A church management software migration checklist

Moving church management software is a records project as well as a technical change. People, households, giving history, volunteer teams and public information have different owners and different risks. Agree on the scope before importing a full congregation.

This checklist is intended to structure a review with your staff. It does not mean every field or integration transfers automatically. Confirm your own exports and requirements with the receiving system before retiring the source.

1. Name the owners and keep the originals

Choose a person responsible for each area: membership, finance, volunteers, communications and the website. Decide who can approve the move and who can pause it if the results do not agree.

Export and retain the original files in the church’s approved secure storage. Record when they were created and which system they came from. Work on copies, keep access limited and avoid sending private member or giving information through an unapproved channel.

2. Map a representative sample

Review the fields available in the source and destination. Include people with missing contact details, households with several members, existing volunteers and records that could be duplicates.

Check source identifiers as well as names and emails. Different people can share an email address, and one person can have changed addresses. Decide how ambiguous records will be reviewed rather than automatically merging people because one contact field matches.

3. Reconcile people and households

Import a small sample and compare counts, names, contact details and the fields the church relies on. Review household membership and the role of each person. Check whether re-importing a corrected file creates duplicates or updates the intended records.

Have the membership owner approve the result before expanding the import. Keep a note of fields that could not be mapped and a plan for handling them. Do not silently drop information simply to make an import finish.

4. Review giving separately

Finance staff should compare donor identity, gift dates, amounts, funds and source transaction identifiers. Reconcile counts and totals for an agreed period and review refunds or ambiguous records as exceptions.

A migrated giving history is not the same as transferring recurring payment authorization or a connected bank account. Confirm those arrangements with the payment providers and the church owner. Test the approved payment workflow and settlement separately before relying on it.

5. Rehearse the live workflows

Prepare a service, send only authorized test communications and confirm that the right roles can use the information they need. Test check-in and pickup with the actual devices and printer. Preview public website content before publishing it.

Keep a fallback and decide how corrections will be handled. Avoid making the first real service the first full test of the new system. Document open requirements and resolve them before asking the congregation to depend on the change.

6. Approve the rollout and retain an exit path

Have the responsible owners sign off on the reconciled records and demonstrated workflows. Agree on when staff will stop editing the source system so the two copies do not drift without a plan.

Retain the original exports and review what can be exported from the new system. Church Krew can help explain supported import fields and product behavior, but your church’s data owners should approve the final reconciliation and launch decision.