How does a spreadsheet become records?

Illustrative client import: identifiers are masked and only three columns are shown. The current template contains all required fields, including type, email and phone. This is not a working form or a real job outcome.

1. 01/05

   Choose a client file

   Select CSV/XLSX and Clients. Uploading does not create client records.

2. 02/05

   Map columns

   Validate required fields and the branch; map only the selected record kind.

3. 03/05

   Review preview

   The illustration has three eligible rows and one invalid row. Identity validation checks more than length.

4. 04/05

   Confirm eligible rows

   The invalid row stays excluded; confirm three eligible rows against the current preview revision. Correct the source file and try a new job if needed.

5. 05/05

   Check the job outcome

   This illustrative background job creates three clients; one source row was not imported. No cases, hearings or parties are created.

Data import

1. 1.File
2. 2.Mapping
3. 3.Preview
4. 4.Outcome

clients-2026.xlsx4 source rows · 3 illustrated columnsSelected

AClient

Not mapped

BMasked identifier

Not mapped

CType

Not mapped

fullNameclientTypeStatus

Ayşe Yılmaz•••••••••46IndividualWaiting

Kuzey Lojistik A.Ş.••••••••90CorporateWaiting

Mehmet Kaya10 digitsIndividualWaiting

Deniz Arslan•••••••••50IndividualWaiting

File selectedConfirm 3 eligible rows

‹›

01/05

Choose a client file

Choose Clients, Cases, Invoices or TimeEntries for a CSV or XLSX file. A job maps only that kind’s fields; required template columns and accessible branch/catalog references must be valid.

Start with a small file. Review preview errors, explicitly confirm eligible rows, then wait for background processing and row outcomes. Correct source cells in your own file and upload/preview again.

Excel can support collaboration and access settings. As a firm grows, coordinating spreadsheets with cases, documents and permissions may become harder. Base migration on your actual workflow.

Below are six common limits and what each looks like in dedicated software.

Track who receives source and exported files containing client information. Assessing personal-data security (opens in a new tab) involves sharing, access and retention processes as well as software.

The costliest mistake in a migration is trying to move everything. Start by deciding which files are live: pending cases, open deadlines and active clients. Make a separate archive decision for closed files.

Take an inventory: how many spreadsheets exist, who owns each, which columns are used and who edits them. Files where the same client appears under three spellings become visible at this stage.

Do this in this step

• Write down the number of pending cases and open deadlines.
• Record the owners and last update dates of the source workbooks.
• Decide where closed files that will not be moved are archived.
• Appoint a migration lead and a pilot team.

Cleaning is the most tedious and the most valuable step. Wrong data moved into a new system is just wrong data in a tidier place. Pick one format for each column and correct it in the source workbook.

Check dates, case-number formats, phone numbers and TCKN/VKN checksums. Do not merge apparent duplicates by name alone; have an authorized person verify identity and relationships.

Do this in this step

• Use the rule of one row per case and one row per client.
• Check identifier checksums as well as length, and use the selected kind’s template to check mandatory phone and email fields.
• Convert date columns from text to a real date format.
• Make corrections in a copy of the source file and keep the original.

Compare source, preview and outcome totals: valid, invalid, succeeded and failed rows. Processing confirmed rows may partly fail; a completed job does not mean every source value migrated. Check hearings, deadlines, parties, notes and documents separately.

Compare selected records with the source. Review dates, missing required fields and references. Verify deadlines, hearings and party links added outside import separately; file import does not build them automatically.

Do this in this step

• Note the row counts in the source workbook before importing.
• Print the open deadlines and the next thirty days of hearings as a list and compare.
• Correct differences in the source and re-import with the same mapping.
• Write the name of the person who verified, and the date, in a note.

Instead of moving the whole firm overnight, work for two weeks with one team and around twenty live files. The pilot exists to find mapping errors and the views your team needs at a small risk.

During the pilot keep Excel read-only and make every update only in the new system. Updating in two places at once is the most common reason a migration fails.

Do this in this step

• Write success criteria in advance: are all open deadlines in the new system, is the hearing calendar correct?
• At the end of the pilot, fix mapping errors and move on to the full import.
• Include both a lawyer and an assistant in the pilot so different roles' views get tested.

Training should retell the daily work, not tour the features. Show assistants how to open a case, enter deadlines and hearings and upload documents; lawyers the case view, agenda and notifications; partners and managers reporting and access management.

Define roles and permissions before training. If people only see the screens for their own work when they log in, training takes less time. If the team will draft with AI, add the guide to AI drafting for lawyers to the training plan for its safe-use rules.

Do this in this step

• Plan a thirty to forty-five minute session per role using a real file.
• Collect frequently asked questions in one shared note.
• In the first week hold a ten-minute Q and A at the end of each day.

Create an access-controlled retention plan for old spreadsheets and documents. Have a qualified professional assess sources such as Attorneyship Law Article 39 (opens in a new tab), personal-data legislation (opens in a new tab) and professional rules (opens in a new tab) for your files; do not apply one period to every record kind.

This guide sets no retention period or erasure decision. Your firm must separately manage access, backups and disposal for unimported or exported copies.

Do this in this step

• Move the final version of each old workbook to one date-stamped archive folder.
• Restrict access to the archive folder to the partners.
• Write down the deletion date for anything whose retention period has ended.

Split the first month into four weeks, each with a single goal. Do not move on before the goal of the week is met.

1. 01/04

   Week 1: Preparation and cleaning

   Inventory, list of live files, data cleaning and role definitions. Stop entering new records in Excel at the end of the week.

2. 02/04

   Week 2: Pilot

   Pilot supported record kinds, check mappings and outcomes, and separately enter and verify deadlines and hearings.

3. 03/04

   Week 3: Full import and training

   Import of all live files with the corrected mapping, plus role-based training sessions.

4. 04/04

   Week 4: One system

   Excel becomes a read-only archive, deadline and hearing tracking runs from the new system, and the first feedback meeting is held.