Switching Project Management Software: How to Migrate Without Losing Data

Thinking about switching project management software? The biggest worry is usually not the new software but the data: years of client history, thousands of logged hours and an invoice ledger that has to keep adding up. With a solid plan, the switch is done within a week — without losing data.

Step 1: Decide what needs to come along

Almost always: organizations, contacts, projects and services, logged hours, invoices and leave balances. Be critical about what does not need to migrate (closed projects from years ago can often be archived as an export).

Step 2: Use your current tool's API, not spreadsheet exports

Most modern platforms have a REST API that lets you retrieve every entity including the relationships between them. That's far more reliable than loose spreadsheet exports, where the links between hours, services and invoices get lost.

Step 3: Run a trial migration first

A good migration is idempotent: you can repeat it without creating duplicates. Run a trial import first and verify the totals — number of accounts, sum of logged hours per year, sum of invoice amounts. If those match your current tool, you know the migration is complete.

Step 4: Watch out when merging multiple environments

Working with two environments you want to combine into one? Then deduplication is critical: the same client may exist in both. Match on company registration number (in the Netherlands, for instance, the Chamber of Commerce number) and email address, and route borderline cases to manual review instead of merging them automatically.

Step 5: Pick a quiet go-live

Migrate over a weekend or at the end of an invoicing period. Have the team log into the new environment on Monday while the old one stays available read-only for a while as a safety net.

Horixa's built-in import module

Horixa has exactly this approach built in: the import reads your current environment(s) via the API, first shows a verifiable trial import with totals, deduplicates on registration number and email, and can merge two environments into a single administration. Get started or book a demo.