Migration guide

Move from Hubstaff to Pike

Export Hubstaff members and the Time & Activity report as CSV and upload them to Pike templates, with five to six weeks from first export to cutover.

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Hubstaff exports the member list and every report as CSV. Clients and projects have no list export, so you build those two files from the Time & Activity report grouped by client and project.

Open People → Members, turn on Show removed members under Filter, and click Export → To CSV. The file includes email, job title, status, bill rate and pay rate.
Open Reports → Time & Activity, tick Include archived projects and Include removed members, add the billable time, non-billable time and manual hours columns, and export the expanded CSV with one row per entry.
Run the same report grouped by Client and by Project / Work order to list every client and project, and copy each project’s budget and bill rate from Project management → Projects.
Upload customers, projects, members, then time entries under Workspace settings → Integrations → CSV, using the Hubstaff column mapping.

Hubstaff exports CSV in UTF-8. Excel does not detect that on a double click and shows currency symbols wrong, so import the file with UTF-8 encoding before you edit it.

Entity map

What each Hubstaff record becomes in Pike

Column one uses Hubstaff’s labels. Hubstaff calls tasks to-dos, and Pike matches people on the email in the member export.

Clients

Pike: Customers

Carries over: Name, address, phone, email, budget, invoice notes and net terms.

You set in Pike: A customer number on every client. Hubstaff has no client list export, so build the file from the report grouped by client.

Template columns: customerName, customerNumber

Projects

Pike: Projects

Carries over: Name, client, billable flag, pay rate and bill rate overrides, budget.

You set in Pike: A project number for each project, and the budget and bill rate copied from the project list.

Template columns: projectNumber, title, customerNumber, billingType, budgetAmount, budgetHours, hourlyRate

To-dos

Pike: Tasks

Carries over: To-do name and project, as rows in the Time & Activity report.

You set in Pike: Assignees, status and dates. Check whether your export includes them.

Template columns: title, projectNumber, assigneeEmail, status, dueDate

Members

Pike: Members

Carries over: Name, email, role, job title, status, date added and removed, pay rate, bill rate, weekly and daily limits.

You set in Pike: Team and a cost profile from the pay rate.

Template columns: email, displayName, position

Time & Activity report

Pike: Time entries

Carries over: Date, member, project, to-do, total hours, manual hours, billable and non-billable time, billed amount.

You set in Pike: Approval state from the Timesheet approvals report, where your team uses approvals.

Template columns: date, hours, email, projectNumber, taskTitle, billableStatus, approvalStatus

Expense report

Pike: Expenses

Carries over: Expenses per member and project.

You set in Pike: Check whether your export includes category and the billable flag. Expense categories in Pike.

Template columns: date, amount, projectNumber, email, category, description

Client invoices

Pike: Invoice history from accounting

Carries over: Invoices built under Financials → Invoices. Hubstaff does not send them to QuickBooks Online.

You set in Pike: Nothing. The CSV route does not import invoices. Pike imports invoice history from the ledger your finance team records them in.

Hubstaff entity	Pike entity	What carries over	What you set in Pike	Template columns
Clients	Customers	Name, address, phone, email, budget, invoice notes and net terms.	A customer number on every client. Hubstaff has no client list export, so build the file from the report grouped by client.	`customerName, customerNumber`
Projects	Projects	Name, client, billable flag, pay rate and bill rate overrides, budget.	A project number for each project, and the budget and bill rate copied from the project list.	`projectNumber, title, customerNumber, billingType, budgetAmount, budgetHours, hourlyRate`
To-dos	Tasks	To-do name and project, as rows in the Time & Activity report.	Assignees, status and dates. Check whether your export includes them.	`title, projectNumber, assigneeEmail, status, dueDate`
Members	Members	Name, email, role, job title, status, date added and removed, pay rate, bill rate, weekly and daily limits.	Team and a cost profile from the pay rate.	`email, displayName, position`
Time & Activity report	Time entries	Date, member, project, to-do, total hours, manual hours, billable and non-billable time, billed amount.	Approval state from the Timesheet approvals report, where your team uses approvals.	`date, hours, email, projectNumber, taskTitle, billableStatus, approvalStatus`
Expense report	Expenses	Expenses per member and project.	Check whether your export includes category and the billable flag. Expense categories in Pike.	`date, amount, projectNumber, email, category, description`
Client invoices	Invoice history from accounting	Invoices built under Financials → Invoices. Hubstaff does not send them to QuickBooks Online.	Nothing. The CSV route does not import invoices. Pike imports invoice history from the ledger your finance team records them in.

