TreeBossPro Blog — Plant Health Care

Importing Your Existing PHC Customers From Spreadsheets

Most PHC programs that move to new software already have a few years of history in spreadsheets: customer lists, addresses, which properties are on which program, maybe tree counts and notes. Retyping all of that is a non-starter. CSV import lets you bring the core data across and spend your time on what matters, rebuilding programs as recurring jobs.

Clean the Spreadsheet First

PHC Property Notes: Gates, Pets, Irrigation and Sensitive Areas covered what belongs in property notes. Many of those notes may already be in your spreadsheets. Before importing, clean the data: one row per property, consistent columns, no merged cells, and addresses in a consistent format. Separate customers from properties where a customer has more than one location.

Remove customers who have not been active in years, or tag them separately. You do not need to drag dead records into a new system.

Fix duplicates before import. The same customer entered twice under slightly different names becomes two records in the new system, and that leads to double scheduling or a missed round when the wrong record is updated.

Importing Customers and Properties

TreeBossPro supports CSV import for clients and properties, with multiple properties per client. Map your columns to the fields: names, contact information, addresses. If you have tree counts, DBH or heights, bring those in too.

Notes such as gate codes and pets can come across if they are in columns. Check a sample of imported records afterward to make sure everything landed in the right place.

Start with a small test import, like twenty properties, and check them carefully before importing the full list. It is much easier to fix the column mapping on twenty records than on two thousand.

Rebuilding Programs as Recurring Jobs

Your spreadsheet probably tracks which program each property is on. After import, set up those programs as recurring jobs under the Plant Health Care category. Tags make this faster: tag properties by program, then work through each tag.

Take this opportunity to standardize. If ten customers have slightly different versions of the same program, decide whether that is intentional.

If your spreadsheet has last year's visit dates, use them to set the timing of the recurring jobs, so this year's rounds line up with what customers are used to.

Building the Chemical Tracking Side

Import is a good moment to build your product list with EPA registration numbers, your saved mixes and your applicators' license numbers. From the first round in the new system, application records will be consistent.

Keep your old records. Historical application records from spreadsheets or paper should be retained according to whatever requirements apply to you; check with your state's regulatory agency.

Collect license numbers from every applicator before the season starts, even ones you have worked with for years. The import is the right time to make sure everything is on file.

If your old records include application history, decide how you will keep it accessible. Many companies keep the old files archived alongside the new system and note on each property where earlier records can be found, so nothing is lost in the switch.

Setting Up Billing

Decide how each customer will pay going forward: per-round invoices, card on file with auto-billing, or prepayments. Reach out to customers to collect cards on file before the season starts. The customer portal makes this easy for them.

Starting the season with billing already set up saves weeks of chasing later.

Customers who have paid by check for years may resist a card on file at first. Offering the option, explaining the convenience and keeping per-round invoicing available for those who prefer it usually brings most of them around over a season or two.

Running the First Season

Expect a few rough spots in the first season as crews learn the crew app and the office learns the job board. Review records weekly, fix data problems as they appear and keep improving notes.

Moving off spreadsheets is the first step to running a real program with plant health care software. Next: two-way texting for PHC customer questions after a treatment.

Do not try to perfect everything before starting. Import the core data, set up programs, and refine notes, tags and custom fields as the season goes. The system gets better every time a crew visits a property.

Keep the old spreadsheet archived and read-only once you switch. Two live sources of truth is how records drift apart.