In short
Move active students first, then their open applications, then outstanding payments. Do not migrate history. With under a hundred active students you can be fully working in the new system within a day, because the only data that must be perfect on day one is data attached to a future deadline.
The instinct is to move everything, which turns a one-day job into an abandoned three-month project. Students who finished two years ago do not need to be in the CRM to be kept.
Step 1. Decide what counts as active
Write the rule down first: active means a session, an open application or an unpaid invoice in the next twelve months. Everything else is archive. That usually halves the migration set.
Step 2. Clean the sheet, not the CRM
Fixing data is far easier in the spreadsheet than after the import. Before you export anything:
Pre-migration cleanup
- One row per student. Merge the duplicates created when someone was added twice under different spellings.
- Split combined fields. "Maria K. (mum Elena 69…)" is three fields, not one.
- Use one date format. Mixed formats are the most common cause of a failed import.
- Standardise country and university names. "UK", "U.K." and "United Kingdom" are one value, not three.
- Delete columns nobody has filled in for a year.
Step 3. Move students, then applications, then money
- Step 01
Students
Contact details, parent contacts, school and target countries. Everything else can wait until you next speak to them.
- Step 02
Open applications
Only the ones not yet closed, with university, stage and deadline. This is the part that must be right, because the calendar depends on it.
- Step 03
Outstanding payments
Enter what is owed, not what is settled. Paid history lives in your accounts and does not need re-typing.
- Step 04
Sessions from here on
Log new sessions from day one, and do not backfill. Within a few weeks the record is complete enough.
Step 4. Close the old entry points
A migration fails when new data keeps arriving in the old place. If enquiries come through a Google Form or your Instagram bio, repoint them the same week. That is what registration forms are for.
How long it really takes
The import is minutes. The cleanup is where the time goes: half a day for fifty students, a full day for two hundred. What takes weeks is habit: the team has to stop opening the sheet. A date after which the spreadsheet is read-only does more for that than any training.
The full rollout is in the CRM implementation checklist. Whether to move at all, including the case for staying, is in CRM vs spreadsheets.
Start with ten students
The free plan covers 10 students, enough to rehearse a real migration first.
Keep reading
Frequently asked questions
Should we migrate students who have already been placed?
Only if you expect to work with them again or need the record for a reference. Otherwise keep the archive spreadsheet. Closed cases add noise to every list and search.
Can data be exported again later?
It should be, and confirm it before you commit to any vendor. EduCRM includes data export on Premium.