Setting up EDI (Electronic Data Interchange) batch uploads with Docketly is a front-heavy process. Most of the effort happens in the first few weeks of onboarding, and from there your firm gets a fast, accurate, hands-off hearing workflow. This page walks through each area of the setup so you know what to expect at each step and what we will need from you along the way.

Each section below links to a more detailed handbook page with field-level instructions. You can read this roadmap straight through, or jump to a section when you reach that point in your setup.

The import mechanism is how your firm sends new hearing requests to Docketly in bulk instead of entering them one at a time. A CSV file (or Excel file) can contain one or many hearings, and is uploaded to our system for immediate posting.

To get started, we just need a sample file that includes all the required fields with the headers as they appear in your case management system. You do not need to reformat anything to match our schema - we will map your fields to ours. If you have flexibility in the format, we have defined a set of defaults that work well with most systems.

A full list of required and optional fields, along with aliases, formatting notes, and a downloadable sample, is available on the EDI - Hearing Create page.

Please note: The serviceId field is not strictly required in your import file. If you prefer to return service IDs from your CMS, we can send you a list of our service types for you to match to. If you would rather not, we can handle the translation through the Echos step below.

Echoes are the rules that translate your CMS's internal hearing-type codes - things like Bench Trial, Docket Call, CMC, and so on - into Docketly service types. Setting this up means every hearing you import automatically lands under the correct service without manual intervention.

To build your echo rules, we just need a list of the IDs or codes your CMS uses for hearing types. Once we have that list, we will create the 1:1 mapping from your terms to ours.

For firms that need to attach case documents - complaints, exhibits, client-specific instructions - to many hearings at once, Docketly supports a bulk attachment process. This saves your team from adding attachments to each hearing individually.

Details on the file format and the index needed to tie attachments to the correct hearings can be found on the Hearing Attachment Upload page.

Exports are the mirror image of imports - Docketly returns hearing results to your CMS in the same batch-ready format. The setup works the same way: we build a configuration that matches how your system expects to receive results, and from then on everything flows automatically.

Full details on the export format, configuration options such as ASAP vs. nightly delivery, cover sheet settings, and attachment compression are available on the Report Download page.

Action Items give covering attorneys a way to pass along urgent next steps that your firm needs to take after a hearing. These are the items that drive a positive outcome and should not wait for normal review cycles.

The Action Items feed is delivered as a structured CSV so your team can route items directly into the workflow or queue where they should be handled. Formatting details and field definitions are on the Action Items CSV page.

Rather than parsing every field of a hearing result to figure out the next step for a matter, your CMS can read a single result code and queue the case for its next stage automatically. Result code mapping is how we set that up.

To build the mapping, we just need the list of disposition codes your CMS uses and the downstream action each one triggers. From there, Docketly will return the appropriate code with every hearing result.

If your firm is ready to begin EDI setup, or if you have questions about any of the areas above, reach out to your Docketly Client Success representative to schedule an EDI kickoff call. In that call we will confirm which of the six areas are in scope, agree on a timeline, and identify the sample files we need from you to begin.

If you do not have a dedicated contact yet, reach out to Docketly support and we will route you to the Client Success team.

We look forward to partnering with your firm to make EDI setup as smooth and efficient as possible.