Do we lose our old training records when we switch systems?

Not if the new system imports them. The history is the asset — recipients, companies, trainers, categories, issue and expiry dates. Sentinel's bulk CSV upload takes the existing spreadsheet through a ready-made template, so years of records arrive intact and the expiry dashboard is accurate from day one.

What should we clean up before importing?

Four things pay off: consistent company names (one spelling per client), consistent course/category names, dates in one format, and a decision about which historical records still matter. Everything else the import template structures for you.

How do we avoid a compliance gap during the switch?

Import first, verify counts against the spreadsheet, then issue from the new system from an agreed cutover date. The spreadsheet stays read-only as an archive. At no point is there a day where records live in neither place.

Sentinel / Guides / Migration

Off the spreadsheet, without losing the history

The reason providers stay on the 40-tab spreadsheet isn't love. It's the fear that three years of records won't survive the move. Here's the checklist that makes the move boring.

The history is the asset

Your records — recipients, companies, trainers, categories, issue and expiry dates — are the accumulated proof your business runs on. A migration that drops them isn't a migration; it's a restart. So the first rule: never switch to any system that can't import what you already have, in bulk, through a structured template.

Before the import: four cleanups that pay off

The pre-flight list

One spelling per client. "Acme Ltd", "ACME", and "Acme Limited" become three companies unless you unify them first.
One name per course. Same treatment for course and category names — they drive validity periods and the matrix.
One date format. Pick it, apply it everywhere, and the import stops guessing.
Decide what history matters. Expired records you still need for audit come along; genuinely dead rows don't. Deciding now beats hauling noise forever.

The cutover that leaves no gap

The safe sequence is dull, which is the point:

Import the cleaned spreadsheet through the template.
Verify counts — records, companies, trainers — against the source before trusting anything.
Cut over on an agreed date: from that day, every new completion is logged in the new system, and the spreadsheet becomes a read-only archive.

At no point does a record live in neither place — which means at no point can an auditor's question land in the gap.

What you get on the other side

Once the history is in a real register, the things a spreadsheet can never do switch on at once: certificates that issue themselves with serials and QR verification, an expiry dashboard watching 30/60/90-day windows, renewal reminders to client companies, and a tamper-evident audit log. In Sentinel, the bulk CSV upload comes with a ready-made template precisely so this whole journey is an afternoon, not a quarter — bring the spreadsheet to the demo and watch the import swallow it whole.

Bring the spreadsheet. Leave with a system.

A working demo on your kind of data — and a bulk import that takes your history with you.

Book a demo →

Common questions

Do we lose our old records when we switch?

Not if the system imports them — Sentinel's bulk CSV template carries recipients, companies, trainers, categories and dates intact.

What should we clean before importing?

Company-name spellings, course names, date formats, and a decision about which history still matters.

How do we avoid a gap during cutover?

Import, verify counts, then switch issuance on an agreed date with the spreadsheet kept as a read-only archive.

Practical guidance from the Sentinel team — retention requirements for training records vary by industry and jurisdiction; confirm yours before discarding history.