Excel is a great tool, until three people open it, it has four sheets and a file called «FINAL_v3». If your school is there, moving to front desk software is easier than it looks. The secret is not to move everything at once.
1. Start with the people
First you bring in students or members with their contact details. Classes, enrolments and prices you set up afterwards, in the new software. Old payments are the last (and often least needed) step.
2. Clean up the file
- One row per person. No blank rows in between, no sub-headings like «Tuesday class».
- One column per detail. Last name, First name, Mobile, E-mail, Date of birth, Address, Guardian, Guardian phone, Notes.
- The first row holds the titles. In plain words, as above.
- Dates written the same way, e.g. 12/04/2016.
- The address matters. If you will issue receipts, you need it for every student. Now is the time to fill it in.
3. Save as CSV
In Excel: «Save as» → «CSV». Greek Excel saves it with «;» between columns. Good software reads it as it is, with the Greek characters intact.
4. Do a test run first
Before anything is saved, look at a preview: which columns were recognised, which rows have errors, who is already there. If something is off, fix the Excel file and try again.
5. Run both side by side for a while
For the first two weeks, keep Excel read-only. Everything new goes into the new software. When you notice you no longer open the file, archive it.
How Aelius does it
- «Import from Excel» reads CSV from Greek Excel (with «;», «,» or tab, in UTF-8 or the Windows Greek encoding).
- It recognises columns such as Last name, First name, Mobile, E-mail, Date of birth, Address, Postcode, Tax number, Guardian, Guardian phone, in Greek or English.
- It shows a preview first and saves nothing. It finds people who already exist (even with different accents or capitals), repeated rows and people with the same guardian phone («siblings?»).
- If you do not like the result, you undo the last import.
- For payments and history, we can help during the trial. On the Unlimited plan, help with the set-up is included.
See how it works for dance schools, gyms and tutoring centres, or have a look at the pricing.