Migration from Another CRM to Cloven CRM [Advanced]

Migration from Another CRM to Cloven CRM [Advanced]

Introduction

Importing client data into Cloven is essential for proper use.
Most of Financial Advisors and Wealth Professionals that use Cloven are able to use pre-built tools like our BlueSun Advisor Import or the Excel-based data template and upload.
However, in some cases- especially when migrating from another CRM, a more advanced migration process is needed.
Note: Typically a Cloven user will engage with one of our experienced partners to assist with this. However, it is not necessary- an advanced user could do this themselves.
If you have any questions about this article, please reach out to support@bluroot.ca

Data Architecture

Before you begin the migration, it's important to understand the data architecture of Cloven.

Primary Modules

These are the data tables are where most data is uploaded and sets the structure for the entire database.
The modules are:
  1. Households/Companies: Also called accounts. This is best described as a group of Contacts
  2. Contacts: All people that you work with. This can include clients, prospects, COIs, underwriters, etc.
  3. Products: Products already sold to clients, and also a pipeline to track new opportunities
  4. Services: Pipeline to track progress of each service being performed

Supporting Modules

These are data tables attached to the Primary Modules to display more detailed information.
These modules are:
  1. Relationships: An unlimited number of Contact-Contact and Account-Contact connections.
  2. Notes: Every primary module can include an unlimited number of notes. Each note has a Title, Content, User and Time Stamp
  3. Documents: Every primary module has a place to upload documents/attachments. In general, we recommend using a Cloud Storage tool and linking- not directly uploading to the CRM
  4. Activities: All tasks, meetings and calls related to the primary module

Best Practices

A Contact has 1 primary Account, but can be related to many Accounts using Relationships.
Each Product and Service has 1 primary Contact and 1 primary Account. This concept will be important when linking modules during the import.
Note: On a given product or Service the primary Account does not need to be the primary Account of the primary Contact.
When performing the import, always start at the highest level of the diagram. In other words, do not import a module before "higher" modules have been imported.

How-To Guide

Pre-Import Data Mapping

Before you start the import, it is essential to establish what data is going where. Since each originating CRM is unique, the data mapping to Cloven is unique.
To do this, our best practices is to use this Excel document that contains all Cloven tables and fields in the left-hand column. In the right-hand column map the corresponding table and field from the originating CRM.

In this process, you might find that some fields in Cloven are missing- that's OK! In this scenario, we recommend:
  1. Add a new row to the table with this missing field
  2. Before importing to Cloven, add the field to the corresponding module (how-to guide)
Note: If you are migrating from another CRM, we recommend adding the originating CRM ID to all modules, and making this field unique

Data Preparation

To have a successful migration, it is important that the data you are importing matches the format that Cloven is expecting. If not, it can result in failures of specific records, or the entire import.
In general, here are our top tips for data preparation:
  1. Make sure each module (above) is exactly 1 CSV file
  2. Make sure tables can be linked. As an example, on the Contact table, make sure that there is a way to "know" what the primary Account is.
  3. Date Formats. Cloven expects a consistent date format. So if in a single column, you have values of 02/03/2021 and 2022-05-07, it produce a failure for at least one of these records.
  4. Mandatory Fields. If there are mandatory fields in Cloven, make sure all records being uploaded have a value. For example, if Last Name is mandatory and you don't know, simply put in TBD or [Placeholder] as the value.
  5. Missing Data. If there are any fields that seem very important, make sure that it's properly populated in the import file

CRM Preparation

As a last step before importing make sure Cloven is ready! Here are the top things to look for:
  1. Any new fields added to the mapping document are added to the CRM (this should include the CRM ID if coming from another CRM)
  2. There aren't any mandatory fields that you didn't account for
If there is already data in Cloven, perform a full data-backup so you can always revert back, if necessary.

Import Process

Once the data is prepared and cleaned, you have 2 options to import your data to Cloven:
  1. Full Migration Tool
  2. Import Module-by-Module
If you are migrating from another CRM, we recommend starting with the Full Migration Tool, and then using the module-by-module import to do any clean-up work.

Full Migration Tool

The Full Migration Tool can be found by going to Settings -> Data Administration -> Import. There are many options here, but for this article, we will focus on the other CRM option (Salesforce is very similar to this).
Once selected, the front-end will walk you through the process. If you did the above steps correctly, it should be fairly straightforward. At a high-level the steps are:
  1. Upload the data files (CSV format, with a maximum of 8GB)
  2. Map the data files to the specific module
  3. In each module, map the fields in the file to the field in Cloven
If you do migrate from another CRM, the originating CRM ID should go into the standard ID field, and also the new field that you created before this process.

Post-Import Clean-Up

As mentioned above, the module-by-module import is the best tool for any post-import clean-up needed.
Most commonly, this is used to link the different tables together if they were not linked during the Full Migration Tool.

Undo Import

In some scenarios, you might realize that the import was done incorrectly and you need to "undo" it. Luckily, there is an easy way to do this in Cloven.
Simply go to Settings -> Data Administration -> Import -> Import History.
In this menu, you will be able to see the imports performed. When you hover on an import, the option to "Undo Import" will appear:

Note: The ability to undo only lasts for 30 days after the import occurs.

Finalize Migration Process

Once all steps of the import are complete, you can finalize the migration process.
As a best practice, we recommend downloading all error reports (available with each import) and saving them.
In the same location, it is also best to include all migration and mapping documents as a reference should questions arise many weeks/months after the migration happens.