Migrate Data

While data migration can appear complex, in most cases things run very smoothly and we're committed to providing whatever assistance you need to make the process as inexpensive and painless as possible.

There are six key steps that need to be followed. These are summarised below. Some of these tasks can be carried out by you, some we need to do, and some can be done by either party. The more steps you are able to carry out yourself, and the cleaner your data, the lower your migration costs will be.

STEP 1: Preparation   

As a first step, you need to work out, and help us to understand, what information you wish to migrate into SmartyGrants.

STEP 2: Extraction     

Next comes data extraction. This might be as simple as creating or copying a spreadsheet, or could involve exporting data from your legacy system.

STEP 3: Configuration

SmartyGrants is then configured to receive and hold your migrated data. This involves setting up within your SmartyGrants account grant programs, grant rounds, stages, forms and financial fields.

STEP 4: Population

Once SmartyGrants is configured we will create a Migration Template in Excel. Your data will be copied into this file.

STEP 5: Testing

The SmartyGrants team runs a test migration to identify any problems (e.g. incorrectly formatted fields, non-compatible symbols) in your data. The data can then be cleaned and retested.

STEP 6: Loading

Once your data has successfully passed through testing it can be migrated into SmartyGrants. This takes just a few minutes.

More details about each step are provided below. We've also provided information on costs, timeframes and the types of data that can be imported into SmartyGrants.

Data migration steps

Step 1: Preparation

Your first task is to examine the data you hold about your existing grant applications and make an assessment of what information you will need access to in the future.

Consider what reporting requirements you currently have, or can foresee having in the future, that will rely on your existing grants data. Consider also whether you want any ongoing/outstanding acquittals or reports captured in SmartyGrants.

We strongly recommend that you leave behind any data that is unlikely to be reused or referenced in the future, or any data that is not accurate or reliable.

To make the most of the information you migrate, it's useful to understand how SmartyGrants works. For example, if you understand how our contact fields work, you will be able to ensure you migrate the fields that will allow us to create contact records for your users so that you can identify which individuals or organisations have received previous funding. It is also important to understand the difference between Standard Fields and other question fields and how this could affect reporting in future.

Responsibility

You must complete this step. While SmartyGrants can provide some guidance on what you could migrate, ultimately the migration parameters need to be set by you.

Tasks

1. Review your existing data and determine how many applications/rounds/programs, over how many years, you wish to migrate.

2. Contact us for an indicative quote. Once we have the information needed, we can normally turn around a quote in a few days.

Step 2: Extraction

Having considered what information you wish to migrate, you now need to copy or extract that information from your current grants system into Excel spreadsheets (one per program).  

The extraction process might be as simple as making a copy of an existing spreadsheet, or it might involve getting in touch with your IT department to export data out of your existing database.

Responsibility

You are responsible for the extraction process, though SmartyGrants can provide guidance on how to go about it. We can also review the information you have extracted and advise on whether it appears likely that it will allow an efficient migration to take place.

Tasks

1. Extract your data into Excel files (either xls or xlsx), ensuring that in the process every piece of information can be connected with a particular grant application or contact.

Step 3: Configuration

Your SmartyGrants account must be configured to receive your migrated data. This typically involves setting up grant programs, rounds, stages, forms and financial fields to hold the imported data.

It's usually most efficient if you do this work yourself (though we're always available to help).

Responsibility

Either you can take responsibility for this step, or SmartyGrants staff can do it for you.

Tasks:

1. Within SmartyGrants, create the grant programs and rounds that will hold your migrated applications.

2. If required, create stages within each program to reflect where your applications are up to in their grant lifecycle.

3. If you are migrating funding allocation and payment information:

   • Create all relevant financial periods

   • Set up funding sources and budgets

   • [Optionally] Record the actual budget allocation for each financial period.

4. Create the required forms (Application, Acquittal, Assessment, Administration) in each relevant program. Ensure you use the correct question types (e.g. date questions to hold date information; currency questions to hold currency details).

Step 4: Population

Once SmartyGrants has been configured to hold your application details, we can prepare the Migration Template in Excel. The fields and columns in the data you extracted will be copied into this template before being migrated into SmartyGrants.

