Before importing data into Program Enrollments, it’s essential to take time to plan and prepare. This guide walks you through the key steps to ensure a successful migration and lays the foundation for clean, accurate reporting in the future.
What is a Migration?
A migration refers to the process of moving your existing program tracking data into Apricot’s Program Enrollment structure. This typically involves consolidating or replacing older methods—such as custom dropdowns, checkboxes, or forms—with a standardized enrollment process that captures when a participant starts and exits a program.
The goal is to ensure that program participation is tracked cleanly and consistently, so you can report on enrollment trends, service delivery, and outcomes with greater confidence.
Step 1: Understand Your Existing Data
Start by reviewing how you are currently tracking enrollments or services. Ask:
Where does program start and end date live today?
Are you using dropdowns or checkboxes to indicate participation?
Do you have duplicated data across forms?
Action Tip: Export data from your current forms to audit what you have. Look for inconsistent program names, missing dates, or duplicate participants.
Step 2: Define the Goal of the Migration
Before you start moving data, it helps to be clear on why you’re migrating and what success looks like. Most organizations migrate to Program Enrollments because it allows them to:
Streamline program tracking by using a consistent enrollment and exit structure
Support cleaner and more accurate reporting on who is enrolled in what, and when
Meet funder requirements that rely on standardized program enrollment data
Replace outdated or inconsistent methods (like dropdown fields or custom logic) with a system designed specifically for enrollment workflows
Ask yourself:
Will Program Enrollments replace your existing tracking completely, or will you need to maintain legacy records for historical purposes?
How will you know your migration was successful?
Step 3: Map Old Data to New Structure
To migrate successfully, you need to know how your current tracking setup compares to Apricot’s Program Enrollment structure.
Start by identifying:
Where do you currently capture program names? (e.g., a dropdown on a participant form?)
Do you have fields for start and end dates?
Are exits tracked, and if so, how?
Once you understand this, you can map those fields to the required Program Enrollment fields:
Current Field | Program Enrollment Field |
Program name (e.g., dropdown field) | Assigned Program |
Start date or intake date | Enrollment Date |
End date or closure date | Exit Date |
Reason for program exit | Exit Reason (using standardized list) |
This mapping exercise will help you plan your import and ensure your data lands in the right place.
Step 4: Clean and Standardize Your Data
Once your mapping is complete, it’s time to clean your source data. This is one of the most important steps in the process — and often where migrations run into trouble.
Here’s what to check for:
Inconsistent program names: Standardize to match the names used in your Program setup in Apricot.
Missing dates: Decide how to handle gaps — for example, will you assign a default enrollment date?
Duplicates: Watch for participants who have multiple records for the same program — especially if your current tracking method doesn’t require consistent start and end dates or limit users to one active enrollment per program.
Archived or inactive participants: Decide whether to include them in your migration or focus only on current enrollments.
You may want to clean your data in Excel before importing. Sorting, filtering, and using pivot tables can help uncover patterns or issues to address before you migrate.
Step 5: Test with a Small Data Sample
Before importing all of your cleaned data, run a test with a small batch of sample records (10–20 is a good number). This lets you catch any issues early and confirm that everything maps correctly.
Here’s what to test:
Do participants show up under the correct program?
Are the enrollment and exit dates accurate?
Are exit reasons applying as expected?
Does reporting on enrollments give the results you expect?
If something looks off, revise your mapping or data file and test again. Taking time to test will prevent large-scale errors and reduce cleanup work later.
Step 6: Archive Old Forms and Communicate Changes
Once you’re confident in your new setup, it’s time to move fully into Program Enrollments.
We recommend:
Archiving or locking the old forms you were using to track enrollments to prevent future use
Letting your staff know what’s changing, when, and where to enter enrollment data going forward
Creating a backup of your original source file or exported data from Apricot for historical reference
If you’re replacing an existing workflow, it may help to include side-by-side examples showing how “old” data maps to the new Program Enrollment structure so your users feel confident during the transition.
Step 7: Prepare for Import
Once your data is clean, mapped, and tested, you're ready to import data into Program Enrollments using the Import Tool. This article will guide you through:
Preparing your CSV file
Downloading the import template
Reconciling programs and fields
Uploading your data
Make sure your programs are already created in Apricot before importing, and double-check the exact program names for consistency.