Adult Family Home Software Migration Checklist

Moving an Adult Family Home from paper, spreadsheets, or another application is not a single import. It is a controlled transition between sources of truth. Resident identities, current medications, care plans, caregiver access, documents, schedules, and historical records must remain understandable while the new system begins generating daily work.

The greatest migration risk is not that every old note fails to appear in a new screen. It is that staff cannot tell which order, schedule, resident record, or workflow is authoritative during the change.

This checklist covers planning, data inventory, cleanup, permissions, medication validation, testing, training, cutover, downtime, and post-launch review. Adapt it to the home's policies, applicable requirements, vendor capabilities, and professional guidance.

1. Assign migration ownership

Name one internal migration owner and one vendor contact. For larger organizations, identify owners for resident data, medications, caregivers, documents, reports, security, and training.

Create a decision log. Record scope changes, data exceptions, accepted risks, test results, and responsible people. A series of emails and verbal approvals is difficult to reconstruct when the cutover approaches.

The federal ONC guidance for selecting or upgrading health IT emphasizes organizational responsibilities, safe use, and contingency planning. Adult Family Homes may use different systems, but clear accountability remains essential.

2. Define success and scope

List which records and workflows will move:

• Facility settings and identifiers
• Active and archived resident profiles
• Contacts, representatives, practitioners, pharmacies, diagnoses, and allergies
• Assessments and negotiated care plans
• Active and discontinued medications
• Historical MARs and medication notes
• Daily Notes, ADLs, behaviors, vitals, appointments, and tasks
• Incidents and follow-up
• Caregiver profiles, roles, schedules, and time records
• Resident, caregiver, and facility documents
• Messages, family access, pharmacy relationships, and refill history
• Billing, expenses, or operational reports where applicable

For each record type, choose one outcome: structured import, document archive, external retention, manual reentry, or excluded with an approved reason. “Migrate data” is not a sufficient scope statement.

Define success measures such as verified active medications, correct resident counts, matched documents, tested roles, readable reports, trained users, and no unresolved critical defects.

3. Inventory every current source

Record where information exists today. Include paper binders, local files, spreadsheets, cloud folders, email attachments, pharmacy faxes, calendars, messaging apps, the old software, and staff-created side lists.

For each source, identify the owner, format, date range, update frequency, sensitivity, retention decision, and export method. Note whether it is still changing during the project.

The inventory often reveals multiple versions of the same information. Do not select the newest file automatically. Identify the approved source for each field and record type.

4. Freeze definitions before cleaning data

Agree on naming and status rules. Define active, discharged, archived, inactive caregiver, discontinued medication, deleted document, completed task, and closed incident. Decide how facility names, resident legal names, preferred names, phone numbers, dates, and identifiers will be formatted.

Without definitions, cleanup teams may make conflicting corrections. A consistent data dictionary helps the vendor map fields and helps reviewers understand the import.

5. Resolve duplicate people and facilities

Find residents or caregivers entered more than once, abbreviated facility names, and records that belong to a test account. Choose the surviving identifier and document what will happen to history attached to duplicate records.

Never merge residents solely because their names match. Use appropriate identifying information and authorized review. A mistaken merge is more dangerous than a visible duplicate.

For multi-facility organizations, confirm which residents, caregivers, pharmacies, and documents belong to each home before any bulk import.

6. Reconcile active resident information

Review every resident selected for go-live:

• Correct facility and room where applicable
• Legal and preferred name
• Contacts and notification relationships
• Practitioner and pharmacy information
• Allergies and diagnoses
• Current assessment and care plan status
• Active appointments and follow-up
• Important documents and expiration dates
• Current absence, hospitalization, transfer, or discharge status

Do not use migration as a reason to invent missing information. Mark unresolved items for authorized follow-up.

