Beacon CRM data migration for charities
MakeITaplan helps charities prepare, map and validate data when moving from spreadsheets or another CRM into Beacon.
- For
- Charities moving from a legacy CRM, spreadsheets or disconnected data sources
- Includes
- Data review, mapping, cleansing planning, test imports and validation
- Outcome
- A migration approach based on your records, priorities and project scope
Start with the data your charity needs
A successful migration is not simply a copy of every old record. Start by agreeing what information your team needs in Beacon, which records should move and how important relationships between people, donations, memberships, events or other records should be represented.
A careful, testable migration process
We can review the available exports, identify data-quality questions, plan field mapping with your team and coordinate test imports and validation. Testing gives stakeholders a chance to check representative records and resolve mapping decisions before the final agreed import.
- Review source exports, structure and data quality
- Agree record scope and field mappings with stakeholders
- Identify duplicates, inconsistent formats and incomplete information
- Test and validate imported records against agreed expectations
Partnerships people recommend.
MakeITaplan: the antidote to CRM trauma
“Working with Gemma and Noah on our Beacon implementation was a wonderful experience. After a difficult time with our previous CRM, we were nervous, but they guided us thoroughly, led the data migration and built training into it, so we were learning from day one. They were friendly, responsive to our endless questions (sorry!), and considered the needs of our fundraising, finance and programmes teams. Our team now uses Beacon frequently and confidently. I could not recommend them more highly!”
Fab support
“Fabulous people and a great help for what would have been a huge job for our small organisation. They were there to answer any questions and help with solutions for being able to import the right data for the reports we needed. Thank you for everything”
Keep ownership and decisions clear
Your charity remains the expert on what its data means and what it needs to retain. We help make migration questions visible, explain the choices in plain language and coordinate with your team and the software provider where needed.
Beacon CRM questions, answered
Which systems can you migrate data from to Beacon?
The available migration route depends on whether your current system can provide a usable export and how its records are structured. MakeITaplan can review the source data and discuss a suitable approach before the work is scoped.
How long does a Beacon CRM data migration take?
The time needed varies with the number and type of records, source-data quality, relationships between records, mapping decisions and the number of test cycles. We review these factors before agreeing a timeline.
Will all of our old data be moved into Beacon?
Not necessarily. It is useful to decide which records and history the charity needs for its work, reporting and obligations. We help document those decisions and map the agreed data; your team approves what should be retained and migrated.
Can you help clean data before migration?
Yes. We can help identify duplicates, inconsistent values, missing information and other data-quality issues, then agree which corrections are in scope and who will make them.