The Aderant Integration plugin for Clio Operate provides seamless, bi-directional synchronisation between Clio Operate and Aderant. Designed to serve law firms and legal operations teams, the plugin enables Operate workflows to create, update, and retrieve data in Aderant without requiring bespoke development for common scenarios.
Here are details of the functionality available to customers as part of the out-of-the-box (OOTB) solution, including supported workflow actions, financial balance widgets, synchronisation capabilities, and extensibility options.
When evaluating the integration, a key consideration is which system will act as the source of truth. If Clio Operate drives the workflow and Aderant is used primarily as a financial ledger, the out-of-the-box capabilities described here are generally sufficient. If Aderant is to be the source of truth, the implementation will require closer scoping.
For any questions regarding scoping, please discuss this with your CSM or implementation partner.
This article reflects the out-of-the-box capabilities of the Aderant Integration plugin for Clio Operate. For bespoke requirements, API reference documentation, or implementation guidance, please contact your Operate implementation partner.
Capability Summary
The following capabilities are included in the standard plugin:
| Capability Area | What It Does |
|---|---|
| Client Management | Create, update, and retrieve client records in Aderant from Operate workflows |
| Matter Management | Create, update, retrieve, and set the status of matters in Aderant |
| Matter Balances | Display real-time financial balances from Aderant on Operate matter pages |
| Parties | Create persons and organisations in Aderant and link them to matters |
| Time Entry | Validate, create, update, approve, release, and cancel time entries (in development) |
| Client Synchronisation | Scheduled pull of new/updated clients from Aderant into Operate |
| User Synchronisation | Scheduled sync of Aderant user accounts into Operate |
| Query Service Access | Run bespoke lookup queries directly against Aderant’s Framework Query Service |
| API Proxy Access | Invoke any known Aderant API endpoint directly from Operate workflows or components |
Client Management
The plugin provides pre-built workflow actions for managing client records in Aderant. Each action surfaces the mandatory fields required by Aderant, along with the most commonly used optional fields. For clients with bespoke requirements, a JSON-based endpoint is also available.
Available Actions
| Action | Key Inputs | Key Outputs |
|---|---|---|
| Create Client | Billing Employee ID, Responsible Employee ID, Open Date, Client Status ID, First Name, Last Name | Success flag, Response message, New Client ID |
| Update Client | Billing Employee ID, Responsible Employee ID, Open Date, Client Status ID, First Name, Last Name | Success flag, Response message |
| Get Client | Aderant Client ID | Success flag, Response message, Full client details (JSON) |
Note: The Create Client payload in Aderant contains over 40 fields. The OOTB workflow action exposes the 4 mandatory fields plus the most common optional name fields. Additional fields can be set after creation using the JSON update endpoint or via the Aderant API proxy.
Matter Management
Matter workflow actions allow Operate to drive the full lifecycle of matters in Aderant, from creation through to status management and data retrieval.
Available Actions
| Action | Key Inputs | Key Outputs |
|---|---|---|
| Create Matter | Aderant Client ID, Description, Matter Status ID, Name (+ optional: Client Matter No., Employee IDs, Matter Type, Office, Dept, etc.) | Success flag, Response message, New Matter ID |
| Update Matter | Minimum required fields (as per Create) | Success flag, Response message |
| Get Matter | Aderant Matter ID | Success flag, Response message, Full matter details (JSON), Matter Code, Client-Matter Concatenation |
| Set Matter Status | Aderant Matter ID, Aderant Status Code, Active flag | Success flag, Response message |
Matter Balances
The plugin provides two real-time financial balance widgets that can be embedded on any Operate matter page. Balances are retrieved live from Aderant each time the page loads.
Workflow Actions
| Action | Input | Outputs Exposed |
|---|---|---|
| Get Balances (Full) | Operate Matter ID | Trust Balance, Fee WIP Balance, Disbursement WIP Balance, Total AR, Unapplied On Account, Fees On Account, Disbursements On Account, Progress Available Retainer, Fee Prebill Balance, Disbursement Prebill Balance |
| Get WIP Balance | Operate Matter ID | Total WIP Balance (aggregated single value) |
Matter Balance Widgets
Two pre-built widgets are available for display on matter form pages:
Lite Widget
Displays the 10 most useful balance fields:
- Disbursement WIP Balance
- Fees Billed
- Fees WIP Balance
- Hard Disbursements Billed
- Net WIP
- Soft Disbursements Billed
- Total AR
- Total Billed Life to Date
- Total WIP
- Trust Balance
Full Widget
Displays all available balance values (~40 fields), grouped thematically, with options to:
- Show or hide individual groups
- Configure colour coding per group
Parties
The plugin supports creating parties (individuals and organisations) in Aderant and associating them with matters. Parties in Aderant are distinct from Clients and represent additional stakeholders linked to a matter.
