Migration Preparation for CRM

The process of migrating CRM data from your current system into NonprofitCore contains several main steps, including exporting data from your current system, cleaning up the exported data, importing the data into your NonprofitCore site, and validating the imported data. In this article, we will provide an overview of the migration process and several key questions to consider when preparing for your CRM 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 two recommended CRM files to export.
     • List of profiles
     • Giving/donation history
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 CRM migration. In order to select a timeframe, the following questions can be a starting point. 

• When does your current CRM 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.  
• Is there a slower time of year for your nonprofit that could be ideal for a migration?
  • Consider migrating at a time that will not conflict with big fundraising events, grant application deadlines, etc. 

Prepare for Migration: Questions to Consider

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

• How many systems are you currently using for CRM, and from which systems do you want to migrate data?
• Do you want to clean up your CRM data in your current systems prior to migrating the data? 
  • This could include removing any profiles who have not interacted with your organization in a certain amount of time, those who typically do not open/engage with your communications, any incomplete profiles, etc.
• Is your past data on a cloud-based system?
  • If your past data is not on a cloud-based system, make sure you can access the data after migrating over to NonprofitCore.
  • If your past data is on a cloud-based system, make sure you download and save your data somewhere for easy access,if you have a desire to keep and maintain the data.
• How much CRM data are you migrating into NonprofitCore?
  • It is important to migrate donors who are associated with revenue that is being migrated into your accounting system. For example, if you are migrating prior and current fiscal year past accounting data you will want to migrate prior and current year past CRM data as well.
• What is important to your organization and the work you do?
  • Keep in mind what information your nonprofit needs within your CRM to accomplish your nonprofit's work. If your nonprofit utilizes additional information such as notes and tasks, you will need to include that data in your migration.
• In addition to the standard fields, which are listed below for reference, which fields do you want to track with your profiles in NonprofitCore? 
  
  • Standard profile fields include the following:
    • Individual Name (first, middle, preferred, last, prefix, suffix)
    • Organization Name
    • Household Name
    • Organization Role
    • Addresses (city, state, postal code, country)
    • Phone Numbers
    • Email
    • 1099 Vendor
    • Do Not Solicit
    • Tax ID
    • Address Type
    • Phone Number Type
    • Email Type
    • Created Date
    • Active
    • Organization Relationship
    • Individual Relationship
    • Household Relationship
    • External ID
  • Consider what other information you would like to know about your opportunities and information that you typically report on for grants, events, and other opportunities. Custom fields can be added in NonprofitCore to capture that information, so it is helpful to consider this as you set up your site and migrate data.
• What types of reports do you use regularly?
  • Identifying the most important types of reports from your current system can help you make set-up 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 in generational giving and donor lifecycles.
• More data provides more details for reporting.
• Clean, past data can help you understand how long a donor has been with your nonprofit and relationships associated with the donor.

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.
• Large amounts of past data can provide a false idea of the true number of active donors.
• 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 CRM data from your current systems. More details are available in Export Your CRM Data from Other Systems.