How to migrate from spreadsheets to FSM software

The phases

1. Phase 1

   Set up the new system in parallel

   Week 1 (days 1-7)

   Day 1-2: Sign up for the trial. ServiceGrid trial is 14 days, no card. Spend 30 minutes clicking around — calendar, customer list, job page, invoice flow. Get a feel for the layout.

   Day 3-5: Import your customers. Export your customer book from the spreadsheet as CSV. The columns ServiceGrid will use: name, address, city, state, zip, phone, email, notes. Anything else stays in the notes field. Most operators import 200+ customers in under an hour.

   Day 6-7: Set up your service menu and pricing. Take whatever pricelist you've been working from (the spreadsheet, a printed price sheet, your head) and translate it into a service menu in Settings → Service Menu. Include the standard line items, your rates, and any taxes.

   By the end of week 1: you have your customer list and pricing in ServiceGrid. The spreadsheet is still running production. Nothing has switched over yet.

   Checkpoints

   • ServiceGrid trial active
   • Customer list imported (200+ customers under an hour typical)
   • Service menu + pricing entered
   • Spreadsheet still running production

2. Phase 2

   New jobs flow through the new system

   Week 2 (days 8-14)

   Day 8: Create your first quote in ServiceGrid. Pick the next inbound job. Build the quote in ServiceGrid instead of your spreadsheet. Send it via the platform.

   Day 9-14: All new quotes and jobs flow through ServiceGrid. Existing jobs stay in the spreadsheet. Do not try to backfill the existing pipeline yet — let those jobs finish in the spreadsheet. New work goes in ServiceGrid.

   This is the most important sequencing decision in the whole migration. If you try to rip and replace, you'll drop a job. If you let new work flow in while old work flows out, the cutover is silent.

   Checkpoints

   • First quote built and accepted in ServiceGrid
   • All new work entering ServiceGrid
   • Existing in-flight jobs continuing to close in spreadsheet
   • No double-entry — one source of truth per job

3. Phase 3

   Onboard the team

   Week 3 (days 15-21)

   Day 15-17: Add your team. Invite admins, technicians, and field workers. Walk each person through the part of the app they'll actually use:

   - Office: calendar, customers, quotes, invoices. - Technicians: today's jobs page, photo capture, status updates, signature capture. - Workers: clock-in/out, today's stops on mobile.

   Day 18-21: First crew runs a full day in ServiceGrid. Pick one crew. They get their schedule, drive to jobs, capture photos, complete jobs, and clock out — all from the app. The spreadsheet stays open as a backup, but you're not using it.

   By end of week 3: One crew is running production-clean in ServiceGrid. The rest of the team has access and has been trained.

   Checkpoints

   • Team onboarded with role-based access
   • First crew running full day in ServiceGrid
   • Field workflows validated: photos, signatures, status, clock-in/out
   • Spreadsheet usage dropping as crews migrate

4. Phase 4

   Cut everyone over

   Week 4 (days 22-30)

   Day 22-28: Roll out crew by crew. Each day, one more crew moves to ServiceGrid as their primary system. Spreadsheet becomes read-only — used to look up old jobs, not enter new ones.

   Day 29: Send your first invoice batch from ServiceGrid. This is the moment payment flows shift. Customers paying historical invoices keep using whatever channel they were using; new invoices go through the platform.

   Day 30: Archive the spreadsheet. Save a snapshot in your Google Drive or local backup. Stop opening it during the workday.

   Checkpoints

   • All crews running on ServiceGrid
   • First invoice batch sent from ServiceGrid
   • Spreadsheet archived (read-only reference, not active)
   • Day-30 declaration: migration complete