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How to install the Legl and ALB integration

How to install and configure the Legl and ALB integration, covering IIS, ALB Designer, and SQL deployment.

Written by Tess Brown
Updated today

Overview

The Legl and ALB integration lets your firm launch Legl Engage workflows directly from ALB, return Engage request documents to the matter or client file, and post disbursements to ALB based on completed Legl activity.

This guide walks through installing and configuring the integration. The setup has three components:

  • IIS setup and configuration

  • Application configuration

  • ALB configuration

Before you start

Required skills

This guide is written for someone with a basic knowledge of software installation. You will need to be comfortable with:

  • Configuring JSON files

  • IIS configuration

  • ALB Designer Studio

Accounts and access

You will need:

  • A service user account and password with write access to the firm's ALB directory storage share (e.g. \\server\ALB\Documents). This account is used for installation

  • A SQL user account and password for the ALB Middleware to connect to the ALB database. Your consultant can create an account if one is not provided, as long as administrative access is given during installation

  • A Legl API key for use with the integration, which will be provided by the Legl team

  • Access to ALB Designer Studio

ℹ️ Important

An Advanced ALB Enterprise License is required to access Designer Studio. If you do not have an enterprise license, please speak to the Legl team.

Server-side prerequisites

The application server will host the Legl Middleware and requires:

  • An Application/IIS Server for hosting the website and API Connector

  • Internet Information Services (IIS) installed in at least a base configuration (internal network use only required)

  • .Net Runtime 6.01, ASP.Net Core v6.01 Hosting Bundle and ASP.Net Core v6.01 Runtime (see prerequisite downloads below)

  • ASP.Net Core v7 Hosting Bundle: download link

  • ASP.Net Core v7 Runtime: download link

  • .Net Runtime V7: download link

  • External internet access to the Legl API endpoints. These can be provided if your application server has restricted internet access

  • Access to the firm's SQL Server hosting the ALB database (usually Port 1433) from the application server if these are different machines

ℹ️ Important

A server restart will only be required if prerequisites are missing.

Client-side prerequisites

  • ALB V3.5.0 or above

  • An ALB user account

  • A Legl user account per user

  • Supported web browsers: Microsoft Edge, Google Chrome

How to install the integration

Step 1: Prepare the installation package

  1. Download and locate the integration installation package provided by Xperate

  2. If the package has been provided as a zip file, right-click on the zip folder and select Properties

  3. Check Unblock to ensure the files are not blocked

  4. Unzip all files and any subfolders, ready for installation

Step 2: Deploy to IIS

  1. Extract the contents of the installation package to the local drive of the IIS server (e.g. C:\Websites\Legl)

  2. Log in to your IIS server and open IIS Manager

  3. Right-click on Sites and select Add Website

  1. Provide a name for the website and browse to the extracted location for the physical path. Authentication details may need to be adjusted to a user with the correct read/write access

  1. Adjust the binding and port or hostname as per the client requirements

  2. Untick Start Website Immediately and click OK

Step 3: Configure ALB Document Management and Evidence Types

  1. Log in to the Document Management application for ALB

  2. Right-click on Server and select Add Volume

  1. Provide a name (e.g. Legl), a description, and choose the type

  2. Navigate to the folder or share location where you want the documents to be stored

  1. Click OK to save the settings

  2. Log in to the Utilities application for ALB

  3. Open Firm Options

  4. Navigate to Anti Money Laundering then Evidence Types

  5. Right-click and select Add Evidence Type

  6. Populate the reference, description, and whether this applies to ForIndividuals, ForOrganisations, or both

  7. Click OK and close to save the settings

Step 4: Import the Legl module in ALB Designer

  1. Log in to ALB Designer

  2. Click Import Module

  1. Browse to the PMS.udm file provided in the installation package. This will populate the screen with the module import

  1. Click Import Selected Module

  2. There are no Time Types to be mapped, click Continue

  3. There are no document import changes, click Continue

  4. The next screen will display any affected open matters. Apply changes once you are happy with the process

  5. The module will now import

  6. Navigate to the PMS module under Modules and click Select Module after selecting PMS

Step 5: Update workflow website addresses

Each Legl workflow found under Matter and Contact needs its website address updated.