This can be a tricky process but SmartyGrants staff can support you to complete this step if required.

If you change the forms that have been created to receive your migrated data after you have been provided with the migration spreadsheet, you will need to notify SmartyGrants so we can minimise any additional data clean-up that might result, or re-create the migration spreadsheet if required.

Responsibility

Either you can complete this step yourself, or SmartyGrants can do it on your behalf. This is potentially the most fiddly (and therefore costly) section of the migration process. The more you are able to manipulate the data yourself, the more affordable the migration will be, but we are always happy to provide whatever help you need.

Tasks

1. Retrieve the Migration Template file/s (one for each program that applications are to be migrated into).

2. Transpose your data into the template files.

3. Clean up your data by checking that all dates are in the right format (dd/mm/yy) and that currency or number fields only have numbers and no text.

4. Submit the completed template file(s) to SmartyGrants via the following link: Migration Program Outline Upload - SmartyGrants Migrations

Step 5: Testing

Using the Migration Template file we will test your data to identify any issues that might prevent it from being successfully migrated into SmartyGrants.

The results of the testing process typically lead to further cleaning and refinement of the data. Once the data has been cleaned the tests can be rerun to ensure that all the issues have been corrected.

Responsibility

Only SmartyGrants can actually run the tests; however, correcting errors in your data can either be undertaken by you or by SmartyGrants.

Tasks

1. Run the Migration Template file through test migration (must be completed by SmartyGrants).

2. Review the Migration Result file and identify any errors.

3. Clean the problematic data and resubmit for testing.

Step 6: Loading

Once your data has successfully passed the testing stage it can be migrated into SmartyGrants. (The actual loading of the data into SmartyGrants usually takes only a few minutes.)

Once the data is loaded into SmartyGrants you can make changes through the SmartyGrants interface. Our team will work with you to verify all data has been imported successfully and meets your requirements.

Responsibility

Only SmartyGrants can perform the data migration.

Tasks

1. Import data.

2. Confirm that all the data has appeared where expected.

Data types & timing

SmartyGrants can accept a large amount of data and a wide variety of data types. We import most data from Excel spreadsheets so if you can get your previous or existing data into Excel, it can be migrated into SmartyGrants.

Our migration team is also able to help you populate standard fields with historical data.

What can be migrated?

Timing

Migrations take a minimum of two weeks to complete, though you will need to spend some time on preparations beforehand, and timeframes may alter depending on a variety of factors.

Once we've received your data  (at the end of Step 4) we will be in a better position to provide you with a more definitive timeline.

Costs and quotes

Our migration charges are designed to help us recover our costs but we have no desire to unnecessarily add to yours. If we can think of ways to minimise your costs, we'll suggest them. If at any point we believe the cost we've quoted may change due to something unforseen, we'll get in contact with you to discuss next steps.

Migration costs are heavily dependent on three factors:

1. How much data and what types of data you want to migrate in to SmartyGrants;

2. How clean your data is; and

3. How much of the migration work you do yourself.

If you are able to carry out most of the migration steps yourself, and the data you supply is in good order, then the costs will be quite low.

In order to provide you with an indicative quote, we will ask you to:

• Tell us how many programs you wish to migrate into SmartyGrants;

• Send us a sample of your data and your form/s (if available);

• Provide us with the following information (one table for each program you wish to migrate):

• Tell us who you think will be responsible for each migration step:

It’s impossible to estimate precisely how much each migration will cost before we’ve had a chance to examine and test the data supplied. However, the information you provide to us will help us to determine what your migration is likely to cost, based on our past experience.

We do charge a base cost plus an hourly rate for each hour of time the migration might take. For most clients, 10 hours is sufficient (though, as mentioned earlier, what we charge you will be heavily reliant on how much data you want to migrate, how clean your data is, and how much of the work you can do yourself).

If you proceed with migration, we will notify you if and as soon as we encounter problems that we think could blow out your quote. We’ll also look for ways to save you money if we can.

For related pricing costs please visit our Pricing page.

Get in touch

For further information contact the SmartyGrants Support Team.