Companies
Pike: Customers
Carries over: Company name and status.
You set in Pike: Customer number, currency and VAT ID. Check whether your export includes them.
Template columns: customerName, customerNumber, taxVatId, mainCurrency
Migration guide
Move from Accelo to Pike
Export Accelo lists and the Timesheet Overview as CSV, upload them to Pike, and keep accounting and CRM connected. Budget five to six weeks from first export to cutover.
Available now
Accelo exports each list as CSV by email link, and the Timesheet Overview exports your time, so you map those files to Pike templates and upload them in dependency order.
- Open the Companies, Contacts, Projects, Tasks, Tickets and Sales lists. Change each list filter to include inactive and closed items, then click Export. Accelo emails a link to the CSV.
- As an admin, run the Timesheet Overview report for the period you keep and export it as Detail for one row per activity, or Summary for totals. Accelo emails the file, and the download link expires after 6 hours.
- For a full archive, an admin runs the Full Data Export under Admin → Import & Exports and chooses Entire Database. Accelo emails a zip of SQL files, and the link expires after 6 hours.
- Upload customers, contacts, projects, phases, members, tasks, then time entries under Workspace settings → Integrations → CSV, using the Accelo column mapping.
On CSV there is no ongoing sync. After the first export, the pilot team logs time in Pike only, and at cutover you export the Accelo time logged since the first export and upload those rows.
Available now
If Accelo syncs with QuickBooks Online, Xero, HubSpot or Salesforce today, connect the same system to Pike. Pike reads customers and invoice history from the ledger, and companies, contacts and deals from the CRM.
- In Pike, go to Workspace settings → Integrations, add your accounting system and click Import data before you upload any Accelo CSV.
- Add HubSpot or Salesforce the same way if your sales team works there, so deals in Pike match the CRM pipeline.
- Match Accelo invoices to ledger invoices by number. Accelo fills invoice_number once an invoice reaches the accounting system, so invoices with a number already exist in the ledger Pike reads.
Disconnect the accounting integration in Accelo at cutover, so finance sends new invoices to the ledger from Pike only.
Entity map
What each Accelo record becomes in Pike
Column one uses the Accelo screen names. The Accelo API uses other names (Jobs, Issues, Contracts, Prospects), which appear in the SQL export. Pike matches people on the email of each Accelo staff member.
Contacts and affiliations
Pike: Customer contacts
Carries over: Name, email, title and phone. Check whether your export includes the company each contact is affiliated with.
You set in Pike: A contact affiliated with two companies needs one row per company.
Template columns: customerNumber, name, email, title, phone
Projects (API Jobs)
Pike: Projects
Carries over: Title, company, status, budget type (Fixed Value, Calculated Price or Non-billable), budget in hours and money.
You set in Pike: Team and project template.
Template columns: projectNumber, title, customerNumber, status, billingType, budgetAmount, budgetHours, hourlyRate, startDate, endDate, leadEmail
Milestones
Pike: Phases
Carries over: Milestone name, start and due dates, parent project.
You set in Pike: Milestone rates. Pike sets the hourly rate on the project.
Template columns: projectNumber, phase, startDate, endDate
Tasks
Pike: Tasks
Carries over: Title, status, assignee, milestone, budgeted and logged time. Check whether your export includes start and due dates.
You set in Pike: Task rates. Pike sets the hourly rate on the project.
Template columns: title, projectNumber, description, status, phase, assigneeEmail, startDate, dueDate, billableStatus
Tickets (API Issues)
Pike: Tasks on a support project
Carries over: Title, ticket type, status, billable time.
You set in Pike: One support project per company, created before you upload ticket rows as tasks.
Template columns: title, projectNumber, description, status, assigneeEmail
Retainers (API Contracts, with Periods)
Pike: Retainer projects
Carries over: Retainer title and company as a project row.
You set in Pike: Billing period, hours and fee per period under Settings → Retainer. The CSV templates hold no period fields.
