Matter file specifications
With the Matter Upload function in Tracker, you can use a single data file to create multiple matters, update multiple matters, or close multiple matters. This article describes the required and optional contents for a matters data file and provides instructions for creating a file.
note
You can't combine new and updated matters in the same file. You can only create external matters in Matter Upload and you can’t do a bulk update from external to internal.
Create new matters
You can create up to 1000 new matters with Matter Upload. The data in a new matters file corresponds to the data you enter when you create an individual matter in Tracker, such as the matter type and short matter name. There are 13 required fields and more than 100 optional fields, so you can provide all of the information for a new matter, or just the minimum.
tip
Use a separate file for each matter type (litigation, patent, etc.).
Required contents
Every new matters file must contain the header labels and matter information shown in the table that follows. For your reference, the table also shows the corresponding field label in Tracker. For example, MATTER_TYPE corresponds to the Matter Type (Template) field in Tracker.
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- The header labels must match the formatting and casing.
- The labels can be in any order.
Header row labels | Matter row data | Label in Legal Tracker |
|---|---|---|
MATTER_TYPE | Full name of matter type as listed in Tracker. | Matter Type (Template) |
FULL_NAME_AND_PARTIES_INVOLVED | Matter's full name. If the matter type is litigation/dispute, enter the name of the case as it appears on the complaint, and include the docket number for litigation. | Full Matter Name/Parties Involved |
SHORT_NAME | Unique, short, descriptive name for this matter. Matters are commonly listed by their short names in Tracker. Maximum characters, including spaces: 100 | Short Matter Name |
LEAD_COMPANY_PERSON_EMAIL | Email address of the primary company person or in-house counsel who is responsible for the matter. | Lead Company Person |
ORGANIZATIONAL_UNIT | Name of the primary company entity/division/unit for which the legal work is being performed. | Organizational Unit |
PRACTICE_GROUP | Name of the primary group within the law department that is performing or overseeing the legal work, as listed in Tracker. | Practice Group |
ASSOCIATED_MATTER_id | Unique iID used in an associated system, such as the source system for matter information. If there's no source system ID, start with any number and label each row sequentially.
| Associated Matter ID |
DESCRIPTION | A description of the matter, which is displayed in the matter profile and certain views and reports. |
|
SUBSTANTIVE_LAW | Full name of the relevant substantive law as listed in Tracker. | Substantive law |
START_DATE | Date that matter began. | Start Date |
COUNTRY_OR_REGION | Name or code for the country or region that the matter is associated with. | Country |
INVOICE_APPROVAL_ROUTE | Name of the assigned invoice approval route as listed in Tracker. | Invoice Approval Route |
AP_ROUTE | Name of the assigned AP route as listed in Tracker. | AP Route |
UTBMS_AUDIT_SET | The UTBMS audit set to apply to the matter. This is required only if the ability to create multiple audit sets is enabled. | UTBMS Audit Set |
Optional contents
There are more than 100 possible optional fields in a matters file, in addition to the required fields. Although most matter types use the same fields, there are some exceptions. For example, TRIAL_DATE is an accepted field for a litigation-type matter, but it is not accepted for a filing-type matter. If you include a field that doesn’t correspond to the matter type, Tracker returns an error.
To view a spreadsheet of all the fields for a specific matter type, in Matter Upload, on the Actions menu, click Export Columns Info.
About email notifications related to TRIAL_DATE field and RENEWAL_EXPIRATION_DATE field:
- If you include TRIAL_DATE as a field in a litigation-type matter, email notifications will be sent by default to the Person Responsible (defaulted as the Lead Company Person on the matter) 60 days before the Trial Date. If you do not want email notifications to be sent, you must also include another column for TRIAL_DATE_SEND_EMAIL_NOTICE and include No as the values.
- If you include RENEWAL_EXPIRATION_DATE as a field in a filings-type matter, email notifications will be sent by default to the Person Responsible (defaulted as the Lead Company Person on the matter) 60 days before the Renewal/Expiration Date. If you do not want email notifications to be sent, you must also include another column for RENEWAL_EXPIRATION_DATE_SEND_EMAIL_NOTICE and include No as the values.
