Client Overview
Our client is a UK-based law firm established in the 20th century. Today, they have a strong presence both nationally and internationally. The firm is known for its legal expertise and people-focused approach. With over 600 professionals and 70 partners, they offer a comprehensive range of legal services to clients across various sectors. The organization’s focus on people, culture, and innovation has positioned it as one of the most progressive firms in the legal industry.
Business Objective
The law firm leverages Intapp Intake to manage new client and matter onboarding, including risk and compliance approvals, while SAP S/4HANA functions as the enterprise financial and reporting system. The firm aimed to eliminate manual handovers between intake and finance, ensure that no client is financially activated without compliance clearance, and establish a governed, auditable onboarding process. The objective was to accelerate time-to-billing, reduce compliance risk, and maintain a single, trusted client record across systems.
Challenges
1. Disconnected Intake and Finance Workflows
Client information approved in Intapp Intake was not automatically available in SAP, creating operational silos between intake, compliance, and finance teams.
2. Compliance Risk Before Financial Activation
Clients could be created in SAP before conflict checks, AML/KYC validations, or internal approvals were fully completed.
3. Manual and Duplicate Data Entry
Finance teams were required to re-enter client data into SAP, increasing the risk of errors, duplication, and inconsistent records.
4. Lack of Canonical Client Data Model
Different data structures across systems made it difficult to maintain a single source of truth for client information.
5. Limited Audit Trail and Visibility
Tracking approval status, compliance decisions, and financial activation across systems was time-consuming and lacked transparency.
6. Delayed Time-to-Billing
Gaps between intake approval and SAP client creation slowed billing readiness and impacted revenue realization.
How NeosAlpha helped?
1. Compliance-First Architecture with Intapp Intake
As Intapp Partner, we designed an intake-driven architecture where Intapp Intake acts as the controlling system for all new client onboarding. Compliance-approved client records, including legal name, jurisdiction, responsible partner, and approval status, were allowed to flow downstream, ensuring only validated clients progressed to finance. This eliminated the risk of premature financial activation and enforced compliance by design.
2. Compliance API to Enforce Governance
To address fragmented approval processes, our Intapp experts implemented a Compliance API that consolidated conflict check outcomes, AML/KYC indicators, approval timestamps, and approver roles. These compliance attributes traveled alongside client master data, ensuring governance decisions were embedded into the integration flow and consistently enforced before any financial record creation.
3. Common Data Store API for Data Consistency
To resolve inconsistent client data across systems, we introduced a Common Data Store API with a canonical client data model. Client master attributes, such as legal entity, address, jurisdiction, and ownership details, were standardized and normalized before distribution, establishing a single source of truth and ensuring data consistency across all downstream integrations.
4. Automated Client Creation in SAP S/4HANA
Once compliance approval is confirmed, automated client creation in SAP S/4HANA is initiated via Boomi. Approved client master data was used to create finance-ready Business Partner records.
In contrast, SAP-generated system-owned attributes, such as client IDs, account numbers, and activation status, were used to remove manual data entry and reduce errors.
5. Bi-Directional Status Synchronization
To improve transparency and auditability, we enabled bi-directional data synchronization. SAP-generated client identifiers, financial activation status, and creation confirmations were sent back to Intapp Intake, providing intake and compliance teams with real-time visibility into financial readiness and closing the loop between intake and finance.
Technology Stack
- Boomi
- Intapp Intake
- Intapp IIS
- SAP S/4 HANA
Results
1. Accelerated Client Onboarding
The firm significantly reduced onboarding cycles by removing manual handoffs between intake, compliance, and finance teams.
2. Compliance by Design
Clients could not be financially activated without full compliance approval, significantly reducing regulatory and reputational risks and reassuring stakeholders of the process’s integrity.
3. Improved Data Accuracy and Trust
A single, governed client record eliminated duplication and inconsistencies across enterprise systems.
4. Stronger Audit Readiness
End-to-end traceability of approvals and system updates simplified audits and internal reviews.
5. Scalable Integration Foundation
The API-led architecture provides a future-ready foundation to extend integration to matter management, billing workflows, and additional legal and enterprise systems.