Template columns: projectNumber, title, customerNumber, startDate, endDate
Sales (API Prospects)
Pike: Deals
Carries over: Title, company, status, value, probability.
You set in Pike: Deal statuses that match your Accelo sale stages, created before the upload.
Template columns: title, customerNumber, status, value, probability, closeDate
Activities (time)
Pike: Time entries
Carries over: Date, staff member, billable and non-billable time, note, and standing (unapproved, approved, invoiced, locked).
You set in Pike: Divide Accelo seconds by 3600 for `hours`. Map approved and locked to `approved`, and set `invoiced` to `yes` for invoiced standing.
Template columns: date, hours, email, projectNumber, taskTitle, note, billableStatus, approvalStatus, invoiced
Staff
Pike: Members
Carries over: Email and name.
You set in Pike: Workspace role, team and position. Set each cost profile from the staff cost rate.
Template columns: email, displayName, team, position
Rates
Pike: Project hourly rate and cost profiles
Carries over: Billable rate on the project row. Cost rates go into member cost profiles.
You set in Pike: Cost profiles, entered by hand from the Accelo Cost rates.
Template columns: hourlyRate
Invoices
Pike: Invoice history from accounting
Carries over: No CSV import. Pike reads invoice history from your connected accounting system.
You set in Pike: New invoices go out from Pike from cutover.
Expenses
Pike: Expenses
Carries over: Date incurred, quantity, unit cost, price, billable flag, submitter.
You set in Pike: Expense categories.
Template columns: date, amount, projectNumber, email, category, description, billableStatus
Accelo rates are hourly, each with a Cost and a Billable amount. Staff carry default rates, and a project, milestone, task, ticket or retainer period can carry its own rate. Pike takes one `hourlyRate` per project, so use the project rate where one exists, and the staff default otherwise.
Accelo project budget types map to Pike `billingType`: Fixed Value to `fixedFee`, Calculated Price to `timeAndMaterials`, Non-billable to `nonBillable`. Accelo budgets hold both hours and money, which fill `budgetHours` and `budgetAmount`.
The Accelo API and SQL export store time in seconds. Divide by 3600 before you fill `hours`.
The plan
Seven steps out of Accelo
The same steps as the main migration guide, with this tool's screens and settings.
Week 1
Migration owner, finance
Week 1 · Migration owner, finance
Freeze scope and export
Export from Accelo before anyone edits records you plan to move. Accelo emails a link for each export, so download every file the same day.
- Change the filter on each list (Companies, Contacts, Projects, Tasks, Tickets, Sales) to include inactive and closed items, then click Export and download the emailed CSV.
- As an admin, export the Timesheet Overview as Detail for every staff member and the period you keep. The download link expires after 6 hours.
- Run the Full Data Export under Admin → Import & Exports as your archive, and download the zip within 6 hours.
Done when: Every list CSV, the Timesheet Overview detail file and the SQL archive saved in one folder, with a cutover Friday on the calendar.
Week 1 to 2
Operations lead
Week 1 to 2 · Operations lead
Clean the exported files
On CSV, Pike imports the rows you upload, so fix Accelo names and keys in the files.
- Give every company a customer number and every project a project number, and use the same numbers on ticket, retainer and time rows.
- Convert time from seconds to hours, and map each project budget type to `fixedFee`, `timeAndMaterials` or `nonBillable`.
- Check each staff member has the email they will sign in to Pike with. Pike matches time rows to members by email.
Done when: No duplicate companies. Every open project has a billing type, a budget and an hourly rate.
Week 2
Workspace admin
Week 2 · Workspace admin
Build the workspace shell
Admins set up Pike first, so they can give imported projects a team and create a support project for tickets.
- Create teams, workspace roles and deal statuses that match your Accelo sale stages. Invite admins and project leads only.
- Connect your accounting system and CRM, and run Import data on each, so finance sees ledger customers and invoices in Pike.
- Set a cost profile for each member from their Accelo Cost rate.
Done when: Admins and leads are in Pike. Finance sees the same customer list as the ledger.
