Migrate from Time Matters(r) to Zoho CRM

Time Matters Contact maps directly to Zoho Contact. The primary company association migrates as AccountId lookup — if Time Matters shows a primary firm for a contact, we link to the matching Zoho Account. Additional firm associations become Account Contact Relations. Email, phone, address, and job title fields map field-by-field. Owner resolution uses email matching against Zoho users.

Time Matters contacts that are referral sources, opposing counsel, or other non-client entities route to Zoho Lead rather than Contact. This keeps your client Contact list clean while preserving referral network history. We apply a split rule based on a contact-type field or the presence of active matter associations.

Time Matters Matters are cases or projects with clients, responsible attorneys, staff, dates, and billing. We map them to Zoho Deals for pipeline and sales tracking and to a custom Matters module that captures case-specific fields like practice area, court venue, and status. The custom module preserves the full matter record while Deals provide standard Zoho reporting.

Time Matters stores the contact-matter relationship in a separate junction table allowing N:N links. We map these to Zoho DealContactRole records — each role entry links a Zoho Contact to a Deal and carries a role label (Client, Opposing Counsel, Witness, etc.). This preserves the full relationship graph without collapsing it to a single primary contact.

Time Matters calendar events map to Zoho Events with Subject, Start DateTime, End DateTime, and Description preserved. Events linked to a Matter link to the corresponding Zoho Deal via the custom Matters module. Original event creator (owner) resolves by email match. Recurring events squash to single entries per Zoho Bulk API rules unless specified otherwise.

Time Matters ToDos migrate as Zoho Tasks. Subject, Due Date, Status, Priority, and Description transfer directly. Tasks linked to matters connect to the corresponding Deal via the custom Matters module ID stored in a custom Task field. Open vs. completed status maps to Zoho Task status values.

Time Matters notes map to Zoho Notes attached to the parent record (Contact, Lead, or Deal). Rich-text formatting is preserved where possible; HTML markup from Time Matters export is stripped to plain text. Notes without a parent record attach to a default Matter record or remain orphaned with a flag for manual review.

Time Matters time entries (date, hours, billing rate, billable flag, description, matter reference) have no Zoho CRM standard equivalent. We create a custom Time_Entry__c module with fields for date, hours, rate, billable status, and a lookup to the custom Matters module. Billable totals can be reported via Zoho's custom report builder.

Time Matters expense records (date, amount, category, matter reference, receipt flag) migrate to a custom Expenses__c module linked to the custom Matters module. Receipt data is preserved as file attachments where exported. Zoho Books integration can be configured post-migration for full expense-to-invoice workflows.

Time Matters documents and file attachments associated with contacts, matters, or events re-upload to Zoho CRM's Attachments section linked to the corresponding record. File size limits (25MB default in Zoho) apply — larger files are flagged for manual handling. Inline images in notes are extracted and rehosted as separate attachments.

Time Matters merge templates are document generation definitions tied to contact and matter fields. Zoho CRM has no native mail-merge engine — we export the template structure and field mappings so your admin can rebuild them in Zoho Writer connected to Zoho CRM fields. This requires manual rebuild; we provide the mapping reference.

Time Matters tickler system creates tasks or reminders based on matter dates (e.g., '30 days before hearing'). Zoho Blueprint can replicate this logic using milestone dates and automated task creation, but the rules must be rebuilt. We export tickler definitions and advise on Blueprint milestone setup as a post-migration task.

Time Matters allows custom fields on Contacts and Matters. Each custom field is evaluated: pick-list fields create Zoho pick-list custom fields, text fields create text fields, date fields create date fields. Multi-select pick-lists in Time Matters may need conversion to Zoho multi-select or a text field with comma-separated values depending on downstream reporting needs.