From a spreadsheet to a working CMMS in an evening

Why it matters

Nobody switches maintenance systems in the middle of a season, and the season never ends. A move that needs a consultant, a data-mapping workshop and a weekend of retyping does not happen. A move that is six CSV imports with a preview, in the order below, happens on a Tuesday evening and is finished by the time the night shift comes in.

How it works in LK Up

1. Install first, import second. The server takes a few minutes on a Mac or a Windows PC (about half an hour to the first work order with the assistant). Then, as the administrator, Settings → Organization: the plant's name, its sites, the numbering.
2. Machines and places. Assets → Import CSV. Download a template gives the columns; a location can be a path such as "Hall 1 / Line 2" and is created on the way, and the parent of a sub-assembly is the code of the machine it is part of. The Preview shows each row's action and any problem before anything is written. Your existing asset codes are kept, so the number painted on the machine stays the number in the system.
3. Parts. Parts → Import CSV: codes, bins, minimums, opening stock and compatible machines by asset code. Opening stock enters as an adjustment, not as spend.
4. People. Settings → People → Import CSV: name, email, role, site. The import adds people and sends no invites; you invite each one from their card when their phone is ready.
5. PM schedules. PM → Import CSV: asset, interval, checklist items in one cell. Rows with an unknown asset are shown and skipped.
6. History. Work orders → Import CSV brings the old system's work orders in with their numbers, dates, hours and costs; done and closed rows are history and notify nobody. For MaintainX, UpKeep, Limble and Fiix, pick the Source and the columns of their export are matched for you. Give every row its old id as External ref: importing the same file again makes no copies, so you can run the final export the day you switch.
7. Labels, then phones. Assets → Print labels for every machine, Parts → labels for the bins, a poster for the wall. Technicians scan the plant QR with their phones and are in.

Why we built it this way

• A preview before a write. Every import shows what each row will do and what is wrong with it, and Only rows with problems narrows it to the ones to fix in the sheet. The file is fixed, not the database.
• Your codes, not ours. A move that renumbers the machines is a move that breaks every label, every drawing and every technician's memory. Codes from the file are kept; only empty ones are numbered.
• Imports are made to be re-run. External refs and "when a record already exists: update it from the file" mean you can import the old system's export on a Friday to practise and again on the switch-over day, without duplicates.
• The exports open in the imports. The assets and parts CSV files from Settings → Export are in the same shape the importers read, so a second site, a test plant or a move to a new PC is the same evening again.
• The vendor maps are honest about their source. The MaintainX, UpKeep, Limble and Fiix column maps come from the vendors' public documentation and have not been checked against a real export yet. If you have one, send it before you switch and we test on it first.

What it does not do

Photos, attachments and comments from the old system do not come through a CSV; the history rows carry what the file carries. Costs arrive as "imported parts" and "imported other" lines, not as stock movements. The imports need the server online; the rest of the app does not. Column lists and the order of the evening: chapter 7 and chapter 9 of the user manual.