How does an Excel table become a case file?

A fictional firm's four-row case list is imported below from start to finish. The steps advance on their own; pause and jump to any step you like.

1. 01/05

   An Excel file is selected

   You pick the file that holds the firm's case list. HukukBis previews the first rows; no record is created at this stage.

2. 02/05

   Columns are mapped

   You link each Excel column to a HukukBis field: client name, ID or tax number, case file number.

3. 03/05

   Rows are validated

   Every row is checked before the import. The number in the third row has 10 digits, so it is flagged; a Turkish ID number must have 11 digits.

4. 04/05

   The faulty row is corrected

   You fix it on the import screen; your original Excel file stays as it is. All four rows become valid and the Import button unlocks.

5. 05/05

   Client and case records are created

   When you press Import, three client records and four case records are opened. Two cases of the same client link to a single client record.

Data import

1. 1.File
2. 2.Mapping
3. 3.Validation
4. 4.Result

dava-listesi-2026.xlsx4 rows · 3 columnsSelected

AClient

Not mapped

BID / Tax no

Not mapped

CCase no

Not mapped

Client nameCase: file numberStatus

Ayşe Yılmaz100000001462026/42 E.Waiting

Kuzey Lojistik A.Ş.12345678902026/58 E.Waiting

Mehmet Kaya10000000202026/73 E.Waiting

Ayşe Yılmaz100000001462026/90 E.Waiting

File selectedImport (4 rows)

‹›

01/05

An Excel file is selected

Data migration lets you upload your Excel or CSV file and match each column to a field in HukukBis. The mapping for a typical firm workbook looks like the table below.

Try the mapping first with a sample file of ten to twenty rows, then import the full file once you are happy with the result. Imported records are immediately usable in case management and client management.

A spreadsheet works for one lawyer and a few dozen files. As a firm grows, the same workbook becomes a file nobody owns, where it is unclear who made the last change. The problem is not Excel itself: case tracking needs three things, namely deadline alerts, access control and file context, and a cell cannot hold any of them.

Below are six common limits and what each looks like in dedicated software.

There is a data protection angle too. Emailing a sheet that contains client data makes it harder to meet the data security duty in Law No. 6698 art. 12 (opens in a new tab), Turkey's personal data protection law (KVKK). A system with access control and an audit trail makes that duty easier to meet.

The costliest mistake in a migration is trying to move everything. Start by deciding which files are live: pending cases, open deadlines and active clients. Make a separate archive decision for closed files.

Take an inventory: how many spreadsheets exist, who owns each, which columns are used and who edits them. Files where the same client appears under three spellings become visible at this stage.

Do this in this step

• Write down the number of pending cases and open deadlines.
• Record the owners and last update dates of the source workbooks.
• Decide where closed files that will not be moved are archived.
• Appoint a migration lead and a pilot team.

Cleaning is the most tedious and the most valuable step. Wrong data moved into a new system is just wrong data in a tidier place. Pick one format for each column and correct it in the source workbook.

The main points are date format, the way case numbers are written (for example 2026/42 E., the Turkish format of year, sequence and docket type), phone format, the number of digits in identity and tax numbers, and one spelling per client name. If one person appears on two rows under two spellings, merge them before importing.

Do this in this step

• Use the rule of one row per case and one row per client.
• A Turkish citizen ID number has 11 digits and a tax ID number has 10; flag rows with the wrong length.
• Convert date columns from text to a real date format.
• Make corrections in a copy of the source file and keep the original.

Saying the import is finished is not enough. Compare the source workbook with the new system by the numbers: the number of imported cases, clients, open deadlines and hearings in the next thirty days should be identical on both sides.

Then check ten randomly chosen files row by row. This catches dates shifted by a day, clients matched to the wrong case and fields left empty. Verify statutory deadline records and hearing dates by eye on import day in particular; mistakes in those two fields are the costliest.

Do this in this step

• Note the row counts in the source workbook before importing.
• Print the open deadlines and the next thirty days of hearings as a list and compare.
• Correct differences in the source and re-import with the same mapping.
• Write the name of the person who verified, and the date, in a note.

Instead of moving the whole firm overnight, work for two weeks with one team and around twenty live files. The pilot exists to find mapping errors and the views your team needs at a small risk.

During the pilot keep Excel read-only and make every update only in the new system. Updating in two places at once is the most common reason a migration fails.

Do this in this step

• Write success criteria in advance: are all open deadlines in the new system, is the hearing calendar correct?
• At the end of the pilot, fix mapping errors and move on to the full import.
• Include both a lawyer and an assistant in the pilot so different roles' views get tested.

Training should retell the daily work, not tour the features. Show assistants how to open a case, enter deadlines and hearings and upload documents; lawyers the case view, agenda and notifications; partners and managers reporting and access management.

Define roles and permissions before training. If people only see the screens for their own work when they log in, training takes less time. If the team will draft with AI, add the guide to AI drafting for lawyers to the training plan for its safe-use rules.

Do this in this step

• Plan a thirty to forty-five minute session per role using a real file.
• Collect frequently asked questions in one shared note.
• In the first week hold a ten-minute Q and A at the end of each day.

When the move is finished, do not delete the old workbooks: put them in a read-only archive and restrict access. Turkey's Attorneys' Law (No. 1136) requires a lawyer to keep documents a client has entrusted to them for three years after the power of attorney ends (Attorneys' Law art. 39 (opens in a new tab)); think about keeping file records for the same period.

Workbooks that hold client data are personal data. When the necessary period ends, deletion, destruction or anonymization is decided under the firm's retention and disposal policy (Law No. 6698 arts. 4 and 12 (opens in a new tab)). Lawyer-client confidentiality is also unlimited in time (Turkish Bar Association Professional Rules art. 37 (opens in a new tab)), so keep the archive where only authorised people can open it.

Do this in this step

• Move the final version of each old workbook to one date-stamped archive folder.
• Restrict access to the archive folder to the partners.
• Write down the deletion date for anything whose retention period has ended.

Split the first month into four weeks, each with a single goal. Do not move on before the goal of the week is met.

1. 01/04

   Week 1: Preparation and cleaning

   Inventory, list of live files, data cleaning and role definitions. Stop entering new records in Excel at the end of the week.

2. 02/04

   Week 2: Pilot

   A pilot import of twenty files, a mapping check, and verification of open deadlines and hearings.

3. 03/04

   Week 3: Full import and training

   Import of all live files with the corrected mapping, plus role-based training sessions.

4. 04/04

   Week 4: One system

   Excel becomes a read-only archive, deadline and hearing tracking runs from the new system, and the first feedback meeting is held.