Whether implementing NetSuite for the first time, upgrading from a legacy ERP, or consolidating data from multiple systems, your data migration strategy can make or break success. Data accuracy, speed, and visibility are essential.

Enter The Great Migration, your roadmap for handling NetSuite data the right way. It’s powered by ExtendInsights, a modern Excel-based platform that helps teams map, cleanse, transform, validate, and report on NetSuite data from start to finish.

And it’s not just one-directional. ExtendInsights can also be used to migrate data out of NetSuite and into other platforms, such as Salesforce, HubSpot, or any system that supports structured imports. This makes it a powerful solution for companies managing multi-system transitions or maintaining parallel environments.

🧭 Step 1: Mapping – Define Your Data Destination

ExtendInsights leverages NetSuite field IDs, allowing users to build record templates directly in Excel that align with NetSuite’s structure. Users can compare these templates against data from legacy systems to ensure proper mapping before uploading them to NetSuite. While ExtendInsights offers prebuilt record templates for common use cases, users of all skill levels can create custom templates based on the type of record they are working with, such as customers, journal entries, or vendors.

Additionally, users are not limited to using internal IDs for dropdown or list values. ExtendInsights supports uploading text values such as vendor names, department names, or class labels from older systems, and NetSuite will automatically match them during the upload process. This flexibility simplifies the data migration process and reduces the need for complex reference tables or manual lookups.

ExtendInsights also works in the opposite direction. With ExtendInsights, users can import NetSuite data into Excel in real time and use it to migrate or synchronize data into other systems. This bi-directional capability means your team can support both NetSuite implementations and system transitions, all while working in a familiar Excel environment.

🧼 Step 2: Cleansing – Clean Data Is Smart Data

Cleansing data is a critical step in any data migration and typically starts with preparing and cleaning legacy data before uploading it into NetSuite. This includes removing duplicates, correcting formatting issues, standardizing naming conventions, and ensuring all values align with NetSuite’s field structure.

With ExtendInsights, users can work directly in Excel to compare legacy data against NetSuite requirements, clean it using familiar tools like formulas and filters, and prepare it for upload using ExtendInsights’ record templates.

On the other hand, if you’re migrating from NetSuite to another system, such as Salesforce for CRM, ExtendInsights allows you to import NetSuite data into Excel in real time or on a schedule, making it easy to map that data to the new system.

Even better, ExtendInsights now supports data management for Salesforce, allowing users to export NetSuite data for use in Salesforce and create and update Salesforce records directly from Excel. Whether migrating between systems or running both platforms in parallel, ExtendInsights makes bi-directional migration seamless, fast, and accessible to users at all levels.

🔄 Step 3: Transforming – Make Data NetSuite-Ready

NetSuite has specific expectations for record types, required fields, and dependencies. You can’t simply import a flat export file from another system and hope it fits.

ExtendInsights helps you prepare and structure your data directly in Excel. Whether you’re creating customers, journal entries, vendors, or transactions, your data stays in one workbook, ready for submission.

In addition:

• ExtendInsights validates data in real time, highlighting errors before submission
• Returns error messages that live inside Excel so users can fix issues on the spot
• Supports large datasets and simultaneous multi-record uploads
• Allows scheduled refreshes from NetSuite into Excel, ensuring you always work with up-to-date data
• All of this happens within a single Excel file, eliminating the need to manage and reformat multiple CSV versions

✅ Step 4: Validating – Confirm Before You Commit

Validation is essential before going live. You must ensure that totals match, fields are correctly populated, and all relationships are intact.

ExtendInsights leverages all the native features of Excel, including formulas, conditional formatting, filters, and data validation tools. This empowers users to validate data quickly and confidently, using a platform they already know, with no complex setup or technical expertise required.

📊 Step 5: Reporting – Build Metrics That Drive Strategy

After data migration, executives and stakeholders want immediate financial and operational performance visibility. Reports must be timely, accurate, and easy to refresh.

With ExtendInsights, users can build real-time Excel or Power BI reports using live NetSuite data. ExtendInsights syncs directly with Saved Searches and supports scheduled refreshes, enabling your finance and operations teams to create and maintain dynamic dashboards without relying on IT.

💼 Bonus: Stay Productive in Outlook with ExtendSync

Your data lives in NetSuite, but your conversations live in email. With ExtendSync, users can view and attach relevant NetSuite records to emails from their inbox.

And now, the “Email from Outlook” button embedded on NetSuite record forms lets users quickly link or send emails from Outlook while viewing a transaction or entity in NetSuite. This creates seamless context between communication and business data, improving collaboration and reducing information silos.

Intrigued? Try ExtendInsights or ExtendSync (or both!) free with no obligation. Click here to get started.