Week 2 to 3
Workspace admin
Week 2 to 3 · Workspace admin
Upload in dependency order
Customers, contacts, projects and phases, then members, tasks, deals and time. Pike reports a missing reference with its line number.
- Download each Pike template first, then upload under Workspace settings → Integrations → CSV. Re-upload fixed rows: Pike matches on customer number, project number or email and updates the record.
- Turn each Accelo retainer into a retainer under Settings → Retainer on its project, with billing period, hours and fee per period.
- Compare one Fixed Value project, one Calculated Price project and one retainer with Accelo: budget, rate and last month’s hours.
Done when: Company, project, staff and last-month hour counts match Accelo.
Week 3 to 5
Delivery lead, finance
Week 3 to 5 · Delivery lead, finance
One team in Pike, the rest in Accelo
Move one team with a live client project and an invoice due. CSV has no sync, so you upload the other teams’ Accelo time at cutover.
- The pilot team logs time in Pike only. Everyone else logs activities in Accelo.
- Finance approves the pilot team’s time in Time admin and sends one invoice from Pike in place of Accelo.
- Compare the pilot project’s margin with Accelo. A gap means a rate or cost profile needs a fix in Pike.
Done when: One invoice sent from Pike. Pilot time in Pike matches the same week in the pilot team’s Accelo timesheets.
Week 5 to 6
Migration owner
Week 5 to 6 · Migration owner
Cutover weekend
Close Accelo on Friday evening. Everyone opens Pike on Monday.
- Friday: managers approve the week in Accelo, then an admin exports the Timesheet Overview detail for the dates since the first export and uploads those rows to Pike.
- Use Bulk Re-assign Work to move open work off staff you deactivate, then deactivate them. Accelo stops charging for them from the next billing cycle, and their data remains in Accelo.
- Monday: everyone logs time in Pike. Pin one message with links to log time, find tasks and ask for help.
Done when: Time admin shows every active member by Monday afternoon. Accelo shows no activities after Friday.
Week 6 to 9
Finance
Week 6 to 9 · Finance
First month-end in Pike
Done when finance closes a month without opening Accelo.
- Approve all time, invoice every billable project and retainer period from Pike and send the invoices to accounting.
- Check Accelo for billable activities without invoiced standing from before cutover, and bill them from Pike.
- Run a last Full Data Export and save the zip with two owners before you close the Accelo account.
Done when: Month closed in Pike. Accelo SQL archive saved with two owners. Accelo account closed.
Rebuild
Set these up in Pike by hand
- Retainer periodsEnable retainer on each project with billing period, hours and fee per period.Pike docs
- Sales and sale stagesCreate deal statuses, then upload open sales as deals.Pike docs
- Staff cost ratesSet a cost profile for each member from their Accelo Cost rate.Pike docs
- Timesheet approversChoose who approves time for each team in Time admin.Pike docs
- Invoice layout and payment termsSet numbering, terms and layout in invoice settings.Pike docs
Questions
Moving from Accelo: common questions
Why are closed projects missing from our Accelo CSV?
Accelo lists hide inactive and closed items by default. Change the list filter to include them, then click Export again.
How do we export time for everyone, not only our own?
An admin runs the Timesheet Overview report for all staff and exports it as Detail. Accelo emails the file. Map each staff email to the `email` column so Pike matches the time to members.
How do Accelo retainers move to Pike?
Upload each retainer as a project row, then enable retainer in its Settings with the billing period, hours and fee per period from Accelo. The CSV templates hold no period fields, so this step is manual.
Where do Accelo tickets go?
Create one support project per company and upload each ticket as a task on it. Time logged against a ticket goes on that task.
Do we keep paying for staff we deactivate in Accelo?
Accelo does not charge for deactivated users in the next billing cycle, and their data remains in Accelo. Run Bulk Re-assign Work first so open tasks and tickets have an owner.
The export link expired. What now?
Timesheet Overview and Full Data Export links expire after 6 hours. Run the export again and download it the same day.
Accelo documentation used for this guide
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