Salesforce Data Import Tips for Nonprofits

A lot of nonprofits I talk with are absolutely terrified of data migration and data importing. I was at first too when I first started using Salesforce. It's understandable - it feels permanent and like a big project! But with all of the available tools, resources, and support available to you (none of which were around when I started out, I might add, when we had to walk to school uphill both ways), you can totally do this. Just remember to practice in the sandbox and take it one step at a time. With that in mind here are a few additional tips:

1. Clean your data! If you're taking the time to move your data from one place to another, you certainly want it to look sparkling fresh so people will use it, right? Here are some tips:

• Deduplicate! Watch this video for tips on how to do this quickly using Excel. 
• Fill in missing data! Now's the time to decide what makes a complete record. I recommend having a 'Jane Doe' record in your legacy database and in your new Salesforce instance that all staff can refer to at all times that shows what a clean, complete record looks like.
• Special note: Once you have taken the data out of your legacy system and started manipulating it in Excel, you'll need to move quickly to import it so staff can get back to work. Either turn your legacy system into read only or be sure to have a way to capture any changes made after you did your export for cleaning. Of course, you'll want to be sure to plan this project for a time when you will have a lot of help with the cleaning and when it will be easier for staff to be locked out of the database.
• Too much bad data and not enough time? Consider using criteria to decide what data you'll clean and bring into Salesforce. For example, you can decide, "let's only import data from the past 5 years (we'll keep the rest in Excel files for reference)" or "a contact must have at least an email address or phone number for us to move it into Salesforce." Not sure what to do? Be sure to ask in the Power of Us Hub for support and tips!

2. Format your data! Again, watch this video for tons of tips to help make this easy (hint: filters in Excel really help with this!). You'd be surprised how many phone numbers, email addresses, states, etc. need to be cleaned up. Make sure your data will match the data standards and validation rules that you've established - for example, where do you put extensions for phone numbers? Are you using state abbreviations? What about US vs. USA for country?

3. Map your data! I like to keep this simple by using an Excel or Google spreadsheet where the top row has my legacy database field names and the bottom row has my new Salesforce field names (the goal is to have a 1:1 relationship between your legacy fields and new fields in Salesforce, assuming you're importing all of the old data). Then I use the data validation feature in Excel to restrict my data input to just the correct Salesforce values as appropriate (i.e., the right picklist values). I put all of the data to be imported into this spreadsheet in the appropriate Salesforce format for each field. 

4. Figure out the import order of your data. Should you put in your Accounts first, by themselves?When in doubt, ask! Note you may need to split up your spreadsheet from step 3 into multiple objects, and confirm that you have at least the required fields from each object included. This step is heavily dependent on which tool you're using, so my advice is to draft a plan and then confirm that plan in the Power of Us Hub. It's typical to start with Accounts (Organizations), then add Contacts, then Opportunities (Donations), but this is different if you're using the Nonprofit Success Pack (see resources below). Some tools can also handle importing to multiple objects at a time, which is great and can save you a lot of stress! The Salesforce Importing Data Quick Start should be able to help, but does not address the NPSP. Don't worry, you can do it!

5. Again, practice in a sandbox! A Salesforce sandbox exists so you can test something before you do it in a more permanent way in production. Data migrations involving multiple objects can be tricky to undo, and you're given about 30 free sandboxes, so test out your skills before you move forward and ***be sure to check your work*** before and after you put it into production. 

What's your experience with Salesforce data migration and importing? Favorite tools? Let me know and be sure to come to #AdminHour the first and third Thursday of ever month at 10am PT/1pm ET to continue to build your Salesforce skills in a fun and interactive way!

Additional Resources:
If you'll be importing into the Nonprofit Success Pack, be sure to watch this webinar and check out this page.