7. Treat medications as a separate validation project

Medication migration deserves independent controls. For each resident, reconcile the current approved medication list, active orders, pharmacy labels or information used by the home, practitioner directions, administration times, start and end dates, allergies, discontinued orders, PRN instructions, and applicable clinical details.

The import should preserve the difference between an active prescription and historical administration events. It should not create a new schedule from every old medication record.

After import:

1. Compare every active order with the authoritative source.
2. Verify medication, strength, form, amount per dose, route, frequency, times, dates, prescriber, and instructions.
3. Confirm discontinued medications do not generate future events.
4. Confirm each administration time generates the expected event.
5. Test PRN documentation and follow-up.
6. Print a sample MAR and review the entire period.

Use the eMAR software guide for detailed order-to-MAR validation scenarios.

8. Decide how to preserve history

Historical data can be imported as structured records, attached as documents, retained in a read-only old system, or exported to an organized archive. The correct approach may differ by record type.

Document how users will retrieve a prior MAR, incident, care plan, or note after cutover. Include date ranges, resident matching, file naming, access permissions, and retention.

If the old system requires continuing payment for read-only access, include the duration and cost in the migration plan. Test exports before terminating the account.

9. Map fields explicitly

Create a mapping from each source field to its destination. Record transformations, default values, omitted fields, and validation rules.

Examples:

| Source | Destination | Validation | | --- | --- | --- | | Resident legal name | Resident profile legal name | Compare to approved resident record | | Medication schedule text | Frequency and administration times | Authorized medication review | | Staff initials | Historical staff identity or legend | Preserve interpretation of old MAR | | Document filename | Resident document title and category | Open file and confirm resident | | Discharge flag | Resident archived status | Compare date and facility |

Do not map a text note into a structured clinical field without authorized review.

10. Clean files before upload

Remove true duplicates, temporary downloads, blank scans, unrelated personal files, and files assigned to the wrong resident. Rename documents consistently and preserve original dates when supported.

Scan quality matters. Rotate pages, confirm readability, and identify password-protected or corrupted files. Do not discard the source until the destination has been verified and the retention plan permits it.

11. Configure facilities before users

Set facility names, IDs, addresses, time zone, document categories, notification rules, pharmacy relationships, and other shared settings. In a multi-home account, verify the active facility boundary throughout the application.

Configuration can affect imported records and alerts. Record defaults rather than accepting them silently.

12. Build the permission matrix

List each role against facilities, resident access, modules, and actions. Distinguish viewing, creating, editing, accepting, administering, exporting, deleting, and managing users.

Create individual accounts. Do not migrate a shared staff password. Verify owners, caregivers, pharmacies, and family users with separate test accounts.

For applicable organizations, the HHS Security Rule materials describe safeguards for electronic protected health information, including access and audit considerations. Determine the home's responsibilities and vendor relationship rather than relying on a label.

13. Establish the test environment

Use fictional or appropriately controlled data. Include two facilities, similar resident names, active and discharged residents, multiple caregiver roles, complex medications, PRNs, long instructions, documents, incidents, and multi-page reports.

Protect real resident information during testing. If production data must be used, complete applicable authorization, security, vendor, and access preparations first.

14. Test complete workflows

Do not test fields in isolation. Run resident registration through care documentation, medication order through MAR, caregiver invitation through access removal, pharmacy authorization through refill receipt, and document upload through recovery and export.

The software selection guide includes scripted exception scenarios. Migration testing should repeat them with imported records.

Record expected result, actual result, evidence, severity, owner, retest date, and final disposition. A verbal statement that an issue is fixed is not a completed retest.

15. Validate counts and samples

Compare source and destination counts by facility, resident, record type, and date. Counts alone are insufficient; inspect representative records and high-risk items.

Use targeted samples:

• Every active medication
• Every active resident
• Every current caregiver account
• Documents for residents with similar names
• Recently changed care plans
• Multi-page historical MARs
• Incidents with attachments or follow-up
• Archived or discharged resident access

Investigate differences rather than forcing totals to match through placeholder records.

