Clients
Pike: Customers
Carries over: Client name, from the Workspace Breakdown.
You set in Pike: A customer number on every client, from QuickBooks where it is connected.
Template columns: customerName, customerNumber
Migration guide
Move from Timely to Pike
Export a saved Timely report as a spreadsheet, upload time, projects and clients to Pike templates, and connect QuickBooks Online. Budget five to six weeks.
Available now
Timely exports from a saved report. The Spreadsheet export produces Time Entries, a Workspace Breakdown of projects, clients, users, teams, tags and tasks, or both as a multi-sheet XLS file.
- On the Reports page, set the project filter to All so archived projects are included, pick the date range, and save the report.
- Click Export in the top-right corner, choose Spreadsheet, and select Time Entries with Entry ID, Billable Rate, Cost Rate and Hour billed status ticked. Set the time format to Decimal.
- Export the Workspace Breakdown as a second file for clients, projects, users and tasks. One table per export produces a CSV.
- Upload customers, projects, members, tasks, then time entries under Workspace settings → Integrations → CSV, using the Timely column mapping.
Timely emails large exports in place of a direct download, and Export History stores only your last five exports. Save each file the day Timely sends it.
Available now
Timely pushes invoices to QuickBooks Online as drafts and receives payment status back. Connect QuickBooks to Pike, and Pike imports customers and invoice history from the ledger.
- In Pike, go to Workspace settings → Integrations, add QuickBooks and run Import data before you upload the Timely client file.
- Use the QuickBooks customer numbers as `customerNumber` in your Timely client and project files.
- At cutover, stop generating invoices in Timely, so only Pike sends invoices to QuickBooks from Monday.
Timely accounts with the Jira sync show Linked Work Item columns in exports. Pike connects to Jira directly, so connect it in Pike if your team keeps planning there.
Entity map
What each Timely record becomes in Pike
Column one uses Timely’s labels. Pike matches people on email and links records on project number and customer number.
Projects
Pike: Projects
Carries over: Name, client, hourly rate, budget type (Time or Money), external ID reference.
You set in Pike: A project number. Use the external ID reference where your team set one.
Template columns: projectNumber, title, customerNumber, billingType, budgetAmount, budgetHours, hourlyRate
Tasks
Pike: Tasks
Carries over: Task name and project, from the Tasks columns.
You set in Pike: Assignees, status and dates. Check whether your export includes them.
Template columns: title, projectNumber, assigneeEmail, status, dueDate
People
Pike: Members
Carries over: Name, team, hourly rate, cost rate.
You set in Pike: Check whether your export includes each person’s email, and add it where it does not.
Template columns: email, displayName, team
Time Entries
Pike: Time entries
Carries over: Entry ID, date, duration, person, project, task, tags, billable rate, cost rate, hour billed status (Yes or No).
You set in Pike: Check whether your export includes the entry note and an approval state.
Template columns: date, hours, email, projectNumber, taskTitle, note, billableStatus, invoiced
Tags
Pike: Labels
Carries over: Tag lists and tags per entry.
You set in Pike: Labels in Pike. The time entry template has no tag column, so add a tag to `note` where finance needs it.
Invoices
Pike: Invoice history from accounting
Carries over: Timely invoices, sent to QuickBooks Online as drafts. Pike imports them from QuickBooks.
You set in Pike: Nothing. The CSV route does not import invoices.
Timely bills from each person’s default hourly rate, or from one rate for the project when Same Rate for Everyone is on. A project without Add Hourly rate is non-billable. Enter the project rate as `hourlyRate`, map rated projects to `timeAndMaterials` and unrated ones to `nonBillable`.
Timely budgets are Time or Money. Map Time budgets to `budgetHours` and Money budgets to `budgetAmount`, and use `fixedFee` where a Money budget is a fixed project fee. Monthly or weekly recurring budgets become retainers in Pike.
Timely stores a cost rate per person, applied from a chosen date, on Premium and Unlimited plans. Set each member’s Pike cost profile from the current cost rate.
The plan
Seven steps out of Timely
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
The first export is your migration data. Write down its date, because you export the time after it again at cutover.
- Pick a cutover Friday after the month’s Timely invoices go to QuickBooks Online.
- Save a report with the project filter on All and export Time Entries and Workspace Breakdown as separate CSV files for every year you keep.
- Download each file from the email or Export History the same day, and save every raw file unchanged in one folder.