Updated matters
You can edit up to 2000 existing matters in Tracker in one data file. The matters can be of different types, and unlike with Bulk Update, the new data doesn’t have to be the same for every matter.
Required contents
Although a new matters file must contain at least 13 fields, an updated matters file requires only enough information to identify the specific matters to be updated: either the associated matter ID or the Tracker ID, as shown in the following table.
Header row labels | Matter row data | Displayed in Tracker as |
ASSOCIATED_MATTER_ID | Unique identifier used in an associated system, such as the source system for matter information. | Associated Matter ID |
TRACKER_MATTER_ID | Unique internal identifier used in the Tracker system to identify individual matters. Note: this is different than the Matter ID that is displayed in Tracker. The Matter ID displayed in Tracker is the company’s designated number/ID for the matter (formerly known as Company File Number). | Not displayed in Tracker.Note: this is different than the Matter ID that is displayed in Tracker. The Matter ID displayed in Tracker is the company’s assigned number/ID for the matter (formerly known as Company File Number). |
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Assigning or changing associated matter IDs:
If you want to update existing matters that do not have associated matter IDs—for example, if you want to update your Tracker records to assign associated matter IDs from another system—you can identify the matters in your spreadsheet with the internal Tracker ID that the Tracker system assigns to each matter. This Tracker matter ID is an internal identifier that you can obtain by running a report; it is not the Matter ID field that you see displayed in Tracker (the Matter ID field displayed in Tracker is the company’s assigned number/ID for the matter (formerly known as the Company File Number).Options contents
The fields you include in an updated-matters file depend on the specific information you want to change or correct.
To view a spreadsheet of all the fields for a specific matter type, go to 
and select
Matters > Matter Upload
. Select the 3 small dots and select Export columns info
.About email notifications related to TRIAL_DATE field and RENEWAL_EXPIRATION_DATE field:
- If you include TRIAL_DATE as a field in a litigation-type matter, email notifications will be sent by default to the Person Responsible (defaulted as the Lead Company Person on the matter) 60 days before the Trial Date. If you do not want email notifications to be sent, you must also include another column for TRIAL_DATE_SEND_EMAIL_NOTICE and include No as the value.
- If you include RENEWAL_EXPIRATION_DATE as a field in a filings-type matter, email notifications will be sent by default to the Person Responsible (defaulted as the Lead Company Person on the matter) 60 days before the Renewal/Expiration Date. If you do not want email notifications to be sent, you must also include another column for RENEWAL_EXPIRATION_DATE_SEND_EMAIL_NOTICE and include No as the value.
Create and update links to HighQ sites or folders
To reduce the impact on the matter upload performance, each Tracker matter can be linked up to a maximum of 10 High Q sites or folders. To create or update the links to your existing HighQ sites or folders for a matter by uploading a file, include the following fields in the upload file:
Header Row Label | Description |
UPDATE_DMS_INTEGRATIONS | Must include the value True to create/update the links to sites/folders. Otherwise the links will not be created/updated. |
DMS_INTEGRATION_{0}_NAME | The name of the site or folder to be created. To link to multiple sites or folders at once, replace {0} with numbers from 1 to 10. |
DMS_INTEGRATION_{0}_PRIMARY_LINK_ID | The ID of the HighQ site. To link to multiple sites or folders at once, replace {0} with numbers from 1 to 10. |
DMS_INTEGRATION_{0}_SECONDARY_LINK_ID | The ID of the HighQ folder. To link to multiple sites or folders at once, replace {0} with numbers from 1 to 10. |
Create a new HighQ site or folder
You can use Matter Upload to create new sites or folders. These can be created when creating a new matter or updating an existing matter.
The new site or folder is created based on HighQ integration settings for the matter type. The site/folder name will be auto-generated using the format {Matter ID} – {Short matter name}.
The following columns and values should be included in the upload file:
Header Row Label | Matter Row Data |
UPDATE_DMS_INTEGRATIONS | True |
DMS_INTEGRATION_{0}_NAME |
|
The links to sites/folders included in the CSV file should represent the desired/final list of links for the matter. If there are existing links, they will be fully replaced with new list. To preserve existing links, they should be also specified in the CSV file.
