1. Inventory Spreadsheets2. Clean & Standardize3. Import Leads & Clients4. Rebuild BOQ Templates5. Set Up Inventory6. Migrate Projects7. Train Your Team8. Retire Spreadsheets
Inventory Every Spreadsheet in Use
Why it matters: Spreadsheet sprawl tends to be invisible until you write it all down - most teams find more spreadsheets in active use than they expected.
- Lead and deal tracker
- BOQ templates, often one per project or one master copy that gets duplicated
- Inventory or stock-on-hand sheet
- Any shared "master schedule" for active projects
Result: A written list of every spreadsheet in active use, with an owner for each.
Clean & Standardize Your Data
Why it matters: Spreadsheets accumulate inconsistent formats over time - different date formats, inconsistent stage names - that need fixing before import, not after.
- Standardize date and phone number formats across every sheet
- Consolidate multiple "current" versions of the same BOQ into one
- Remove duplicate leads and dead records
Result: One clean, current version of each spreadsheet, with consistent formatting throughout.
Import Leads & Clients
Why it matters: This gets your sales team working in OneSolar CRM immediately, and is the lowest-risk data to move first.
- Go to CRM → Import and upload your cleaned lead tracker as CSV
- Map each column to its OneSolar CRM field
- Review the import preview before confirming
Result: Your OneSolar CRM Deals list matches your spreadsheet’s row count and total value.
Rebuild Your BOQ Templates
Why it matters: This is the step that actually stops BOQ version confusion - once your common line items live in OneSolar CRM , no one is typing them from memory into a new spreadsheet copy.
- Go to Work → BOQ Settings
- Add your common material and labor categories with standard unit costs
- Save your most frequent full BOQ as a template for repeat project types
Result: Building a new BOQ means selecting from a list, not typing from scratch.
Set Up Inventory From Your Stock Spreadsheet
Why it matters: Inventory data is only trustworthy from day one if opening stock is entered accurately - this is worth doing carefully once rather than correcting later.
- Go to Operations → Warehouses and add each physical location
- Add your product catalogue with current purchase and selling costs
- Enter opening stock per warehouse from your most recent physical count, not an estimate
Note: If your stock spreadsheet hasn’t been reconciled against a physical count recently, do that count before importing - otherwise you’re just moving inaccurate numbers into a new system.
Result: OneSolar CRM’s Inventory dashboard matches your most recent physical stock count.
Migrate Active Projects
Why it matters: Only currently open jobs need to move - completed projects can be archived as reference data with no urgency.
- Create a Project record for each active job from your master schedule
- Recreate current milestones and mark completed ones as done
- Recreate open tasks with accurate due dates
Result: Every active project appears in OneSolar CRM with correct milestone and task status.
Train Your Team on the New Workflow
Why it matters: The biggest risk in leaving spreadsheets isn’t the data migration - it’s habit. A team that’s used a shared sheet for years needs a deliberate walkthrough, not just an announcement.
- Run a 30-minute walkthrough of the new day-to-day workflow with the whole team
- Show specifically where each spreadsheet’s old function now lives in OneSolar CRM
- Designate one person per team to answer "where do I do X now" questions during the transition
Result: Every team member can name where their old spreadsheet tasks now happen in OneSolar CRM.
Retire the Spreadsheets
Why it matters: A spreadsheet that’s still editable is a spreadsheet someone will eventually edit - the only way to fully stop the old habit is to remove write access.
- Set every migrated spreadsheet to read-only or archive it entirely
- Remove shared edit links from team chat channels and bookmarks
- Confirm no one has quietly kept a personal copy still being updated
Result: All source spreadsheets are read-only or archived, and OneSolar CRM is the only place data gets entered.
You’ve completed this tutorial
You’re fully off spreadsheets. Next: make sure your first proposal out of OneSolar CRM looks great.
Continue learning
Keep going with the next tutorials in the Solar CRM series.