Working With Historic Users
To Preserve or Merge?
When a client moves into their new system, what do they want to happen with data tied to former employees?
- Do they want to keep it and attribute it to the original user?
- Do they want to attribute it to another user?
- Or do they want to delete it?
For example, if John Doe no longer works at the firm, post migration, which scenario does the firm want?
- Do they want John Doe to exist in the new system all his matters, task, time entries and such still assigned to him?
- Or do they want all the matters, tasks, time entries, etc, appear as if they were all made by another employee (Bob Smith)
- Or do they want everything related to John Doe to no transfer to the new system?
Preserving Historic Users (Recommended)
We recommend that historic users be transferred into your new system with everything properly attributed to them. This preserves records in-tact and protects staff from being attributed with actions that a former employee took. No attorney wants to be disbarred because a former employee's action got re-attributed to him.
To preserve historic users, each user in the backup should have a unique email address assigned. The email address does not have to exist, but it must be unique. The best way to handle this is with "Plus Addressing"
First, create an email account named LegacyUser@YourFirm.com or use an existing email address like Office@YourFirm.com .
Assign email addresses as follows to your legacy users using a pattern similar to the following:
| Former Employee | "New" Email Address |
| Bob.Smith@YourFirm.com | Office+BS@YourFirm.com |
| Jane.Doe@YourFirm.com | Office+JD@YourFrim.com |
When this process is followed, the users will be created in the destination system and any emails they receive will go to the main email address that was used. (ie. Office+BS@YourFirm.com will forward to Office@YourFirm.com ).
Please note that Plus addressing is enabled by default for GSuite accounts but must be manually enabled for Office365 accounts. Please contact your firm's technical administrator for assistance enabling Plus addressing.
Merging Users
We do not recommend merging users as it will remove your ability to properly attribute actions and data back to former employees.
Merging users involves combining all data from multiple users in your legacy system and associating it with a single user going forward. For example, you may want to configure the following:
| Former Employees | New Employee |
| Jane.Doe@YourFirm.com | Paralegal@YourFirm.com |
| Jill.Doe@YourFrim.com | |
| Jan.Doe@YourFrim.com | |
To accomplish this, set all users who need to be merged to have the same email address.
Related Articles
Working with Hostile Providers
Many providers to law firms treat their customers with honesty and integrity, however, occasionally you may encounter hostile / predatory providers. A hostile provider is one that will actively work to make it difficult for the client to leave. This ...Working with Systems that Prevent Credential Sharing
Some applications prevent credential sharing by disconnecting a user from all other locations when they sign in. When working with a system that does not allow login sharing, special care must be taken so that a user does not inadvertently log in and ...Working with Hostile Providers: Notice of Departure
When working with a hostile provider, we first recommend reading the instructions in this article. If the relationship has sufficiently deteriorated, you may consider using this email template to help ensure a smoother transition. Never mention the ...Best Practices for Working as a Subcontractor
The following is our guidance on how to handle situations where you are requested to subcontract to another organization. (Almost) Never Subcontract Sometimes an IT department or another consultant may want to hire you to perform work for them ...Migration Subsidiation Best Practices
Many practice management organizations subsidize a portion of migration fees. This article explains the best way to do this so that expectations can be clearly set for both parties. BACKGROUND: Migrations Change; Expectations Should Not Data ...