The matter create/update takes precedence over the creation of the linked HighQ site(s)/folder(s). If any errors occur during the latter process, the matter will still be created or updated.
Link to an existing HighQ site or folder
Include the following fields and values in the upload file to link a new or existing matter to an existing HighQ site.
Header row label | Matter row data |
|---|---|
UPDATE_DMS_INTEGRATIONS | True |
DMS_INTEGRATION_{0}_PRIMARY_LINK_ID | ID of the HighQ site where the folder is located |
DMS_INTEGRATION_{0}_SECONDARY_LINK_ID | ID of the HighQ folder |
Example
- A new linked site/folder with auto-generated name will be created, based on the company settings for the matter type.
- The matter will be linked to the existing site with ID = 12345.
- The matter will be linked to pre-existing folder 98765, located within existing site 67890.
Remove links to sites or folders
To remove all sites or folders linked to a matter, specify True for UPDATE_DMS_INTEGRATIONS, and remove all related link fields. Tracker treats this as an empty list and removes all existing links.
Add or change matter participant roles
For each matter type, you can add or update participants and specify the matter role of the participants. Applies to new and updated matters.
Header Row Labels | Matter Row Data | Displayed in Tracker As |
NO_MATTER_OR_REPORT_ACCESS_ROLE | Email address of active Tracker user | No Matter or Report Access |
REPORT_ACCESS_ONLY_ROLE | Email address of active Tracker user | Report Access Only |
BILLING_ONLY_ROLE | Email address of active Tracker user | Billing Only |
MATTER_READER_ROLE | Email address of active Tracker user | Matter Reader |
MATTER_EDITOR_ROLE | Email address of active Tracker user | Matter Editor |
MATTER_ADMIN_ROLE | Email address of active Tracker user | Matter Admin |
Keep in mind the following:
- You can list a matter participant email address in only one of the matter participant columns for an individual matter.
- For each matter participant role, you can list a series of email addresses and separate each address with a comma. If you use a text editor to create or edit your matter upload file in the .csv file format, enclose the list of names for each matter participant role in quotes. Tracker does not verify the email addresses.
- The matter participant roles define direct matter access only. Users with special matter access and delegates cannot be specified using Matter Upload.
- You cannot use Matter Upload to change the matter role of the lead company person or the lead outside counsel.
- When using CSV file format, we recommend using UTF-8 encoding to ensure the proper translating of special characters.
Closing matters
You can close up to 2000 existing matters in Tracker in one data file. The matters can be of different types, and unlike with Bulk Update, the new data doesn’t have to be the same for every matter.
Required contents
Although a new matters file must contain at least 13 fields, a close matters file requires only enough information to identify the specific matters to be closed: either the associated matter ID or the Tracker ID, as shown in the following table.
Header Row Labels | Matter Row Data | Displayed in Tracker As |
ASSOCIATED_MATTER_ID | Unique identifier used in an associated system, such as the source system for matter information. | Associated Matter ID |
TRACKER_MATTER_ID | Unique internal identifier used in the Tracker system to identify individual matters. This is different than the Matter ID that is displayed in Tracker. The Matter ID displayed in Tracker is the company’s designated number/ID for the matter (formerly known as Company File Number). | Not displayed in Tracker. This is different than the Matter ID that is displayed in Tracker. The Matter ID displayed in Tracker is the company’s assigned number/ID for the matter (formerly known as Company File Number). |
Optional contents
There are 21 possible optional fields in a close matters file, in addition to the required fields. In order to close matters via Matter Upload, the close matters file must include all matter template required closing matter information fields. If you do not include required fields, based on the matter template requirements, Tracker will display an error. If you do not include optional fields, based on the matter template requirements, there will be no error displayed.
To view a spreadsheet of all the fields for a specific matter type, go to and select
Matters > Matter Upload
. Select the 3 small dots and select Export columns info
.If outside counsel evaluations are required after matter closing, when an invoice is received after the matter is closed, the lead company person will not be able to review the invoice until they submit an outside counsel evaluation.
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Matter Upload Overview
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