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 through bi-directional data flow.

The 5-Step NetSuite Data Migration Roadmap

🧭 Step 1: Mapping – Define Your Data Destination

Data mapping is the crucial step of aligning fields from your legacy system to NetSuite.

• ExtendInsights leverages NetSuite field IDs, allowing users to build record templates directly in Excel that align with NetSuite’s structure (for customers, journal entries, or vendors).
• Users are not limited to internal IDs; ExtendInsights supports uploading text values (vendor names, department names) which NetSuite will automatically match during the upload process.
• The tool also supports data migration out of NetSuite for synchronization with other platforms like Salesforce, allowing users to support system transitions while working in a familiar Excel environment.

🧼 Step 2: Cleansing – Clean Data Is Smart Data

Data cleansing is a critical step in any migration. This involves removing duplicates, correcting formatting issues, and standardizing naming conventions to align with NetSuite’s field structure.

• With ExtendInsights, users 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.
• This also applies when migrating from NetSuite to another system: ExtendInsights imports NetSuite data into Excel in real time or on a schedule, making it easy to map and clean that data for the new system.

🔄 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 a single Excel file, ready for submission.
• Key Efficiency Features:
  • ExtendInsights validates data in real time, highlighting errors before submission.
  • It returns detailed error messages that live inside Excel so users can fix issues on the spot.
  • It supports large datasets and simultaneous multi-record uploads.
  • It allows scheduled refreshes from NetSuite into Excel, ensuring you always work with up-to-date data.

✅ Step 4: Validating – Confirm Before You Commit

Data validation is essential before going live to 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 migration, executives need immediate financial and operational performance visibility.

• 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 directly from their inbox.

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.