Hubstaff sets a pay rate and a bill rate per member on the Members page, and a project rate overrides both. Enter the bill rate each project charges as `hourlyRate`, and use the member bill rate where the project has none.

Project budgets use Type Total cost or Total hours, based on pay rate or bill rate. Map a Total hours budget to `budgetHours` and a Total cost budget based on bill rate to `budgetAmount`. Budgets with Resets set to Weekly or Monthly become retainers in Pike.

Hubstaff’s pay rate is what your business pays each member. Set each member’s Pike cost profile from the pay rate in the member export.

The plan

Seven steps out of Hubstaff

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 everything before anyone cancels. A cancelled Hubstaff organization removes access to all historical time entries and reports.
- Pick a cutover Friday after the last pay period closes and the month’s client invoices go out.
- Export the member list with removed members, and the expanded Time & Activity CSV for every year you keep.
- Export the Timesheet approvals and Expense reports for the same dates, and save every raw file unchanged in one folder.
exports / rawdo not edit
customers.csvraw
projects.csvraw
tasks.csvraw
time-entries.csvraw
invoices.csvraw
Cutover: Friday, week 5
Done when: Raw Hubstaff exports in one dated folder, and a cutover Friday on the calendar.
Week 1 to 2
Operations lead
Week 1 to 2 · Operations lead
Clean the exported files
Build the customer and project files by hand, since Hubstaff exports neither as a list. Nobody edits Hubstaff after export day.
- List every client and project from the grouped reports, give each a number, and copy budgets and bill rates from Project management → Projects.
- Replace member names in the time file with the email from the member export.
- Fill `billableStatus` from the billable and non-billable time columns, and map Approved timesheets to `approved` and Submitted to `submitted`.
customers.csvbefore / after
Acme
ACME Ltd
Acme retainer
Acme
C-104 · T&M · 1,250/h
Done when: Every project row has a project number, customer number, billing type and rate. Every time row has an email.
Week 2
Workspace admin
Week 2 · Workspace admin
Build the workspace shell
Connect the ledger first, so the customer numbers in your files match the customers Pike imports from accounting.
- Create teams and workspace roles, and invite admins and project leads only.
- Connect QuickBooks or your ledger and run Import data.
- Set a cost profile for each member from their Hubstaff pay rate.
Workspace setup
Teams and roles
Templates and labels
Cost profiles12 of 12
Accounting connected
Invite everyoneweek 4
Done when: Finance sees the ledger’s customers and invoices in Pike. Every billable person has a cost profile.
Week 2 to 3
Workspace admin
Week 2 to 3 · Workspace admin
Upload in dependency order
Customers, then projects, then members, then tasks, time entries and expenses. Pike reports a row it cannot match with its line number.
- Upload each file with the Hubstaff column mapping, and fix rejected rows by line number.
- Check that hours per project match the collapsed Time & Activity CSV, which shows group totals.
- Open one billable project with a budget and compare rate, budget and last month’s hours with Hubstaff.
Import datain order
Customers48
Projects112
Members19
Tasks1,430
Time entries
Deals
Done when: Client, project, member and last-month hour counts match Hubstaff.
Week 3 to 5
Delivery lead, finance
Week 3 to 5 · Delivery lead, finance
One team in Pike, the rest in Hubstaff
On CSV there is no ongoing sync. The pilot team logs time in Pike only, and everyone else tracks in Hubstaff until cutover.
- Pick a team with an active client project and an invoice due. They stop the Hubstaff timer from Monday.
- Finance approves pilot time in Time admin and sends one invoice from Pike in place of a Hubstaff client invoice.
- Compare the pilot project’s billed amount with Hubstaff’s for the same weeks. A gap means a rate needs a fix in Pike.
Done when: One invoice sent from Pike. No pilot team time in Hubstaff after the pilot start date.
Week 5 to 6
Migration owner
Week 5 to 6 · Migration owner
Cutover weekend
Close Hubstaff on Friday evening and upload the time logged since your first export.
- Friday: managers clear the Submitted tab under Time tracked → Approvals, and payroll pays out what members are owed. Hubstaff cannot pay a removed member.
- Run the expanded Time & Activity CSV from the day after your first export to Friday and upload those rows to Pike.
- Generate any last client invoices before you remove members. A removed member’s billable hours drop out of Hubstaff client invoicing.
Done when: Time admin shows every active member by Monday afternoon. Hubstaff shows no time 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 Hubstaff.
- Approve all time, invoice every billable project from Pike and check each invoice reaches the ledger.
- Run every export again for the archive. After cancellation Hubstaff shows no historical time entries or reports.
- Cancel under Organizations → Actions → Cancel subscription. The organization goes inactive the day before the next billing date.
Done when: Month closed in Pike. Final Hubstaff exports saved with two owners. Hubstaff subscription cancelled.