  1. Once the module has loaded, navigate to Workflows on the left-hand side

  2. Double-click on a workflow (e.g. Legl Engage)

  3. Navigate to the Legl Engage item in the workflow

  1. Click the pencil icon to edit the Website Address

  1. Open the Values tab. Within the text section, copy the address from the first section in the view

  2. Replace localhost:4432 with your website address and port

  1. Highlight the first box and click the red X in the top right corner to remove the record

  2. Once removed, click the green + to add the new address to the start of the URL

  1. Repeat steps 3 to 8 for each workflow to update the address

Step 6: Configure appsettings.json

  1. Navigate to the website location using File Explorer

  2. Open the appsettings.json file in a text editor

  3. Adjust the connection string to your SQL instance and details

  1. Navigate to the section header legldata

  1. Populate the key with the key provided by Legl

  2. Ensure engagevolume matches the Volume name created in Step 3

  1. Specify your AML Type for Legl documents

  2. Specify a folder for documents to save into within the folder option. This can be left as NULL for documents to display at the top level of document history

  3. Set engagelevel to client, matter, or both:

    • client saves documents at the client level only

    • matter saves documents at the matter level only

    • both saves a copy of the documents to both the client and the matter

  4. Navigate to the next section, engageinsertslip

  1. Populate the values within the engageinsertslip section with the firm's desired settings for the slip:

    • submittingUser — the user reference for submission

    • authorisingUser — the user reference with permission to authorise

    • disbursementType — the disbursement type, set within Utilities > Accounts > Outlays > External

    • requestDescription — the friendly description to appear within the software

    • requestPayee — the payee to appear on the slip

    • paymentMethod — the type of payment, e.g. BACS

    • value — the default amount to be charged

    • vat — the default amount of VAT to be applied to the posting

    • narrative — a standard narrative to be applied to the posting

  1. Repeat step 11 for the payinsertslip section directly below

  2. Close and save the file

  3. Re-open IIS and start the website

Step 7: Run the SQL deployment script for Pay integration

Depending on the version of ALB, the custom fields required for the Pay integration screen may change. To get the correct name:

  1. Run the following script:

    /* Check for FQN Table Value */ DECLARE @FQN VARCHAR(4); set @FQN = (select LEFT(Fqn,4) from MetaData.MetaDataCustomField where fqn like '%.Matter.LeglPaymentURL'); IF isnull(@FQN,'') = '' BEGIN PRINT 'Missing FQN Fields - Check Designer Studio custom fields have been added' RETURN END; IF @FQN = '3818' BEGIN PRINT 'No changes required, please run the rest of the script' END ELSE BEGIN PRINT 'Use "Find and Replace" to replace 3818 with: ' + @FQN END GO

  2. Once you have the table name (e.g. 3929), use Find and Replace to update the references for 3818 within the deployment script

  3. Once all references to 3818 are updated (if required), run the rest of the deployment script to create the procedures for the integration

How to update the integration

To apply an update to the integration:

  1. Navigate to your website folder

  2. Back up the folder contents

  3. Download and extract the latest files to a new folder

  4. Copy the files to the website folder, overwriting existing files

  5. Recycle the IIS Application Pool by going to IIS > Application Pools, right-clicking the Application Pool, and selecting Recycle

  1. Restart the website by going to IIS > Sites, right-clicking the website, and selecting Manage Website > Restart

  1. Browse to the website for the changes to take effect

What happens next

Once the integration is installed and configured:

  • End users at the firm can launch Legl workflows directly from within ALB

  • Documents returned from completed Engage requests are saved to the volume you created in Step 3

  • Posting slips flow through to ALB based on the engageinsertslip and payinsertslip settings you configured in Step 6

Important information

  • End users do not receive a notification when Engage request documents have been downloaded to a matter or client file

  • End users do not receive a notification when a posting has been made available

  • End users must mark an Engage request as Marked as reviewed before the data is made available in ALB or the Middleware

ℹ️ Further guidance

Integration Troubleshooting Guide

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