FAQ

What transfers from Demo to Live?

In general, customizations to forms, process and profiles, as well as site-specific fields and lookups (fields and lookups we create for you or you create during onboarding) will transfer when you golive.  The other components of what transfer from your demo site to your live site will depend on whether you are migrating data from your previous case management system. 

For clients NOT migrating data, almost everything created on your demo site will transfer to live. Records that you create in your demo site will transfer, including users, contacts, organizations, funding codes, outreaches, calendar records as well as cases and timeslips. All lookups- both system and custom- will also be transferred as-is to your live site.  You will need to re-create document templates, however. 

For clients who are migrating data, the general rule is that  only the STRUCTURE of your demo site will transfer over to your live site but the data used to populate your live site will come from your data import.  We look to your data for users, contacts, organizations, funding codes, outreaches, calendar records as well as cases and timeslips, and use this to populate your live site. If you are not importing all of these types of records, they will still need to be re-entered on your live site. System lookup values will also need to be re-entered or cleaned up. You will need to re-create document templates as well. 

Please note- your LegalServer onboarding contact will tell you when we take the final snapshot of your demo site ahead of your golive (usually the Wednesday before your golive). Any changes on your site after that date will NOT transfer to your live site. 

Do cases that I enter on demo transfer over to live?

That depends. 

If you are not migrating data then cases you enter on demo will transfer to your live site. Talk to your onboarding contact for details and to make sure this data is preserved.

If you are migrating data into LegalServer any cases you entered on demo will not transfer over to live. 

Can I enter new organizations, users, and outreaches on my demo site and have them transfer over from demo to live?

That depends. 

If you are not migrating data into LegalServer, those users, organizations, contacts, and outreaches that you create on your demo site will transfer over to your live site.

If you are migrating data into LegalServer, any organizations, users, contacts, or outreaches that you enter on your demo site will not transfer over to live. 

If I create new fields on demo, will I see those on live?

Yes. Fields that your team makes on demo will transfer over to your live site.

If I create my own lookup lists on demo, will those transfer to live?

 Yes. If you create site-specific lookups, those lists will transfer over to your live site.

Will all of the reports I built on demo transfer over to live?

Yes. Any reports that are active at the time of your GoLive will transfer over from your demo site to your live site.

I made some configurations to a form by adding some new fields, and making some other fields required. Do those types of changes transfer over from demo to live?

Yes. Configurations that you make to forms on your demo site will transfer over to your live site.

I added some really cool branch logic to a bunch of forms on demo--will that all come over to live?

Generally, yes. While the branch logic form will transfer over from your demo site to your live site, and the branch logic block will stay on the forms you place them in, sometimes toggle question will need to be reconnected. Our onboarding team keeps an eye out for this when we test your site, but it’s a good idea for your team to walk through that branch logic and make sure it works as expected. 

I built a new intake process and l also made some changes to my pre-screen process--will those changes be reflected on live?

Yes. Configuration changes that you make to the various forms and processes on all modules of LegalServer will transfer over to your live site.

If I edit system lookups to deactivate values I don’t need, or if I add additional values to that lookup, will those changes be reflected on live?

It depends. 

If you are not migrating data into a given lookup, changes that you make to that lookup will transfer over to your live site. If you are not migrating data, you can edit system lookups, and those changes will transfer over to your live site. 

If you are migrating data, any changes that you make to system lookups WILL NOT transfer over to your live site if you are migrating data into those lists. 

Can I make changes to the home page, and will I see those on my live site?

Yes. Any configuration changes that you make on your demo site home page will show up as your homepage on your live site.

Can I make changes to case profiles or user profiles, and have those changes transfer over to live?

Yes. If you make changes to a case profile, a user profile, or any other profile in LegalServer, those changes will transfer over to your live site.

If I made some document templates on my demo site, will I be able to see those on my live site?

No. Document templates will need to be recreated on your live site, regardless of whether you are migrating data into LegalServer.

There are fields in my data that we don't use, but we want to once we're live. How do fields get into LegalServer?

There are essentially three ways fields are created in LegalServer: 

You have a field in your source data that collects "Favorite Olympic Ice Skater" that's used for all your clients. It has a lookup list of all Olympic Ice Skaters for the past 3 Olympics.  LegalServer has no such pre-existing field. We mark this field in your data map as a 'new' field, the developer will bring it in as a custom field, with the corresponding lookup list, and the cases that are assigned a value from that list will be assigned the same value in LegalServer. 

You have a field in your source data that collects "Favorite Olympic Ice Skater" but no one ever uses it. You want to capture this information going forward. We will mark it as "Do Not Import" in your data map (because there is no data you want to preserve), and we will create it as part of Discovery and Configuration in your onboarding process. 

You decide that you want to collect "Favorite Olympic Ice Skater" in your system. Either your onboarding contact, or someone of your team (especially after golive) creates that custom field.

Regardless of how you create the field, you are able to add these fields to a create or auxiliary form sharing the same module in LegalServer. 

How should I start training my staff?

We have a lot of great ideas over on our training section of this site that you should start with! One of the most useful trainings we have- both for groups onboarding and for individual new users- is our New User Introduction.  Get a group together for a viewing party over lunch!  

How many staff do you have and what are their roles?

We have 23 staff working as follows:

What are your support hours, response time and cost? 

Our official hours are Business Days, 8 to 5 CST, but we are very responsive outside of these times.  It is included in your monthly fees.

Are there annual or other cost increases?

We limited increases to 3% per year during the initial term of the contract, however, we have only raised our rates one time in 16 years.  That is not to say we will never raise them again, but we work very hard to keep our rates low given that we only work with nonprofit agencies. 

How frequently to you update the platform and how do you roll out these updates?

Our development cycle is weekly.  We push to demo sites on Thursday morning and to live sites one week later on Friday mornings.  Most new features or enhancements are turned off by default so your site doesn't change.  These updates are part of your monthly fees.

Any size limitations on the notes fields or the number of records?

No.

Can we build and import custom reports from Crystal Reports, write sql statements or other external reporting platforms? 

No.  Our report engine allows you to create any custom report from within LegalServer.

Can we scan directly into a case?

Yes.  We have a feature that allows you to create coversheets for a case and email the case directly with the attached document.  For more information, please see our help site on this topic.

Can older files be archived?  If so, how does the process work?

We typically do not delete, however, some organizations have asked us to write a script to delete old cases and we have a script that we can run to perform this function.  It is an additional cost based on your data structure.

Are there other features that we don't  have time to talk about during onboarding that you’d like to mention?

We cover as much as we can on our calls, but a few things that may be helpful: 

Some additional highlights/features: