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Data Migration Housekeeping Checklist

We strongly advise your firm to complete the Housekeeping Checklist. While SILQ does not assume responsibility for the integrity of your data, we have observed that when clients undertake these tasks, it significantly enhances the transition from legacy practice management systems to SILQ.

Effective data migrations hinge on thorough preparation, which necessitates some 'housekeeping' on your part. It's essential to get ready for the migration by organising and cleaning up the data in the old software as thoroughly as possible before beginning.

The saying "garbage in, garbage out" is significant in this situation.

Your firm will need to confirm in writing each step has been completed prior to the migration. 

While some of the tasks listed below might appear unnecessary, we advise all clients to complete every task to ensure a seamless transition to SILQ. Additionally, keep in mind that every transition involves some degree of housekeeping once SILQ is set up. The more preparation you do beforehand, the less work will be required afterward.

It is important to note that all software providers record and store their data slightly differently, therefore it is likely not possible to import all data.

For data that is importable, these are some of the common issues that can be faced during a migration:


1. Office Balances:
Due to differences in how legal practice management systems handle data and recording methods, there are instances where balances such as the below vary in SILQ when compared to the original software:

  • i. Variances in Unpaid Bills / Aged Debtors:
    These are commonly due to funds received not being properly allocated to unpaid bills, resulting in unallocated office credits. Ensuring all receipts are accurately allocated prior to migration helps minimise discrepancies.

  • ii. Disbursement Handling:
    Disbursements are often treated differently across systems—some may distinguish between billed, unbilled, paid, or unpaid statuses, while others may not. Where clear indicators are unavailable, SILQ will make informed inferences based on typical practice (e.g., disbursements linked to a bill are likely billed, those not linked are likely unbilled).

  • iii. Receipt Allocation:
    If funds have not been allocated correctly—either manually or by system default to the “oldest entry”—the resulting balances in SILQ may not align with expectations. We recommend reviewing and reconciling all outstanding debtors prior to the transition.

  • iv. Rounding:
    Each system will round to a different number of decimal points and therefore some numbers may be imported with a variance of 1 or 2 cents for example which can through out the balances overall.

Important Note on Data Accuracy and Reporting Obligations

SILQ does not provide any guarantee that imported data can be relied upon for accurate reporting to authorities such as the Australian Taxation Office (ATO). It is the responsibility of the firm to ensure that, for any reporting period prior to the adoption of SILQ, original reports from the previously used practice management system (PMS) are retained and supplied when requested.

Reports should only be relied upon for compliance or audit purposes where the underlying data has been entered directly into SILQ.

Example:
If your transition date is 1 July, and an auditor requests reports covering the period ending 30 June, you must provide reports generated from your previous PMS. Even if SILQ has imported historical data for continuity, those reports should not be used for official reporting purposes.

To help mitigate the potential variances outlined above, please refer to this article for step-by-step guidance on how to enter opening balances + your first reconciliation.

2. GST on Invoices / Fees:
SILQ calculates GST on time, fees, and disbursements based on recorded data at the time of invoicing. During transition, any outstanding invoices will be imported with GST applied according to the current GST rate. Some systems may support GST-only invoices or partial GST receipting, which SILQ does not accommodate in transition. We advise clearing or resolving these entries before migration.

3. Draft Invoices / Bills:
Draft invoices typically serve as internal notes or placeholders. As time, fee, and disbursement entries within draft bills are often flagged inconsistently, SILQ does not import draft invoices. We recommend billing, clearing, or deleting all drafts prior to migration.

4. Billed Time Not Linked to Invoices:
In cases where invoices were generated outside the system or manually posted without linking to the recorded work in progress, it is not possible to distinguish active billable time from residual entries. Some post-transition data reconciliation may be necessary in such cases.

5. Report Variances from Inactive Matters:
Some reports in legacy systems may only reflect active matters, while others include inactive or archived files. This can cause discrepancies in debtor and WIP reports. It is recommended to reconcile these variances prior to migration. SILQ will import all balances, including those from archived matters, when performing a data migration. As we are limited to the data that we are provided, if archived matters are not provided they will not be imported

6. Bank Reconciliations:
Ensure your trust and office bank reconciliations are fully up to date prior to transition. In particular, you should note the last date up to which entries from your bank statement were recorded. This point of reference is crucial for maintaining accuracy during and after the migration process.

Please note, we do not import Bank Reconciliations. As per the above article mentioned in point 1, you will need to complete your first bank reconciliation after your opening balances are imported. 

7. Custom or Bespoke Data Fields:
Standard fields such as client name and contact details are included in the transition. Custom fields—such as visa references or unique internal notes—are not included in the automated import but can be manually added in SILQ post-migration.

8. Documents & Correspondence (Forms, PDFs, Word files, Emails, Images, Audio):
Documents are typically stored outside of the core database, either on local servers or cloud providers. For this reason, document migration is not included by default in the data migration.

SILQ connects with Cloud Storage systems such as SharePoint, OneDrive, DropBox and Google Drive. We do not store your documents for you, but rather talk to your own cloud storage so that we can access and save documents to the appropriate folder.

Depending on where your documents are currently stored, you will need to do the following:

  • i. Server-based Documents:
    If your documents are stored on your local server, you will need to have your IT (or you / one of your staff) export those documents onto a hard-drive so that they can be sent to us and then uploaded to your chosen Cloud Storage system.

  • ii. Cloud Storage-based Documents:
    If your documents are already stored on a cloud storage system such as SharePoint...

  • iii. PMS Stored Documents:
    If your documents are stored within your existing PMS (i.e. thy manage the hosting of those documents instead of your practice or IT, then you will need to contact your legacy provider and organise for those to be exported onto a hard-drive so that they can be sent to us and then uploaded to your chosen Cloud Storage system.