Other third-party program to GoFileRoom
The Document Migration Service uploads documents that you provide into GoFileRoom. This article explains the migration process in detail and provides information about the migration of documents stored in your Third-Party software to be stored in GoFileRoom.
Using the Document Migration Service
- Work with your Consultant on the timing of when data should be sent to Thomson Reuters.
- Prepare and send your files for migration.
- Work with your Consultant to determine how uploaded documents will be indexed in GoFileRoom.
Your documents will be ready for use within GoFileRoom when the migration process is complete.
What to expect from the document migration
The document migration process is customized based on how your firm has stored documents in your Third-Party software and how your firm has set up GoFileRoom. Your firm should expect to commit some time to the migration process.
The amount of time needed typically depends on the number of documents being migrated, the consistency in naming conventions used to store documents, and the ability to get client id and entity information from that program.
Due to limited information that is able to be extracted, documents may be added to GoFileRoom using generic file location information. However, you can change the location of your firm’s documents later, if necessary.
Confidentiality
We acknowledge that your firm will be sending confidential client information. Thomson Reuters and the Technical Services team will use the information solely to migrate documents in a secure environment so that the documents will be available to your firm.
We treat all client information as confidential. We retain your source data for 60 days after providing your firm with a document reconciliation report to help you identify and manage any unprocessed data.
For additional information, you can view our Privacy Policy from the bottom of any page on our website, CS.ThomsonReuters.com.
Third-Party Program Migration Service Steps
Step 1: Scheduling your migration date
Upon receiving your signed agreement, Technical Services will contact you within three business days to confirm the scope and schedule the date to begin the migration.
If you are migrating documents as part of a Guided Implementation, your Consultant will discuss the timing with you. The typical turnaround time for the entire migration is eight weeks from the time we receive your data.
Step 2: Preparing and sending your client data for conversion
Thomson Reuters will discuss preliminary information with you that your firm can compile to minimize the turnaround time for document migration.
For the fastest and most efficient migration, we recommend that you send all your client data at one time and that you designate a person at your office through which your Consultant and Technical Services will facilitate the migration.
Failure to properly prepare and send client data will result in the delayed processing of your migration. For assistance with copying or sending your data, contact Support at 800-968-0600.
Complete the following steps to create a copy of your data.
- Verify that you have an external hard drive with sufficient space for your documents after they are extracted from your Third-Party program.
- Extract documents from your Third-Party program based on their best practices (or guidance from your Consultant, depending on the program).
- Go to the local or network drive location that contains your extracted/backed up documents.
- Copy the entire contents and paste it to the external hard drive.
- Encrypt the data on the hard drive using a data-encryption program such as BitLocker, a free application that is available from Microsoft.
- Ship the encrypted hard drive to the Technical Services team at the following address. Thomson ReutersC/O Technical Services6300 Interfirst DriveAnn Arbor, Ml 48108
- Send the password for the encrypted drive to a Technical Services representative via email.
Step 3: Determining how to index documents in GoFileRoom
Index values must be assigned to each document that is stored in GoFileRoom. These index values identify the who, what, and when of a document so that documents can be quickly and easily located.
You can customize index values to meet your firm’s needs, but we recommend that you use the following industry best practices for indexing client documents to guide you in designing your indexing structure.
- Client Name:A unique, identifiable name. (This value can be updated from your practice management application.)
- Client Number:A unique value (alphabetic, numeric, or alphanumeric) that is associated with a client name. (This value can be transferred from your practice management application.)
- File Section:Used to identify the type of work with which the document is associated. This value may also be used to identify correspondence or other permanent information. Examples include: Individual Tax 1040, Business Tax 1120, Audit, etc. (These values are controlled by your firm’s GoFileRoom administrator.)
- Document Type:Used to identify the type of information that is contained in the document. The Document Types that are available vary depending on the File Section. Examples include: Tax Return, Workpapers, Financial Statement, etc. (These values are controlled by your firm’s GoFileRoom administrator.)
- Description:Provides additional details about a document.
- Year:Used to identify the year of services to which the document applies. (These values are controlled by your firm’s GoFileRoom administrator.)
- Period End:Used to identify the period of services to which the document applies. (These values are controlled by your firm’s GoFileRoom administrator.)
- Document Date:Used to identify a specific date with which the document should be associated.
Documents from your prior program must include a format formula to identify GoFileRoom index values. These index values can be determined by the folder structure or file name, if applicable.
Your firm will need to provide Professional Services with information on how to identify your folders and files to determine the index values for the following items.
GoFileRoom index value | Additional information |
|---|---|
Client number | If client numbers are not contained in the file name, a cross reference will be required. |
Client name | Associated by the client number. |
File Section | May be indexed under a generic File Section. If your firm requires more specific mapping, provide a cross reference of Folder Name/entity-type reference for each client |
Document Type | May be indexed under a generic Document Type. Depending on how your data is extracted from your Third-Party program, you may need to provide details for Document Type. |
Description | The file name as listed in the file. |
Year | Can be determined by a year contained within the folder name or by the date on which the document was created. The date will be left blank for Permanent Documents. |
Period end | Can be determined through a cross-reference list. If period end cannot be determined through the folder name or cross-reference, period end of 12/31 will be used. |
Document date | Can be determined by the creation date, if available. If no date is available it will be the date the data is extracted by us. |
Step 4: Index mapping approval and migration
After indexes have been assigned but before migrating documents, we will provide your firm with a review spreadsheet that shows the proposed index mapping for all documents that will be migrated. At this point, your firm can make any necessary changes.
After your firm has given final approval on the index mapping, we can begin the document upload process. Depending on the number and size of the documents, the upload can take between one and several days. Technical Services can typically determine how long the upload will take before starting the process.
note
The maximum number of documents that can be processed per night is 30,000. However, the presence of multiple large documents (over 1GB) may reduce this number.
When the migration process is complete, you will be provided a spreadsheet that contains document filenames, indexing information, and GoFileRoom document IDs, which are assigned to all documents that are uploaded to GoFileRoom.
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