Excel spreadsheets to Beacon CRM migration
If supporter, membership or service information is spread across Excel workbooks, moving to Beacon starts with understanding what each sheet is for. We help charities find the authoritative information, resolve overlaps and plan a structure the team can use after migration.
- Current system
- Excel and spreadsheets
- Migration focus
- Understand source records, linked data and your team’s requirements
- Before final import
- Agree and check a representative test migration
Understand your Excel and spreadsheets data
A workbook may contain several worksheets, different versions of the same list, mixed data types or columns that make sense only to the person who created them. We review representative files with your staff and document what each row, column and identifier means.
Map records to how your charity works
Decide which worksheets describe people, organisations, donations, memberships, cases or activities, and how those records relate. Agree a reliable identifier where possible, resolve duplicates deliberately and separate repeated transactions from a supporter’s main contact details.
- Identify the current, authoritative version of each spreadsheet
- Standardise column values and dates before import
- Agree how duplicate people and links between worksheets should be resolved
Partnerships people recommend.
This Beacon partner review describes the client’s experience with MakeITaplan. The previous CRM named on this page was confirmed separately and is not attributed to the review.
Great people
“They were great from the get go. We were in the hands of Sarah throughout the process and I have to say she was a genuine joy to work with, so easy going and able to make sense of our continual emails. She held our hand throughout and now we will be sad to see her go. Thank you to all the MIAP team.”
Test, review and agree the move
We can plan sample imports and review the results with the people who understand the source information. Together, we agree which records, links and key totals to check, resolve mapping questions and confirm what is in scope before any final import.
Plan for cutover and confident Beacon users
A migration also needs clear responsibilities, a decision log and an agreed point for the final source export. We can coordinate the work with your team, plan appropriate training and handover, and discuss follow-on support for new starters or changing requirements.
Related questions, answered
Can you migrate our existing data?
Yes.
We can help extract, clean, restructure, map and import data from existing systems and spreadsheets, depending on the agreed project scope.
Migration is not simply about putting old columns into new fields. We will also consider relationships, duplicates, data quality and whether the existing structure makes sense in the new CRM.
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.
How can we check whether migrated data is accurate?
Agree validation checks before the final import. Review representative records and relationships, compare relevant counts or totals with the source, record issues and repeat the checks after corrections.
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.