Importing Data — Bring Your Existing Work Into Lifecycle

Migrating from another tool shouldn't mean starting from scratch. Lifecycle supports CSV and Excel imports for any board, and a full Monday.com migration for teams moving their entire workflow.

CSV and Excel Import

Getting Started

Board Settings → Import tab

This is your starting point for all CSV and Excel imports. Every import is scoped to a single board.

Download the Template First

Before building your own file, download the template for your board. The template is pre-formatted with all supported column headers and includes example rows to show expected formats.

Tip: Starting from the template is significantly faster than mapping a custom CSV. It eliminates most column mapping work and prevents the most common validation errors.

The Import Process

Step 1 — Upload

Drag and drop your CSV or Excel file onto the upload area, or click to browse. Files up to 50MB are supported. Both .csv and .xlsx formats are accepted.

Step 2 — Map Columns

Lifecycle reads your column headers and attempts to auto-detect which Lifecycle field each column maps to. You'll see a mapping table showing:

  • Your column header (left)
  • The detected Lifecycle field (right, with a dropdown to change it)
  • A sample of values from your file (for verification)

Review the auto-detected mappings and correct any that are wrong. Columns that don't map to any Lifecycle field can be set to "Ignore."

Step 3 — Preview

Before anything is created, you see a full preview of how your data will be imported. The preview shows:

  • A sample of rows and how they'll appear as work items
  • Validation errors highlighted in red — rows with problems that need fixing
  • Warnings in yellow — rows that will import but with assumptions made (e.g., an unknown status will use the board default)
  • A count of total items, valid items, and items with errors

Fix errors in your source file and re-upload, or use the inline editor to fix individual rows in the preview.

Step 4 — Execute

Click "Import" to create all valid items. Items are created in batches. A progress bar shows how many items have been created out of the total.

Step 5 — Resume (if interrupted)

If the import is interrupted — browser closed, network issue, page refresh — the import state is preserved. Return to Board Settings → Import tab to resume from where the import left off. No items are duplicated.

Supported Field Mappings

Column / Header Field Notes
title Item title Required.
level Item level story, task, or subtask
status Status Must match an enabled status name. Invalid values use board default.
priority Priority urgent, very_high, high, mid, low, very_low
pipeline Pipeline stage predev, dev, production (R&D boards)
description Description Plain text or Markdown
assignees Assignees Comma-separated email addresses of team members
qa_assignees QA assignees Comma-separated email addresses
sprint Sprint Sprint name — matched to an existing sprint on the board
estimated_hours Estimated hours Numeric value
qa_estimated_hours QA estimated hours Numeric value
commitment_date Commitment date ISO 8601 format: YYYY-MM-DD
parent_ref Parent item Title or item key of the parent item (for building hierarchy)
cf:epic Epic (custom field) Use cf: prefix followed by the field slug
cf:product Product (custom field) Same pattern for any custom field
cf:team Team (custom field) Same pattern

Custom field format: Use cf: followed by the field's slug. Find a field's slug in Settings → Fields → click the field → slug is shown in the edit panel.

Validation Rules

The import validates the following before creating items:

  • title is present and non-empty (rows without a title are skipped)
  • level is valid for the board type (e.g., only story/task/subtask for R&D boards)
  • status names match enabled statuses — invalid statuses default to the board's first status
  • Email addresses in assignees and qa_assignees match existing team members
  • sprint names match existing sprints — items with unknown sprint names are created without a sprint
  • estimated_hours and qa_estimated_hours are valid numbers
  • parent_ref references an item that exists in this import batch or on the board already

Import History

Board Settings → Import tab → History

Every past import is recorded with:

  • Date and time
  • Filename
  • Total items, created items, error count
  • The column mapping configuration used
  • Status (completed, partial, failed)

You can re-run any past import with the same mapping, useful for incremental imports of updated data.

Monday.com Migration

For teams migrating from Monday.com, Lifecycle offers a full board migration — not just items, but users, sprints, attachments, and status mappings.

What Gets Migrated

  • Boards — each Monday.com board becomes a Lifecycle board
  • Items — all items with their fields and hierarchy
  • Sprints / Groups — Monday groups are mapped to Lifecycle sprints
  • Users — user mapping between platforms (by email)
  • Attachments — files attached to items
  • Status and priority translations — Monday's status labels mapped to Lifecycle equivalents

Person / User Mapping

The migration maps Monday.com users to Lifecycle team members by email address. Before running the migration, ensure all relevant people have been invited to your Lifecycle organization. Users who don't have a Lifecycle account are imported as unassigned — you can reassign them after migration.

Status and Priority Translation

Monday.com uses custom status labels. During the migration setup, you'll see a mapping table showing each Monday status and the Lifecycle status it will translate to. You can adjust these mappings before the migration runs.

Configurable Board IDs

If you only want to migrate specific Monday boards, provide the board IDs in the migration configuration. Leave it empty to migrate all boards.

Running the Migration

The Monday.com migration is available under Organization Settings → Import → Monday.com. You'll need a Monday.com API token with read access to your workspace.

Tip: Run a test migration on a single Monday board before migrating your entire workspace. This lets you verify the status mappings and user assignments look correct before committing to the full migration.

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