SharePoint Setup
The SharePoint Integration requires some setup in the Azure portal to connect LegalServer with SharePoint. Organizations have the choice of doing this themselves and entering the information in the SharePoint Settings page or they can provide a Global Administrator account to LegalServer for LegalServer staff to do the Azure configurations.
SharePoint Setup
General Configuration Requirements
- Client should provide an Office 365 account. If LegalServer will create the authentication apps in Azure Active Directory, it needs to be a Global Admin account. This can be sent to LegalServer securely through the Secure Messaging Tool.
- Client must provide complete url links to their Demo and Live default SharePoint document libraries (e.g., https://legalserver.sharepoint.com/sites/ms-demo/Shared%20Documents). Live and Demo should have separate default libraries so that documents don't get mixed together. We strongly recommend that the initial libraries be completely empty of all other documents. Once LegalServer starts creating case folders in that library, it may be difficult to find other files. This can be entered in the SharePoint Settings page.
- SharePoint libraries must have the Require Check Out setting in the Versioning Settings set to No for the integration to properly create files everyone can see.
- Newer SharePoint tenants will need to have Custom Authentication Apps enabled. This can be done via a provided PowerShell command. This is only required if Certificates are not used for authentication.
LegalServer staff will then create the Entra ID Authentication Apps in your Azure environment. For organizations that do not wish to share Global Administrator credentials with LegalServer, we will provide your Azure administrators with a detailed Technical Guidance Document with step by step instructions on creating and approving the Authentication Apps.
For any account shared with LegalServer, LegalServer will reset the password and enable MFA for security. A shared account between LegalServer and your site admins is ripe for confusion and random password resets.
SharePoint Library Setup
Agencies will also need to identify the default libraries to connect with their Live and Demo sites. These can be in the same SharePoint site or separate sites depending on the Agencies preference. The libraries should not be the same for both the Live and Demo sites. At least one library needs to be identified as the default per LegalServer site.
WARNING: SharePoint cannot expand indefinitely. Please plan to use the Multiple Libraries feature at some point. SharePoint has limits on the number of documents in a folder before it will not display in the User Interface (5000 items), the number of items in a SharePoint list/library before they will stop indexing (this is not well documented -- 5000 items is the documented limit, but in practice it appears closer to 500,000 items), total size of a SharePoint subsite (25,600 GB). LegalServer clients have run up against all of these limits. The best way to avoid them is to plan for multiple libraries and potentially multiple subsites. Some groups divide their libraries based on year open, subject matter, office, or program.
LegalServer Setup
Destination Library Lookups
To configure the multiple library setup, you have to start by adding all the sites/libraries to a system lookup - SharePoint Site Library. Plan to include the default location in addition to any additional Sites or Libraries you want to have available.
The name will be viewed in the actual lookup field on your site, so make sure it is descriptive. Both Site Path and Library path should start with a forward slash ("/"). All SharePoint Libraries should be within the same Microsoft Domain/Tenant (i.e. all the URLs start with https://legalserver.sharepoint.com). To figure out what part of the URL goes into the Site Path versus the Library Path, consider the following example - https://legalserver.sharepoint.com/sites/ms-demo/test%20library%202/Forms/AllItems.aspx. The first part (https://legalserver.sharepoint.com) is the Microsoft Tenant and not used in the lookup. The second part (/sites/ms-demo) is the Site Path and the third part (/test%20Library%202) is the Library Path. Finally, the last part (/Forms/AllItems.aspx) is also not used. Note that spaces need to be replaced with %20. If they are not replaced with that, then the folder will show but none of the documents in the folder will display.
Note that adding libraries and sites to this lookup is validated. If the site or library do not exist, you will get an error. You will also get an error if you are using the limited access configuration for the Active Directory authentication apps and the app does not have access to the site.
Organizations need not share anything beyond the default SharePoint Site and Library with LegalServer to activate the integration. If you only wish to have one library, you will need to still add the the default location to this lookup since the lookup is required by the SharePoint - Create Folder block.
This lookup is then used by the SharePoint - Create Folder block to identify where the case folder should be created. The Create Folder block will store the location in the system field of SharePoint Folder Site and Library on the specific case file. The block will set that value only if that value is not already set. If the value is already set, the block does not replace it with a new value.
Creating SharePoint Folders
LegalServer's recommendation is to put the SharePoint - Create Folder block in Guided Navigation. Have the logic for the block select the block and library depending on Intake Date, Intake Program, Intake Office, or whatever appropriate logic you need. By using the same GN dialogue, you'll have the same logic regardless of where it is used and it will make maintenance easier.
If you are basing the SharePoint libraries on years, have a catchall Instruction in the GN that says if Intake Date > last library, show "Please contact your Site Administrator. Libraries not configured for XXXX year."
The Guided Navigation Dialogue can then get used in two places:
- On the Disposition form of any intakes. It should be set up to not offer a Start Over button and to run in Stealth Mode.
- In an Aux Form named Create SharePoint Folder (with a similarly named process). Using the same Dialogue Runner settings - no Start Over button and Stealth Mode. This is typically paired with an instruction that says "Click Continue to create the SharePoint folder if one does not already exist" since the block does not show in the UI if there is no folder.
The Aux process can then get linked in the SharePoint Documents block so that the block suggests the appropriate process to create the folder.