Understanding the Challenges of Databases

You may be wondering, why don't all practice management systems transfer my entire database? How is MerusCase's onboarding process different? The answer is simple, really: most companies rely on a simplified and basic "data migration" in which they import .csv files containing your data.

The problem with this approach is that, not only is it very limited, but you'll also end up transferring a bunch of unnecessary information from your previous system. With MerusCase, you don't have to worry about the issue of "dirty data;" instead, all of your data will be carefully and intentionally imported under the watch of our migration team's detail-oriented eye. So why doesn't every company do it this way? In short, grabbing entire databases is hard and complicated work! The following is a simplified explanation of why grabbing entire databases is uncommon and extremely challenging.

Databases are Large & Complex

Databases consist of multiple tables of information that categorize different entities such as names, addresses, court venues, etc. Large databases, such as your firm's case information, have thousands of tables with hundreds of thousands of rows per table. That's a lot of information to parse through!

Infinite Relationships within Databases

Databases get even more complicated because each of these thousands of tables also begin to reference each other which creates relationships between every table.

Vague & Mismatched Data

Within these complex databases, the data itself can have issues. For instance, table titles are often too vague. Would you know what "TableID_1564_Lorem_Ipsum_ID_E_
US_695827FFDEJ_2" means? I certainly wouldn't! Additionally, the data manually entered into a database is, more often than not, misentered. What do you do with a data cell that seems to be housing a phone number but is under a column named "first_name"?


Contrary to what most legal tech companies are equipped to handle, at MerusCase, we offer a complete migration of your firm's existing data when becoming a new user. During this process, our engineers make a complete copy of your firm's database, analyze it, and then organize it to pull the cleanest version of your data into MerusCase. During this process, they face many challenges they must work through and problem-solve in order to successfully implement your data into your firm's MerusCase account!

Still confused or want to learn more? I found this learning guide helpful in processing the vastness of Databases. You can also check out our handy web page about keeping your data with MerusCase!

Click to Subscribe