Primafact Support for Ontario Law Firms

What Primafact does and why Ontario firms rely on it

Primafact is a case and document management system used widely by litigation and personal injury firms across Ontario to organize scanned documents, medical records, productions, and correspondence into a searchable, matter-centric file. It replaces binders and loose folders with a structured digital case file that multiple staff can work from at once.

Because Primafact is where the substance of a case actually lives, firms notice problems with it immediately. A slow document open, a failed search, or a sync error during discovery is not a minor annoyance, it stalls the work in front of a lawyer or clerk right now.

Where Primafact support ends and infrastructure support begins

Primafact's own support line is the right place for questions about how a feature works, software bugs, upgrade paths, and licensing. It is not the right place to diagnose why the whole office feels sluggish at 2pm, why a workstation can't reach the case file share, or why a backup job silently failed last month.

That infrastructure layer is where Nickel City Tech Solutions works alongside Primafact's vendor support rather than instead of it. We do not sell or develop Primafact, and we make no claim of vendor certification or partnership with Primafact. What we manage is the environment it depends on.

• Server and workstation performance tuning for the machines running Primafact
• Storage capacity planning as scanned document volumes grow
• Backup of the Primafact database and document store
• Secure remote access for lawyers and staff working outside the office
• New user setup, permissions, and account provisioning across the firm's network
• Network share configuration so multiple staff can access matter files reliably

Common infrastructure issues that get mistaken for a Primafact problem

Many of the complaints firms bring to Primafact support turn out to be infrastructure issues once the underlying environment is examined. This is the same pattern seen in troubleshooting for why Primafact runs slow, and it's worth understanding before assuming the software itself is at fault.

• An aging server that no longer meets Primafact's server requirements for the current case load
• A network share with too many hops or a saturated Wi-Fi connection between workstation and server
• Storage that is nearly full, slowing down every read and write operation
• A backup job competing with daytime staff for disk and network bandwidth
• Workstations that were never right-sized for the document volumes now stored in the system

Backup, disaster recovery, and why it matters more for litigation files

Case files inside Primafact often represent years of discovery, productions, and correspondence that cannot be recreated if lost. Backing up Primafact case files properly is a distinct discipline from ordinary file backup, since the underlying database needs to be captured in a consistent state rather than copied file by file while open.

A firm's backup and disaster recovery plan should specifically account for the Primafact database and its associated document store, with retention long enough to match the life of an active litigation file, and periodic restore testing to confirm the backups are actually usable.

Cybersecurity considerations for firms running Primafact

Case files contain medical records, financial details, and other sensitive client information, which makes the server hosting Primafact a meaningful target. Standard cybersecurity practices apply directly: multi-factor authentication for remote access, restricted permissions on the case file share, monitored endpoints, and a tested incident response plan in case of ransomware.

Firms that also run PCLaw for billing alongside Primafact for case management should coordinate security and backup planning across both systems rather than treating them as separate silos, since they typically share the same server and network infrastructure.

What a managed IT provider should actually deliver for a Primafact firm

1. A documented understanding of your Primafact server and workstation setup, including current storage headroom.
2. A backup routine built around the Primafact database specifically, not generic file backup.
3. Monitoring that flags storage, memory, and network issues before they become a slowdown lawyers notice.
4. A clear escalation path: infrastructure issues go to your IT provider, application issues go to Primafact support.
5. Secure, properly configured remote access for staff working from court, home, or another office.

Frequently asked questions