What this article helps with: Connecting PracticePanther to Hona for the first time, mapping your matters, and reconnecting if PracticePanther stops accepting Hona's credentials.
Who this is for: Firm admins with admin access to both Hona and PracticePanther.
When not to use this article: If PracticePanther is connected but data is not syncing, see Integrations: What is Syncing?
Overview
Hona connects to PracticePanther through an API app your firm creates in PracticePanther. Once connected, Hona reads your matters and logs client activity back to each matter.
What Hona pulls from PracticePanther: matters with the Hona Enabled custom field set to yes, the Case Type and Phase Name custom fields (or other fields you map), tasks, the matter status, the users assigned to the matter, and the matter's client contact. For the client's phone, Hona uses the mobile number first, then home, then work. A Birthday custom field on the contact feeds birthday messages. Closed matters are marked complete.
What Hona writes back to PracticePanther: every text with the client, Lia's included, as a "Hona 2 Way Message" note with a link to the conversation in Hona. Notification history and form submissions as notes, titled "Hona Notification" unless the notification has its own subject. A PracticePanther: Update Matter automation can write form answers to matter fields and contact fields.
Setup
Step 1: Create an API app in PracticePanther
Ask a PracticePanther admin at your firm to create an API app for Hona. Set its redirect URL to https://app.hona.com/callback. Copy the app's Consumer Key and Consumer Secret.
Step 2: Add your app credentials in Hona
Go to Company Settings > Integrations. On the PracticePanther tile, click App Credentials, enter the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret, and click Save.
Step 3: Connect
Click Connect on the PracticePanther tile and approve access in PracticePanther. You return to Hona, and the tile shows Connected - Inactive. Hona can read your data, but nothing sends to clients yet.
Step 4: Add custom fields in PracticePanther
Create a Hona Enabled matter field, either a dropdown with Yes and No or a checkbox. Only matters with it set to Yes sync; a matter without the field, or with it blank, does not. Hona reads the project type from a Case Type field and the phase from a Phase Name field. To use different fields, click Map Fields on the PracticePanther tile.
Step 5: Set up project types and phases
In Company Settings > Project Types, add the PracticePanther case types each project type covers, and choose whether it moves on phase names or on tasks. Give each phase at least one trigger, spelled exactly as it appears in PracticePanther.
Step 6: Test a matter
Open a matter in PracticePanther and copy its ID from the web address, the part after /Project/Details/. In Hona, paste the ID on the Projects page and sync it. Check that it lands under the right project type and phase.
Step 7: Go live
Ask your Account Manager to set the integration to Active. Only the Hona team can activate it. Nightly syncs then begin, and client updates send the next day.
Updating your connection
If the tile shows Connected - Unauthorized, PracticePanther has stopped accepting Hona's credentials and syncing has stopped. Click Update Connection on the PracticePanther tile and approve access again. If your firm created new app credentials, update them first with App Credentials.
Stopping messages for one client
Set Hona Enabled to No on the matter. If the matter has not synced yet, Hona will not create it. If it has, the matter keeps syncing and queued notifications are cancelled before they send.
Optional: the Hona Browser Extension
The extension recognizes PracticePanther matter pages, so your team can open the matching Hona project without leaving PracticePanther. See Hona Browser Extension.