Migrating from an in-house custom system
For firms who commissioned a custom platform in the 2010s and are ready to modernise without commissioning another one.
The decision framework
Custom systems are typically retained past their useful life because the cost of moving feels enormous and the current system 'still works'. The right question is not the migration cost but the ongoing maintenance liability. Custom systems accrue technical debt indefinitely; commercial platforms absorb it.
Data extraction
Every custom system is different. Our migration team spends the first 1–2 weeks reverse-engineering the schema and building a customer-specific extraction script. Direct database access (read-only) is typically required.
Preserving history
Custom systems often contain 10+ years of history that no commercial product natively models. History migrates as structured notes on each case, timestamped with the original date. This preserves the record without forcing awkward retrofitting into a modern schema.
User re-training
Users of custom systems have highly specific muscle memory. Budget more training time than for any other migration path: two full team training days and a four-week 'guided operation' period with weekly Q&A.
Decommissioning the old system
After cutover, run the legacy system in read-only mode for 6 months for historical access, then archive to PDF + document store, then decommission. The infrastructure cost savings alone typically pay for the migration.
Ready to plan your migration?
Our onboarding team runs the migration for you as part of your Practice plan. Book a scoping call.