stages defined by your team, and the most recent bill amount from the Synergy Matters billing ledger populates Opportunity.amount. Matter number is preserved in a custom field for traceability.

Synergy Matters uses a fixed set of matter statuses (e.g., Active, Pending, Closed, On Hold). We map these to Nutshell pipeline stages that your team configures in Nutshell before migration. Active matters route to Nutshell's 'Qualified' or custom active stage; Closed maps to 'Won'; On Hold maps to a custom stage your team defines. The value mapping is delivered as a reference table in the migration plan so your Nutshell admin can align the stages before FlitStack AI runs the import.

Synergy Matters records time entries against Matters with date, duration, staff name, and billing code. We map these to Nutshell Activity records (Type: 'Call') attached to the Person who performed the work and the Opportunity representing the matter. The time-entry date becomes the Activity date; the duration maps to a custom field Activity_Duration_Minutes__c. Billing codes that cannot map to a standard Nutshell field become a custom dropdown field. If your firm needs full billable-hour reporting, Nutshell's reporting can export time-entry data as a CSV for use in a billing add-on.

Synergy Matters stores document records and notes attached to a Matter — these include the note text, author, date created, and a file-reference path. We map these as Nutshell Notes attached to the Person and Opportunity that represent the Matter and the client. The note body maps to Note.body, the author maps to Note.authorName, and the created date maps to Note.createdDate. We store the original Synergy Matters document file path as a custom text field for reference since document files themselves must be re-hosted in Nutshell's file storage separately.

Synergy Matters maintains a full billing ledger per Matter — invoices issued, payments received, and outstanding balance. These are financial fields with no native Nutshell equivalent. We create custom fields on the Nutshell Opportunity: Total_Billed__c (number), Amount_Paid__c (number), and Balance_Due__c (number). These fields are populated from the Synergy Matters billing ledger export. Note that Nutshell does not have a payment-tracking module — these fields serve as a financial reference snapshot, not a live billing system.

Synergy Matters tracks whether a client matter has a trust account (IOLTA or client trust) — this is a compliance field for legal ethics. Nutshell has no native equivalent. We create a custom checkbox field Trust_Account__c on the Nutshell Person record and set it to true for contacts whose Synergy Matters records carry a trust account flag. This preserves the compliance context for your practice management team without modifying Nutshell's core CRM schema.

Synergy Matters assigns attorneys and staff to each Matter with a role (Responsible Attorney, Paralegal, etc.). We map these as Nutshell Person records linked to the Matter-Opportunity, with the primary attorney flagged in a custom dropdown field Attorney_Role__c. Staff assignments are stored as a custom multi-select field Staff_Assignments__c on the Opportunity. Owner resolution by email match maps Synergy Matters staff email addresses to Nutshell user accounts — unmatched staff are flagged before migration so your Nutshell admin can create or assign user accounts.

If Synergy Matters stores prospective-client intake records (contacts entered through a consultation request before a Matter is opened), we map these to Nutshell Leads directly. Lead name, email, phone, source, and status map field-for-field. The intake date becomes Lead.createdDate. Any Synergy Matters custom fields on the intake record map to Nutshell Lead custom fields created before the migration run. Leads without an associated Matter in Synergy Matters remain as open Leads in Nutshell pending follow-up.