Available Actions
| Action | Key Inputs | Key Outputs |
|---|---|---|
| Create Person as a Party | First Name, Last Name | Success flag, Response message, New Person ID |
| Create Organisation as a Party | Organisation Name | Success flag, Response message, New Organisation ID |
| Add Party to a Matter | Aderant Matter ID, Party ID, Party Status ID, Party Type, Comments (optional) | Success flag, Response message, New Party-Matter ID |
Time Entry Management
A comprehensive set of time entry actions is available to manage the full time entry lifecycle in Aderant.
Note: Time entry functionality is currently in development. Please confirm availability with your implementation team before including in project scope.
Available Actions
- Validate a proposed time entry before submission
- Create an unposted time entry
- Create a time entry from an existing Operate time entry
- Get a time entry by ID
- Update an unposted time entry
- Delete an unposted time entry
- Release an unposted time entry
- Post / Approve an unposted time entry
- Update a posted (approved) time entry
- Cancel a posted (approved) time entry
Synchronisation
Where Aderant is the “source of truth” for client and user data, the plugin provides scheduled synchronisation processes to keep Operate aligned with Aderant automatically.
Client Synchronisation
A scheduled maintenance plan (typically configured to run nightly) pulls details of any clients created or updated in Aderant within a defined timeframe. The synchronisation process will:
- Create new client records in Operate if they do not already exist
- Update existing Operate client records if they have been modified in Aderant
- Handle two address input formats to accommodate different Aderant data import methods
User Synchronisation
A scheduled process synchronises Aderant user accounts into Operate:
- Matches Aderant users to Operate users by email address
- Stores the Aderant User ID against each matched Operate user
- Supports batch processing and paging for large user volumes
- Includes safeguards to prevent infinite loops during bulk sync
Extensibility
In addition to the pre-built workflow actions, the plugin exposes two extensibility mechanisms for customers with bespoke requirements:
Framework Query Service
Aderant’s internal Framework Query Service is exposed through a dedicated plugin endpoint, enabling construction of bespoke queries with criteria-based filtering, sorting, and projection. This is recommended for lookup-only use cases.
Note: The Aderant Query Service is an internal API, is not officially supported by Aderant as a public interface, and backwards compatibility is not guaranteed across Aderant upgrades.
API Proxy
Via Operate’s built-in proxy, any known Aderant API endpoint can be called directly from a Visual Workflow JavaScript action or a component built in the Modeller IDE. This enables bespoke updates to clients or matters, custom queries, and any other operations not covered by the standard workflow actions.
How Workflow Actions Work
All pre-built workflow actions (WFAs) follow a consistent pattern, making them straightforward to use and integrate into Operate visual workflows:
- All WFAs are available in the Workflow Toolbox under the “Aderant Integration” heading
- Each WFA exposes only the mandatory and most commonly used fields, keeping configuration simple
- Every WFA returns a success/failure flag and, on failure, a user-friendly error message for use in notifications
- Every “Create” WFA also returns the new Aderant ID, allowing workflows to store the external reference in Operate
- All WFAs validate the request before sending it to Aderant, and map the response back to a clean output model
- Where additional fields are required beyond those exposed in the WFA, customers can supplement with JSON-based endpoints or the proxy
Current Limitations & Roadmap Items
The following areas are identified for further development. Customers should factor these into their implementation planning:
| Area | Current Status |
|---|---|
| Time Entry Management | In development — confirm availability before committing to project scope |
| Error Handling & Logging | Detailed logging for synchronisation failures is not yet built in to the OOTB solution |
| Sync Monitoring UI | No built-in user interface for monitoring synchronisation status or surfacing issues |
| Security & Compliance Docs | Comprehensive documentation on security best practices and data privacy compliance is in progress |
| Large Dataset Performance | Performance optimisation for synchronisation of large datasets is under review |
| Extended Field Coverage | Fields beyond the mandatory minimum require bespoke configuration via JSON endpoints or the proxy |