What Should a Spreadsheet Migration Readiness Assessment Cover Before ERP Migration?

Before an organisation replaces spreadsheet-driven processes with an ERP, CRM or new application, the project team needs more than a list of files and columns.

Important spreadsheets can contain formulas, business rules, dependencies, manual adjustments, status logic and outputs that have become part of the way the business operates.

A migration readiness assessment should help answer:

What does this workbook do, what depends on it, what needs review, and what must be preserved before transformation?

What is a spreadsheet migration readiness assessment?

A spreadsheet migration readiness assessment is a structured review of an operational workbook before it is migrated, rebuilt, automated or replaced.

The aim is not simply to inspect the spreadsheet technically.

The aim is to identify the business logic and evidence that the implementation team may need for:

• discovery
• requirements review
• migration planning
• target-system design
• business-owner validation
• UAT
• sign-off
• handover

Why a readiness assessment should happen before configuration

Once ERP or CRM configuration begins, assumptions can become expensive.

If a critical spreadsheet rule is discovered late, the project may need to revisit:

• requirements
• configuration
• data mappings
• workflows
• reports
• integrations
• test cases

The earlier the spreadsheet logic is understood, the easier it is to decide what should be preserved, redesigned, automated or retired.

1. Understand the workbook purpose

The assessment should first establish what business process the workbook supports.

Examples include:

• pricing and costing
• forecasting
• inventory planning
• fleet management
• financial reporting
• commission calculation
• project tracking
• operational scheduling

Without that context, technical formula analysis can be difficult to translate into migration requirements.

2. Identify the workbook structure

The project team should understand:

• which worksheets exist
• which tables and fields exist
• where formulas are concentrated
• which sheets contain inputs
• which sheets contain calculations
• which sheets contain outputs

This helps reveal whether the workbook represents one simple task or several connected business processes.

3. Analyse formulas and calculation logic

Formulas can represent business behaviour that may need to exist in the target system.

A useful assessment should identify formula categories such as:

• calculations
• conditional logic
• aggregations
• lookup logic
• cross-sheet formulas
• mixed or complex logic

One IC-Flow demonstration workbook contains:

A workbook at this level can contain far more business logic than is obvious from visual inspection alone.

4. Identify important inputs and outputs

Migration teams should know which fields enter the process and which outputs the business relies on.

Key inputs may include:

• cost values
• customer information
• quantities
• rates
• reference data
• manual adjustments

Key outputs may include:

• prices
• totals
• status values
• KPIs
• dashboard measures
• operational decisions

These outputs can become important acceptance criteria during UAT.

5. Map spreadsheet dependencies

A workbook can contain relationships between fields, formulas, worksheets and outputs.

Dependency analysis helps identify which areas may be affected when a field or calculation changes.

It can also reveal hidden migration scope that may not be visible from a simple list of worksheets.

6. Convert spreadsheet logic into business rules

Technical formulas become more useful when translated into structured business meaning.

These rules can be placed into a Business Rule Register for review and sign-off.

7. Assess which rules need review

Not every detected rule should automatically be treated as migration-ready.

A readiness assessment should distinguish between logic that appears straightforward and logic that needs:

• business-owner confirmation
• clarification
• sign-off
• redesign decisions
• additional validation

This is important because automated analysis should support business review, not replace it.

8. Identify business-owner and sign-off requirements

A workbook may contain rules that affect financial, customer or operational decisions.

Those rules should not be migrated simply because they exist.

The project team should ask:

• Who owns this rule?
• Is it still current?
• Does it reflect approved business policy?
• Should it be preserved?
• Should it be redesigned?
• Who should approve the final target-system behaviour?

9. Generate migration questions

A strong readiness assessment should create questions that move the project forward.

Examples include:

• What is the source of truth for this field?
• Who owns this calculation?
• Should this manual adjustment remain possible?
• Does this output still reflect the current business rule?
• Should this logic become a workflow, calculated field or report?
• What needs to be approved before implementation starts?

These questions can support discovery workshops and stakeholder review.

10. Consider the target system

Spreadsheet logic should not always be reproduced in the same form.

A readiness assessment can help the implementation team consider whether a spreadsheet element should become:

• master data
• a calculated field
• a business rule
• a workflow
• a report
• a dashboard metric
• a database relationship
• a low-code component
• custom application logic

Target-system mapping should be treated as planning guidance and reviewed by the implementation consultant and business owner.

11. Turn important rules into validation and UAT evidence

Migration readiness should connect discovery with testing.

For example:

12. Check whether the workbook has changed

Migration discovery can become stale if users continue updating the workbook after the initial assessment.

Version comparison can help identify:

• changed formulas
• added or removed sheets
• structural differences
• changed business logic
• areas requiring regression testing

In one IC-Flow comparison example, both workbook versions contained 271 formulas, yet detailed comparison detected 7 formula changes.

Formula count alone would not have revealed the change.

What should a migration readiness assessment deliver?

A useful assessment should produce structured evidence that can be reviewed by consultants, project managers and business owners.

Typical outputs may include:

• executive summary
• workbook overview
• sheet and structure analysis
• formula summary
• key inputs and outputs
• dependency summary
• Business Rule Register
• migration-readiness findings
• rules requiring review
• business-owner requirements
• sign-off requirements
• suggested validation tests
• target-system notes
• risk areas
• business questions
• customer action plan
• review checklist

Example: what IC-Flow can surface from one workbook

In one IC-Flow demonstration assessment, the workbook analysis identified:

The purpose of those findings is not to overwhelm business users with raw technical detail.

The purpose is to create structured evidence that can be prioritised, reviewed and used during migration planning.

Who can use a spreadsheet migration readiness assessment?

ERP and CRM implementation consultants

To accelerate discovery and identify spreadsheet-derived requirements before configuration.

Programme and project managers

To identify unresolved migration questions, ownership requirements and sign-off risks.

Business analysts

To convert spreadsheet behaviour into reviewable business rules and requirements.

Business owners

To confirm whether detected rules still reflect the current process.

UAT and test teams

To use important spreadsheet outputs and rules as starting points for validation scenarios.

Transformation teams

To understand which parts of spreadsheet-driven processes should be preserved, redesigned, automated or retired.

When should the assessment be performed?

The most useful time is generally before detailed target-system configuration is finalised.

Useful points in the project lifecycle include:

• initial discovery
• requirements gathering
• pre-migration planning
• before solution design sign-off
• when a newer workbook version appears
• before UAT
• before final migration approval

How IC-Flow supports spreadsheet migration readiness

IC-Flow analyses operational spreadsheets before ERP, CRM or application transformation and turns undocumented logic into structured evidence.

IC-Flow can help with:

• workbook discovery
• formula and dependency analysis
• Business Rule Register generation
• migration-readiness assessment
• review and sign-off identification
• suggested validation tests
• target-system mapping guidance
• workbook version comparison
• Evidence Pack generation

Migration readiness is about reducing uncertainty before transformation

The goal is not to migrate every spreadsheet formula exactly as it exists today.

The goal is to understand the existing business behaviour well enough to make informed decisions about what should happen next.

Preserve what matters.
Clarify what is uncertain.
Redesign what should improve.
Retire what is no longer needed.

Before ERP migration, understand the spreadsheet evidence

What does this workbook do?
What depends on it?
What changed?
What must be preserved?
What requires review and sign-off?

IC-Flow helps turn those questions into structured migration evidence for discovery, review, UAT and handover.