The key to successful data transitions is preparation, and you are, therefore, expected to perform some ‘housekeeping’. The Housekeeping Document serves as a checklist of steps for you to complete before you provide data to LEAP for transition purposes. Preparing for the data transition is crucial, and it is an important time to tidy up the data in the old software as much as possible before starting. Our data transition at a transaction level will transfer all data, including records that, e.g., do not balance. The adage of garbage in garbage out applies.

Your firm must take several steps before the collection of the data. The housekeeping process ensures that the transition process runs as smoothly as possible and that the best possible outcome is achieved in terms of the data produced. The housekeeping process differs slightly for each legacy practice management product; however, all steps must be followed regardless of transition type (i.e., Standard, Opening Balances, Transactions).

Depending on how clean your existing data is, the housekeeping process can be lengthy. We, therefore, recommend starting as soon as possible to complete the process. Additionally, we suggest that any system or data checking program is re-run in the week before the nominated data collection date.

Your firm will need to mark off each completed step and provide a signed copy of the Housekeeping Document to LEAP together with the data for the transition.

Some of the tasks outlined in the housekeeping document may not seem relevant; however, LEAP recommends that all clients perform all tasks to ensure a smooth transition to LEAP. Please also remember that all transitions require a level of housekeeping once LEAP is installed. The more you do before a transition, the less there is to do after.

Potential issues to look out for:
Our data transitions are done electronically, i.e., the data is transferred in bulk and not scrutinised line by line. Even where a full transaction transition has been agreed, there may be some detail lost during the transfer. For example, one software system could store details of partially paid and billed disbursements, but in another, it is possible that this type of detail may not be available or may not be obtainable for other reasons. Under these circumstances, that data cannot be transferred as it isn’t possible.

There are some common issues faced in data transitions:

1. Office Balances: The general rule of thumb is Unpaid bills / aged debtors + unbilled disbursements / costs = Office. The difference in features and functions may cause variances in these balances.
   1. Variances in Unpaid bills / aged debtors are usually caused by neglecting to allocate monies received to the unpaid bills, causing unallocated office credits. 
   2. Disbursements can be particularly tricky to transfer exactly. Software systems vary vastly, and it very much depends on how disbursements are recorded, e.g. one may reflect disbursement statuses such as unpaid unbilled or paid unbilled whereas another may not reflect these at all. In cases like these we may need to make certain deductions based on previous experience, e.g. if there is a bill present, it’s likely to be a billed disbursement, but if no bill is present, it is likely an unbilled disbursement.
   3. Unallocated or incorrectly allocated receipts. Several software systems enable you to allocate funds received in office against specific bills/invoices or even disbursements. If the allocation isn’t done accurately, or when the system automatically assigns funds on an ‘oldest entry first’ basis, we may not transfer the balances you expect. LEAP will always migrate the balances as per the database. It is therefore recommended that you analyse your outstanding debtors before the data transition.
2. VAT on Invoices / Fees: LEAP automatically calculates the amount of VAT on time, fees and disbursements when it is recorded or invoiced, ensuring that you always charge your clients the correct amounts of VAT. When we transition your data, we, therefore, import the VAT on outstanding invoices as a % of the time, fees or disbursements at the current VAT rate. Some systems allow for VAT Only invoices, or for VAT to be receipted first on part paid invoices. We recommend that you clear any of these amounts before the transition. 
3. Draft Invoices/Bills: These are often memos or notational. The time, fee and disbursements entries assigned to draft bills are seldomly flagged correctly in databases e.g. the time and fees may be flagged as billed, but the disbursements as unbilled. Considering this, we do not import any draft invoices/bills as part of the transition and recommend that you clear, delete or bill all draft invoices/bills prior to the transition. 
4. Billed time not allocated to invoices: When bills are done either outside of the software or posted separately not linking the work in progress to the bill, there is no way for us to migrate only the “active” time accurately. Some data tidy up once LEAP is installed may be required in this instance.
5. Variances between reports caused by balances on closed matters: This is particularly visible in Debtors and WIP. Some reports will only reflect balances on live matters where other reports reflect all balances regardless of the matter status. A good exercise would be to clear the discrepancies before the data transition. If you have selected a Transaction Transition, we will import all balances, regardless of whether a file is archived or closed.
6. Bank reconciliations that are not up to date / not recording the last point of entry: You must have your bank reconciliation up to date. The Solicitors Accounts Rules, section 29.12, requires that reconciliations are completed “at least once every five weeks”. More importantly, you must have a clear record of the last point up to where you recorded entries from your bank statement. Not recording this point will make it very difficult to decipher which entries are still outstanding when you start using LEAP. 
7. Bespoke or custom data: Client details such as Title, Name, and Surname are included in the transition; however, you may have additional fields, e.g. visa reference number immigration files which is not a standard field. This will not form part of the data transition; however, you will be able to add it in LEAP.
8. Documents/correspondence (including forms, PDF’s, Word files, emails, pictures, and sound recordings) on Matters: This is not automatically included as part of the data transition for various reasons:
   1. Server applications: Data, i.e. information such as client details, matter details, and financial transaction details are held in a database. Documents/correspondence are usually held outside of the database and only the document path, i.e. where it is held on your server, is available in the database. 
   2. Cloud applications: Documents/correspondence is held by your cloud provider and would, therefore, need to be a) downloaded by yourself or b) extracted by your provider. 

Both options are resource-heavy and can be costly.  We offer a document extraction and import option from certain case management systems. The LEAP Implementations Department will provide you with information on this. If your documents/correspondence are held outside of your current software in a matter reference-based folder structure on your local PC, you will be able to bulk import your documents into LEAP once it is installed.

If you have any questions about the Housekeeping requirements, please do not hesitate to contact the LEAP Implementations Team by email (implementations@leap.co.uk) or telephone (0131 603 8108).