Done when: Raw Timely 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
Clean the CSV files. Nobody edits Timely rates or budgets after export day.
- Give every client a customer number and every project a project number, using the external ID reference where it exists.
- Remove the `="..."` wrapper Timely puts around long numeric IDs, and check every duration is in decimal hours.
- Map hour billed status Yes to `invoiced` = `yes`, and set `billableStatus` from whether the project has an hourly rate.
Done when: Every project row has a project number, customer number, billing type and budget. Every person has the email they will sign in with.
Week 2
Workspace admin
Week 2 · Workspace admin
Build the workspace shell
Connect QuickBooks first, so the customer numbers in your Timely files match the customers Pike imports from the ledger.
- Create teams that match your Timely teams, and workspace roles. Invite admins and project leads only.
- Connect QuickBooks and run Import data.
- Set a cost profile for each member from their Timely cost rate.
Done when: Finance sees the QuickBooks 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 and time entries. Pike reports a row it cannot match with its line number.
- Upload each file with the Timely column mapping, and fix rejected rows by line number.
- Check that hours per project match the Workspace Breakdown totals for the same dates.
- Open one Money budget and one Time budget project and compare rate, budget and last month’s hours with Timely.
Done when: Client, project, person and last-month hour counts match Timely.
Week 3 to 5
Delivery lead, finance
Week 3 to 5 · Delivery lead, finance
One team in Pike, the rest in Timely
On CSV there is no ongoing sync. The pilot team logs time in Pike only, and everyone else logs in Timely until cutover.
- Pick a team with an active client project and an invoice due. They stop logging hours in Timely from Monday.
- Finance approves pilot time in Time admin and sends one invoice from Pike to QuickBooks in place of Timely.
- Compare the pilot project’s logged cost and billable amount with Timely for the same weeks. A gap means a rate or cost profile needs a fix in Pike.
Done when: One invoice sent from Pike. No pilot team hours in Timely after the pilot start date.
Week 5 to 6
Migration owner
Week 5 to 6 · Migration owner
Cutover weekend
Close Timely on Friday evening and upload the hours logged since your first export.
- Friday: everyone confirms their last Timely hours, and finance generates the last Timely invoices.
- Export Time Entries from the day after your first export to Friday and upload those rows to Pike.
- Monday: everyone logs time in Pike. Timely makes entries on a generated invoice read-only, so nobody can edit billed hours after cutover.
Done when: Time admin shows every active member by Monday afternoon. Timely shows no hours 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 Timely.
- Approve all time, invoice every billable project from Pike and check each invoice reaches QuickBooks.
- An admin cancels under Settings → Subscriptions. Timely states your data remains after cancelling, and the account deactivates at the end of the paid period.
- Run every export again for the archive before anyone deletes the workspace. Deleting is a separate step in Timely and removes the data.
Done when: Month closed in Pike. Final Timely exports saved with two owners. Timely subscription cancelled.
Rebuild
Set these up in Pike by hand
- Recurring budgetsSet up retainer projects with the period and allowance your Timely recurring budget used.Pike docs
- Individual hourly ratesSet bill rates on projects and tasks where Timely used each person’s default rate.Pike docs
- Cost ratesEnter each member’s Timely cost rate in their cost profile.Pike docs
- Tag listsRecreate Timely tag lists as task properties and labels.Pike docs
- Invoice layoutSet numbering, terms and layout in invoice settings.Pike docs
Questions
Moving from Timely: common questions
Why do our hours not add up in Excel?
Timely exports Digital time values to Excel as text, so `=SUM()` does not total them. Export again with the time format set to Decimal, which the Pike `hours` column needs.
Why are archived projects missing from our export?
The export follows the report’s project filter. Set it to All and leave every project ticked, or the filter shows "X of Y projects" and the export leaves the rest out.
How do we mark hours already invoiced in Timely?
Tick Hour billed status in the Time Entries export. It shows Yes or No and works only with Timely’s marked as billed feature. Map Yes to `invoiced` = `yes`.
Can Pike import our Timely invoices?
Not through CSV. Timely sends invoices to QuickBooks Online, so connect QuickBooks to Pike and Pike imports invoice history from the ledger.
What happens to our data when we cancel Timely?
Timely states your data remains so you can return later, and the account deactivates when the paid period ends. Deleting the workspace is a separate step that removes the data permanently.
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