Moving from Excel to Apartment Management Software: A Step-by-Step Data Migration

Short answer: pick a handover date first and close your spreadsheet on that date. Clean up and import the units and people, then enter the balance brought forward for each unit, for cash and for the bank; the total must agree with the bank statement and the cash count. Decide whether to bring past movements across according to where the year-end account will come from. Keep the old spreadsheet running for the first month and compare both at month end.

Last checked: 27 September 2026. The figures in the example show the method; they do not belong to a real property.

1. Pick the handover date

The move needs one date: everything up to it goes in as an opening balance, and everything after it is recorded in the new system. The last day of a month is the usual choice, because the bank statement, the cash count and the maintenance fee (aidat) charge all close monthly.

• Year end (31/12): the cleanest option. Unless the management plan sets another time, the manager accounts to the owners' assembly (kat malikleri kurulu) in the first month of each calendar year (KMK Art. 39), and the new year is kept in the new system from the start.
• Month end: if you move mid-year, choose a month end. Decide now which record the year-end account will come from (section 5 below).

After the handover date, do not add new entries to the spreadsheet; during the parallel month, keep it only for comparison.

2. What moves across?

Land share and floor area are required if the fee is split by them. For the legal basis of the operating budget and how it is split, see the operating budget guide.

3. Clean the spreadsheet

Most import errors come from the layout of the file. Before uploading, check:

1. One format for unit codes. "A-5", "A5" and "Block A 5" look like three different units. Keep block and number in separate columns.
2. Numbers stored as numbers. If "1.250,50" is stored as text, one program may read 1,250.50 and another 125,050. Convert the amount column to a number format and check the total.
3. Unmerge cells and delete subtotals. Each row should be one record; a "block total" row is imported as if it were a unit.
4. Merge two spellings of the same person. Two names that differ only by a double space look the same on screen but can be opened as two people.
5. One date format. If day/month/year and month/day/year are mixed, 03/04 and 04/03 swap.
6. Leave out personal data you do not need. Do not import columns the fee records do not need (for example ID numbers or dates of birth). Personal data must be relevant, limited and proportionate to the purpose (KVKK Art. 4).

4. Reconcile the opening balances

The opening balance is a snapshot of the handover date. Balances entered correctly one by one must also add up. Check with a simple equation:

Cash + bank + owed by residents − owed to residents who overpaid − owed to suppliers = the management's net assets

Example (a 24-apartment building, handover on 31/08):

84,350 + 2,150 + 18,600 − 1,200 − 6,400 = 97,500. Once the opening balances are in, the new system must show the same totals. If they do not agree, do not post the first period's charge until you find the reason; the longer a difference stays, the harder it is to trace.

Common causes of a difference:

• A transfer that reached the bank before the handover date but was never posted to a unit in the spreadsheet.
• Small cash payments that never made it into the book.
• An invoice that was paid but still shows as owed in the spreadsheet.

5. Should you bring past movements across?

There are two routes:

• Opening balances only: quick. Questions about earlier periods are answered from the spreadsheet archive. Keep the spreadsheet and documents in a form that cannot be changed (for example, converted to PDF). The manager must keep all expenses and documents on file (KMK Art. 36).
• This year's movements as well: if you move mid-year and want the year-end account to come from the new system, bring across the charges, collections and expenses from 1 January to the handover date. The opening balance is then entered as at 1 January, with the movements on top.

The test is simple: the annual account you give the owners' assembly (KMK Art. 39) should come from a single record.

6. Order matters

1. Units and people: balances and payments attach to them, so they come first.
2. Opening balances: units, cash, bank and suppliers.
3. Past movements: if you chose to bring them.
4. Checks: do cash and bank agree with the documents, do transfers net to zero, are there gaps in the charge periods, has anyone been opened twice?

If past movements are uploaded before the opening balances, balances come out short by the amount brought forward; a payment uploaded before its person exists has no account to attach to.

7. The parallel month

Close the first month in both records: in the spreadsheet only for comparison, in the new system as the real record. At month end three totals should match:

• the month's total charges,
• the month's total collections,
• the bank and cash balances at month end.

If they match, archive the spreadsheet. In the first months, checking a resident's "why do I owe this much?" question against both records builds trust.

8. Personal data (KVKK)

Residents' names, contact details and balances are personal data. As general information:

• The management decides why and how the data is processed, so it is the data controller; the software provider processes data on its behalf, so it is the data processor (KVKK Art. 3).
• The data controller is jointly responsible with the processor for taking appropriate security measures (KVKK Art. 12). Read the provider's security and retention terms.
• When data is collected, the people concerned must be told the purpose, who it may be shared with and their rights (KVKK Art. 10).
• Explicit consent is not always required; KVKK Art. 5(2) lists other grounds (for example a legal obligation, establishing or protecting a right, or legitimate interest). Which one applies depends on your situation; if you are unsure, ask a lawyer.

9. How it works in Yonevo

Yonevo's data migration screen follows the order above: apartments and people, opening balances, past records and checks. Spreadsheet rows go through matching and verification steps; a row that does not match is not silently skipped, you are asked about it. The check step tests whether cash and bank balances agree with the documents, whether transfers net to zero, whether there are gaps in the charge periods and whether any record is duplicated. An upload can be undone within 24 hours if nothing has been attached to it. Doing the migration yourself is included in the price; having our team do it is quoted separately.

Common mistakes

1. Importing without a handover date: opening balances end up entered for different dates and the total never agrees.
2. Moving only residents' balances: without cash, bank and supplier balances, the reports are incomplete.
3. Leaving a difference "for later": a small difference at opening turns, a few months on, into a difference nobody can trace.
4. Deleting the spreadsheet straight away: keep it archived until the parallel month is over and the annual account has been given.
5. Importing every column: personal data you do not need is both a KVKK risk and extra weight.

Frequently asked questions

Do we have to bring past years across? No. If the opening balances are right, the new system works. The documents and books for earlier years must still be kept on file (KMK Art. 36).

The balance list in our spreadsheet does not agree with the bank. What should we do? First compare the bank movements for the month before the handover date with the spreadsheet one by one; the most common cause is a transfer that was never posted to a unit. Do not post the first charge until you find the difference.

Can we move mid-year? Yes. Choose a month end as the handover date. If you want the year-end account to come from the new system, bring this year's movements across as well.

Do we need residents' explicit consent to move their details into software? Not in every case; KVKK Art. 5(2) lists grounds where explicit consent is not required. Which applies depends on your situation. The duty to inform (Art. 10) applies separately.

Sources (in Turkish)

• Condominium Law No. 634, Art. 36, 39
• Personal Data Protection Law No. 6698, Art. 3, 4, 5, 10, 12