Rebuild

Set these up in Pike by hand

Pay rates as costEnter each member’s Hubstaff pay rate in their cost profile.Pike docs
Project bill ratesSet bill rates on projects where Hubstaff had project overrides.Pike docs
Resetting budgetsSet up retainer projects for budgets that reset weekly or monthly.Pike docs
Timesheet approvalsChoose who approves time for each team in place of Hubstaff approvals.Pike docs
Client invoicesSet numbering, net terms and invoice notes in invoice settings.Pike docs

Questions

Moving from Hubstaff: common questions

How do we export Hubstaff clients and projects?

Hubstaff’s help centre documents a CSV import for clients but no client or project list export. Run the Time & Activity report grouped by client and by project to list them, then add budgets and rates from the project list by hand.

Which Time & Activity CSV do we upload?

The expanded version, which lists every data row without totals. The collapsed version adds group totals at the bottom, which is useful for checking hours after upload.

How do Hubstaff timesheet statuses map to Pike?

Hubstaff timesheets are Open, Submitted, Approved or Denied. Map Approved to `approved`, Submitted to `submitted` and Open to `draft`, and decide with finance whether denied time imports at all.

Can Pike import our Hubstaff invoices?

Not through CSV, and Hubstaff does not sync client invoices to QuickBooks Online. Pike imports invoice history from the ledger your finance team records Hubstaff invoices in.

What happens to our data when we cancel Hubstaff?

Hubstaff removes all access to the organization’s data, including historical time entries, reports and payment records. Restoring the organization brings access back, so export everything before you cancel.

Hubstaff documentation used for this guide

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Hubstaff entity

Pike entity

What carries over

What you set in Pike

Template columns

Clients

Customers

Name, address, phone, email, budget, invoice notes and net terms.

A customer number on every client. Hubstaff has no client list export, so build the file from the report grouped by client.

customerName, customerNumber

Projects

Name, client, billable flag, pay rate and bill rate overrides, budget.

A project number for each project, and the budget and bill rate copied from the project list.

projectNumber, title, customerNumber, billingType, budgetAmount, budgetHours, hourlyRate

To-dos

Tasks

To-do name and project, as rows in the Time & Activity report.

Assignees, status and dates. Check whether your export includes them.

title, projectNumber, assigneeEmail, status, dueDate

Members

Name, email, role, job title, status, date added and removed, pay rate, bill rate, weekly and daily limits.

Team and a cost profile from the pay rate.

email, displayName, position

Time & Activity report

Time entries

Date, member, project, to-do, total hours, manual hours, billable and non-billable time, billed amount.

Approval state from the Timesheet approvals report, where your team uses approvals.

date, hours, email, projectNumber, taskTitle, billableStatus, approvalStatus

Expense report

Expenses

Expenses per member and project.

Check whether your export includes category and the billable flag. Expense categories in Pike.

date, amount, projectNumber, email, category, description

Client invoices

Invoice history from accounting

Invoices built under Financials → Invoices. Hubstaff does not send them to QuickBooks Online.

Nothing. The CSV route does not import invoices. Pike imports invoice history from the ledger your finance team records them in.