Please review the QuickBooks Online preparation information below to ensure the cleanest data in regard to your data import.

NOTE: Not reviewing any of these items prior to data import may cause a delay in the import process as we have you run through them, or may cause duplicate records, or incorrect information.

Prior to importing data into Novi, please review the following:

It is up to your organization and your accountant if you would like to bring your pre-existing customer records and transactions (historical or just open A/R) from your current accounting system into QuickBooks Online (if applicable - if this is already in your QuickBooks Online account, great!). 

Once Novi and QuickBooks are synced after data import, the two systems will be a 1:1 match, meaning that every customer record in Novi (regardless of member status) will appear in QuickBooks Online and vice versa.

If a spreadsheet record and a QuickBooks record auto-merge based on an exact name match:

Note that only the following types of transactions are visible in Novi:

Additionally, only transactions on the revenue/customer side of QuickBooks Online will sync over to Novi. Transactions pertaining to your vendors (not your supplier/associate members, if that applies to you, but rather the people who YOU pay for services), will not appear in Novi.

Overall, keep in mind that some associations choose to bring in Customer Records and open and/or historic A/R in QuickBooks Online from their previous accounting system. Some, however, choose to start their books fresh with Novi. Either way is totally fine, so this decision is completely up to your association, but please just be aware of the stated information.

We've compiled a few QuickBooks Resources, such as how to migrate your data to QuickBooks Online from Desktop, that can help your team out. If you will be including this information in your QuickBooks Online account, the migration should be fully complete prior to the Novi member data import process.

Run your QuickBooks Online records and transactions through our Novi-engineered, award-winning QuickBooks Online data analyzing platform, DataMaid, to find any formatting errors, transaction issues, ambiguous records, or duplicate records in QuickBooks Online that may cause issues in the data import. 

Note: We will review and assign a DataMaid task during a check-in call. No need to run it prior to discussion.

If you have existing individual/person records in QuickBooks Online, their display name should not be displayed as Last Name, First Name. It needs to be in order. The Display Name should also match what is in the name fields.

If you have existing company records in QuickBooks Online, Display Names for companies should exactly match the information in the Company Name field.

In both cases, not having this formatting will cause what we call "Ambiguous Records," which can be identified and updated in DataMaid (above), but if you can help not having person names in that format to start with, that will save you time.

>> Learn more about name fields, including character limits.

Ensure that existing customer record Display Names in QuickBooks Online exactly match the names of records in your spreadsheet.

For example:

The names must be an exact match in terms of spelling.

If names do not match, you will end up with duplicate records in both systems that will need to be manually merged. Merges can be done in Novi after data import, but we strongly recommend taking care of matching the names prior to import for the cleanest data upfront.

On the other hand, keep in mind that if you have "dirty" data in your member spreadsheet, you may want to clean that up. ABC Co. and ABC Co are treated as the same name in terms of this matchup process, so the first records in the spreadsheet would be what matches to the QuickBooks record.

One important question to address is what to do when there's conflicting contact information between QuickBooks Online and your spreadsheet during the import process. In other words, if the same contact exists in both QuickBooks and your spreadsheet but with different details, such as email addresses, which one should be prioritized for the import?

For instance, let's say ABC Company is present in both QuickBooks and your spreadsheet, and their name matches in both sources. In QuickBooks Online, their email is listed as contact@abccompany.com, while in the spreadsheet it's listed as info@abccompany.com. So we need to decide which information should be considered more reliable, essentially determining the "winner."

To clarify further, let's consider an example where the value in the spreadsheet is blank... Suppose the member's address is missing in the spreadsheet but is available in their QuickBooks record. If we opt for the recommended setting of "using the spreadsheet for conflicting data," the system will retain the existing value (the address from QuickBooks) rather than replacing it with a blank value. Therefore, the address from the QuickBooks record would be retained, while all other information from the spreadsheet, such as membership data, would be imported.

Please note, company record Billing Contacts must be denoted in the Billing Contact column of your member spreadsheet that will be imported if you would like to utilize them. Individuals do not have billing contacts.

Billing contacts designate the email in which transactions are sent through Novi. If there is no billing contact, the system will look to send to the email on the company record. If there is not one, it falls back to the primary contact person of the company. If there is not one, you will see a message that the transaction cannot be sent.

Note that Novi's Billing Contacts are not always the same as simply having a person's name on a company's record inside of QuickBooks Online.

Please see the "Novi Billing Contact Does Not Always Equal Person's Name on a QuickBooks Record" section of this article for more information.