Synagogue software migration checklist
The data is the congregation's memory. This is how to move it without losing any.
Before you sign
- Get the migration scope in writing: which tables, how many years of history, who maps fields, how many test loads, and what it costs if the first load is wrong.
- Ask for a full export from your current system now, before notice is given. Some legacy vendors slow down once they know you are leaving.
- Confirm your current contract's termination notice period and data-return terms.
What to export from the old system
- Households and individuals, with relationships (spouse, child, parent, ex-spouse, deceased).
- Hebrew birth dates and yahrzeit records, including yahrzeits observed for non-members and the Hebrew date as stored, not a Gregorian conversion.
- Membership status history and dues tier history.
- Full receivables history: invoices, payments, adjustments, write-offs, by family, for at least seven years.
- Pledges and campaign history with fulfillment status.
- School enrollment history by child and year.
- Seating assignments and honors history.
- Cemetery plots, owners and interments if you manage a cemetery.
- Communication preferences and opt-outs.
- Documents and notes attached to records.
What commonly gets lost
- Yahrzeit records keyed to a relationship rather than a person, which flatten into text.
- Historical receivables, which some vendors load only as opening balances. Insist on transaction-level history or keep the old system readable.
- Custom fields and notes, which rarely have a home in the new schema.
- Pledge installment schedules, which often load as a single balance.
- Who is deceased and when, which affects both yahrzeits and mailing lists.
Test loads: what to check
- Count households, individuals, open invoices and yahrzeit records in both systems. They must match exactly or you must know why.
- Pick ten complicated families and compare every screen.
- Generate this month's yahrzeit list in both systems and diff it.
- Generate aged receivables in both systems and reconcile to the penny.
- Send a test statement and a test yahrzeit letter to a staff member.
- Have a parent enroll a child through the new portal.
- Export everything from the new system and open the file. If you cannot leave, you have not finished arriving.
Cut-over
- Freeze changes in the old system on a published date; log anything that must be entered after the freeze and re-key it.
- Go live in a quiet month. Never in Elul.
- Keep the old system readable for at least one full fiscal year.
Frequently asked questions
Which synagogue platforms document imports from ShulCloud or Chaverware?
Each review's migration box lists the source systems the vendor documents on its public pages and links the source. The legacy migration shortlist and ShulCloud alternatives pages rank by that documentation.
How much does a synagogue software migration cost?
Where vendors publish onboarding packages, the figures we have verified sit in the low thousands of dollars; others fold migration into the subscription or quote it case by case. The pricing page lists what each vendor states.