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Catholic Office

Parish Onboarding & Migration Wizard

The Parish Onboarding & Migration Wizard (/onboarding) helps parish administrators migrate historical and upcoming events, room bookings, and ministry rosters from legacy church management software into CatholicOffice.

Accessing the Onboarding Wizard

  1. Log in with an administrator account.
  2. In the navigation menu or via direct URL, go to /onboarding.

Step-by-Step Onboarding Process

The wizard guides you through five automated phases:

Phase 1: Timezone & Source System Presets

  1. Confirm Parish Timezone: Select your parish’s local timezone (e.g., America/Chicago, America/New_York, America/Los_Angeles).
  2. Choose Your Source Migration Preset: CatholicOffice includes built-in column mapping presets for popular platforms:
    • ParishSoft
    • Planning Center
    • Google Calendar (CSV export)
    • Microsoft Outlook / Office 365
    • Gabriel Software
    • iCal / ICS Calendar Data
    • Generic CSV (for custom spreadsheets)

Phase 2: File Upload & Column Mapping

  1. Upload your exported .csv file.
  2. The wizard analyzes the header row and automatically maps standard fields:
    • Event Name / Title (Required)
    • Start Date & Start Time (Required)
    • End Date & End Time (Required)
    • Room / Location
    • Ministry / Group
    • Description & Internal Notes
    • Contact / Requester Name & Email
  3. Review and adjust any unmapped columns using the dropdown selectors.

Phase 3: Room & Ministry Auto-Discovery

The wizard scans your import file to identify all referenced rooms and ministries:

  • Auto-Map: Match imported names to existing rooms or ministries in CatholicOffice.
  • Auto-Provision: Automatically create new rooms (e.g., Parish Hall, Bride’s Room, Youth Room) and new ministries directly from your import data.

Phase 4: Import Audit & Duplicate Controls

Configure how CatholicOffice handles historical data and potential duplicates:

  • Duplicate Action:
    • Skip Duplicates: Ignore events that match an existing title, date, and time.
    • Update Existing: Overwrite existing events with imported details.
    • Create Copies: Import all items as new entries.
  • Date Cutoff Filter:
    • Future Events Only: Import only events occurring after today.
    • Custom Date Cutoff: Import events after a specific date (e.g., beginning of the fiscal year).
    • All Historical Events: Import the entire calendar history.
  • Default Status: Choose whether imported events enter as Approved (immediately active) or Pending (for review).

Phase 5: Batch Processing & Summary Report

  1. Click Start Migration.
  2. A live progress bar processes your records in optimized batches.
  3. Once complete, review the Import Summary Report:
    • Total Records Processed
    • Successfully Imported Events
    • Updated Records
    • Skipped Duplicates & Cutoff Events
    • Any Row-Level Errors (with download log)

Next Steps After Onboarding

Once your migration is complete:

  1. Open the Parish Master Calendar to verify imported bookings.
  2. Visit User Permissions to invite parish staff and assign ministry leaders.
  3. Configure your Presider Schedule and Fee Templates.