Migration Preparation for Accounting

The process of migrating accounting data from your current system into NonprofitCore contains several main steps. In this article, we will provide an overview of the migration process and several key questions to consider when preparing for your accounting migration.

Migrations Process Overview

While each migration can have unique elements, the main steps in the process are outlined below.

1. Export data from your current systems.
   
   • There are five recommended accounting files to export. 
     • Trial balance report to set the beginning balance in NonprofitCore 
     • Chart of accounts
     • List of programs
     • Journal entries for the desired period
     • Beginning and ending trial balance report for the same period
2. Clean up the exported data.
   • This includes adjusting formatting to best prepare for importing into NonprofitCore.
3. Import the data into your NonprofitCore Sandbox site.
   • Use the in-system tool to import the data into your NonprofitCore Sandbox site.
4. Validate the imported data.
   • Iterate and adjust if necessary based on any issues you find when validating the data.
5. Import the finalized data into your NonprofitCore Live site. 

Select a Timeframe

Another important component to consider is when you plan to do your accounting migration. In order to select a timeframe, the following questions can be a starting point.

• When do you want to go live with your NonprofitCore site?
  • Consider if the end of the month, fiscal year, quarter, etc. could be ideal. It may be easier to validate the data once it is imported into NonprofitCore if the books are already closed.  
• When does your current accounting software contract, and potentially any other related software contracts, end?
  • This is especially important to consider if you are using a hosted software as you might lose access to your data when your contract expires.
• Do you need your data for an audit?
  • If you think you may need data for an IRS audit, you will need to have at least seven years of past accounting data unless your nonprofit has been operating for less than seven years.
• Is there a slower time of year for your nonprofit that could be ideal for a migration?
  • We recognize that end-of-year tends to be a busy time, and migrating in alignment with your year-end is not required.  

Prepare for Migration: Questions to Consider

In addition to identifying a timeframe for your accounting migration, there are a few other questions to consider as you prepare. 

• How many systems are you currently using for accounting, and from which systems do you want to migrate data?
• How much past accounting data do you want to migrate into NonprofitCore?
  • To help with this decision, consider when you last referenced your past data after a particular point. Also consider if the past data allows you to gain good insight, or if it is not worth the effort to migrate it. 
  • If you decide not to migrate all past data, consider keeping the data you are not migrating in spreadsheet form just in case you need to refer to it at a later time. 
• Do you regularly use all of the accounts in your current chart of accounts?
  • If not, consider if you could clean up the chart of accounts before migrating into NonprofitCore. 
• What types of reports do you use regularly?
  • Identifying the most important types of reports from your current system can help you make setup decisions in NonprofitCore and might help you make decisions about the data you choose to migrate. 
  • Consider what information you bring to your board and what types of analysis you want to be able to perform.

Pros and Cons to Consider Before Migrating Past Data

In addition to the questions, there are some pros and cons to consider when determining how much past data to migrate to NonprofitCore.

Pros

• Migrating a large amount of past data is helpful for understanding and analyzing trends.
• More data provides more details for reporting.
• Clean, past data can be available for audit purposes.
• Spreadsheets with past data could be lost in case of staff turnover.

Cons

• Keeping large amounts of past data can be time consuming to scroll through and will require resources to manage the data.
• Migrating a large amount of past data into NonprofitCore will create a slower migration process.
• Migrating incomplete data can clutter your system.

Once you have identified your timeline for the migration and have finished other preparations, the next step is to export accounting data from your current systems. More details are available in Export Your Accounting Data from Other Systems.