Is your firm still running on a legacy Document Management System? Legacy systems like GoFileRoom, CCH Document, and FileCabinet served firms well for years. But limited integration capabilities and a slow development roadmap are pushing firms to look elsewhere.
Modern firms are looking for cost-effective, feature-rich platforms with native API connections to their practice management and project management systems. Of the available options, SharePoint is gaining the most traction among small to mid-size firms.
The hardest part is usually not the decision, but the execution. Manual migration is a logistical nightmare. It demands hours of repetitive downloading and re-organizing, creating a high risk that files will be lost or misplaced. Without a proper strategy, a one-week plan can turn into months of frustration and manual workarounds.
We’ve recently helped three firms complete a smooth migration from CCH Axcess or GoFileRoom to SharePoint. Below are some common pitfalls of a Document Migration Project.
1. Default on manual migration
Standard migration tools often fail because they lack the depth to handle the complexity of legacy Document Management Systems (DMS). Most firms hand this task off to IT and leave them with tens of thousands—or even millions —of files to move. IT may run an ad hoc script to create folders, then manually copy and paste files. This leaves no audit trail or validation to confirm completeness or consistency. If anything goes wrong, correcting errors after the fact is difficult and time-consuming. The “lift and shift” approach is often insufficient.
This is why a custom solution is needed — one that bridges GoFileRoom’s database structure with SharePoint’s file architecture. In addition, any migration project requires proper control to ensure completeness and accuracy, regardless of the technologies involved. To address this, we provide a custom migration solution that stages the data systematically — giving firm leadership full visibility at every phase of the migration, without needing to dig into the technical details.
2. No systemmatic data mapping
On the surface, a DMS is a file repository. Underneath, it carries important data dimensions that leadership frequently overlooks when planning a DMS migration. For example, attributes such as office location, client group, and primary partner must be accounted for in the migration plan.
The year of the files is another data point to consider. Many firms take this opportunity to clean up the file repository and enforce a 7-year retention rule. As a result, files older than seven years are moved to temporary cold storage and scheduled for purging after migration, while recent files are organized into year-based folders to make the document retention policy easy to enforce. Permanent files are flagged separately and excluded from the annual purge cycle.
We help you map these structures logically before the move happens. This includes defining complex mapping rules — such as pulling reference data from external Excel tables — to handle custom client logic. We also run a test migration batch so you can see the exact results before committing to the full migration.
3. No Process Transition
DMS migration planning must also extend to workflow changes, including:
– Document Intake – when clients upload files through the legacy system, they flow automatically into the legacy DMS. What changes with the new system? Will your staff need to pick up documents and upload them manually to the new DMS?
– Review and lock down process – when a reviewer signs off on a document, does your legacy DMS currently lock the file to prevent further changes? What will the new process look like with the new DMS?
– Printing – the legacy DMS may work directly with printers and tax software. What will the experience look like with the new DMS?
– Search and retrieval behavior will change when you move to SharePoint. Staff need to be prepared for the new navigation and workflow before go-live.
We help you configure SharePoint properly to ensure a consistent folder structure, and bridge the integration gap between SharePoint and your printer, tax software, project management system, and CRM — ensuring you can maximize the potential of your tech stack and operate smoothly with automated workflows.
4. Lack of testing
Many firms rush into migration and skip the most important phase: pre-migration planning. Without testing, the migration can go totally wrong. For example, you may run into system limitations you didn’t plan for — maybe your execution team is less familiar with the new DMS than expected, or your partners may have been led to believe in features that aren’t quite ready.
Files can go missing due to intermittent connectivity or bandwidth issues — and your “simple” migration has no mechanism to catch or flag them. Many firms leave planning entirely to IT or an admin group, cutting out the critical input partners and managers need — and only discover the gap after the migration is complete.
As part of our methodology, we help you design these unit tests to support efficient review and validation before executing the full migration. We build automated validation criteria and scripts, then run them on a smaller subset with your stakeholders to gather open input before scaling to the full dataset. We also build automated logs that monitor progress and automatically validate file counts and file sizes to ensure data integrity along the way. Our custom solution includes robust logging, alerting, and resubmission capabilities.
To prevent operational shock, never commit to a full migration without a testing plan covering pre-migration, the actual migration, and post-migration.
Conclusion
By following a strategy built on rigorous data mapping, automated validation, and secure file handling, your firm can turn a potential logistical nightmare into a predictable, well-controlled project.
If you need a professional partner for your migration project, contact us today.
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