16. Validate reports before cutover

Generate the reports the home expects to produce. Check facility and resident identification, filters, dates, time zone, staff attribution, legends, page breaks, wrapped instructions, attachments, and totals.

PDF and print output should contain the report rather than website navigation. Test an empty report period and a heavily populated period.

17. Prepare role-based training

Owners need configuration, access management, review, reports, corrections, and data export. Caregivers need resident navigation, daily work, medication administration, notes, incidents, and help. Pharmacy users need facility selection, resident lookup, orders, refills, and status. Family users need only their authorized workflow.

Training should include errors and exceptions. Ask users to complete tasks without the trainer directing every click, then address observed confusion.

Provide concise written instructions for routine tasks, urgent support, downtime, and escalation.

18. Define the cutover window

Choose the final source freeze, last export, import, validation, user activation, first electronic shift or medication round, and go-live decision time. Assign each action and a backup person.

If the old and new systems overlap, define exactly which one is authoritative for each record and period. Avoid indefinite double documentation.

Communicate the plan to caregivers, pharmacies, and other affected people without including unnecessary resident information.

19. Prepare downtime and rollback criteria

Specify what staff will use if the new system is unavailable, how medication and care information remains accessible, where temporary entries are recorded, and how they are reconciled.

Define conditions that pause or reverse go-live: unverified active medications, incorrect facility separation, inaccessible resident records, failed authentication for required users, or unusable critical reports.

Rollback is not simply reopening the old application. State how entries created after cutover will be preserved and reconciled.

20. Conduct the go-live review

Before approval, confirm:

• Active residents and medications are verified.
• Required users can authenticate with correct roles.
• Facility boundaries pass testing.
• Caregiver devices can complete daily workflows.
• Reports and exports are readable.
• Critical defects are resolved or have approved mitigation.
• Support and escalation contacts are ready.
• Downtime materials are available.
• The authoritative-record decision is communicated.

Record the go or no-go decision and participants.

21. Review daily after launch

During the early period, inspect medication schedules, incomplete-round alerts, Daily Notes, caregiver access, tasks, documents, notifications, and reports. Look for patterns rather than treating every question as user error.

Classify issues as source data, mapping, configuration, training, product defect, performance, or policy. Assign action and verify the correction.

Dashboard alerts should clear when the underlying record is resolved. Duplicate requests or records may indicate retry or synchronization problems that need investigation.

22. Close the old system carefully

Only after validation and retention approval should the home reduce or terminate old access. Complete final exports, verify archives, remove unnecessary accounts, record deletion or retention commitments, and document the closure date.

Preserve contracts, migration evidence, mapping, counts, test results, approvals, and vendor communications with project records.

Frequently asked questions

Should every historical note be imported?

Not necessarily. Choose a documented retention and retrieval method for each record type. Some history may be safer as an organized read-only archive than an imperfect structured import.

Can the vendor verify medication orders for the home?

The vendor can validate technical mapping. Authorized home personnel must reconcile resident-specific medication information against the records the home is required to use.

How long should a migration take?

It depends on scope, data quality, record volume, configuration, training, and issue resolution. Use completion criteria rather than a generic duration.

Should paper and software run together?

A short controlled validation may be appropriate. Indefinite parallel systems create conflicting sources. Define the authoritative record and end date.

What proves migration is complete?

Evidence should cover the approved scope, reconciled active data, tested workflows, permissions, reports, training, cutover, downtime readiness, issue resolution, and accessible retained history.

Move records without losing meaning

A successful migration preserves more than files. It preserves resident identity, order accuracy, staff accountability, historical interpretation, and confidence about where today's work belongs.

AFH Manager supports resident, medication, caregiver, pharmacy, document, and reporting workflows in one platform. Providers can use this checklist to prepare, validate, and control a transition before making AFH Manager—or any product—the authoritative system.