ActiveCampaign Migration Safety Checklist

1. Success criteria

The migration is only considered safe when all of the following are true:

• ActiveCampaign data has been exported and archived.
• Supabase holds the current master record set.
• Backup snapshots exist outside both AC and Supabase.
• A restore test has been completed successfully.
• Record counts reconcile across systems.
• Spot checks confirm field-level accuracy.
• Unsubscribe and suppression status is preserved.
• AC remains available as fallback until post-cutover verification is complete.

2. Source-of-truth model

No single platform should be the only copy of the Jane Media customer list.

3. Phase 0 — Freeze risky changes

Before any migration work starts:

• Do not delete contacts from ActiveCampaign.
• Do not bulk-edit or normalize fields directly in AC unless the change is logged.
• Do not disable automations yet unless they are actively causing harm.
• Do not treat GHL as sole source of truth.
• Do not overwrite Supabase records without import logs.

4. Phase 1 — Create immutable backups

4.1 ActiveCampaign exports

• All contacts
• All tags
• All custom fields
• Lists and list memberships
• Account-wide unsubscribe and suppression data
• Automation inventory: name, status, trigger, purpose
• Relevant campaign or report exports where useful

Required filenames: ac-contacts-YYYY-MM-DD.csv, ac-tags-YYYY-MM-DD.csv, ac-custom-fields-YYYY-MM-DD.csv, ac-unsubscribes-YYYY-MM-DD.csv, ac-automations-inventory-YYYY-MM-DD.csv.

Storage: one copy in /root/.openclaw/workspace/Exports/ and one copy in Google Drive /Exports.

• /root/.openclaw/workspace/Exports/
• Google Drive /Exports

4.2 Supabase snapshot export

• contacts
• purchases
• subscriptions (not present in current schema)
• email_suppressions
• Any legacy leads table still in use

4.3 Payment system backup

• Stripe customers and payments relevant to Jane Media
• PayPal purchase history if active
• ThriveCart buyer exports if used as intake source

5. Phase 2 — Define canonical field mapping

Identity model

• Primary dedup key: email
• Internal PK: UUID
• Human-readable ID: customer_id

Required fields to preserve

• email
• first_name
• last_name
• phone
• source
• tags
• original created / join date
• unsubscribed_at
• lifecycle or customer status
• purchase history reference

Required migration decisions

• Exact AC field → Supabase field mapping
• Exact AC tag → GHL tag mapping
• Deprecated fields kept for archive only
• Duplicate email resolution rules
• Malformed or blank email handling

No import starts until this mapping is written down.

Current progress: the identity model is already decided — email is the dedup key, UUID is the internal primary key, and customer_id is the human-readable identifier. Full AC field mapping and AC → GHL tag mapping still need to be locked.

6. Phase 3 — Restore test (mandatory)

This is the trust-building step.

Goal

Prove we can reconstruct the list from backups.

Test process

• Take one backup set from AC and Supabase exports
• Restore into a safe test destination
• Confirm row counts match source export
• Confirm key fields survive import/export cycle
• Confirm unsubscribe data survives
• Confirm at least 10 random customer records match exactly on core fields

Restore test must verify

• count integrity
• email integrity
• tag integrity
• suppression integrity
• created date integrity

Current result: restore proof passed with warnings in an isolated SQLite environment. A Postgres- or Supabase-native restore is still recommended before irreversible cutover.

If restore test fails, migration pauses.

7. Phase 4 — Migration execution checklist

Migrate in batches, not all at once.

Per-batch checklist

• Define batch scope
• Export source batch from AC
• Archive batch export before import
• Import to Supabase / GHL according to approved mapping
• Record import log with counts, duplicates, and errors
• Reconcile counts immediately
• Spot check 5–10 records manually
• Verify unsubscribe status survived
• Verify automations and tags behave correctly in target

Import log fields

• batch name
• date/time
• source system
• source count
• inserted / updated / skipped / duplicate / error counts
• operator
• notes / anomalies

8. Phase 5 — Automation migration safety

Because AC is expensive, automation migration should be deliberate rather than rushed.

For each AC automation

• Inventory name and business purpose
• Mark as keep / rebuild / retire / merge
• Identify trigger
• Identify emails used
• Identify tags or goals used
• Identify dependencies on lists, forms, fields, or other automations
• Rebuild in GHL only after logic is documented
• Test with davidc@janemedia.org before live traffic
• Confirm no duplicate sends
• Confirm unsubscribe behavior is preserved

Cutover rule for each automation

• GHL version is tested
• Send logic matches intention
• Suppression is respected
• Owner signs off

9. Phase 6 — Reconciliation rules

9.1 Count reconciliation

• total contacts
• unique emails
• suppressed contacts
• tagged customer segments
• recent purchasers

9.2 Spot-check reconciliation

Minimum 10 records across:

• lead only
• customer
• multi-purchase customer
• unsubscribed contact
• webinar attendee
• book buyer
• legacy AC-heavy contact

For each spot check verify: name, email, key tags, source, created date, unsubscribe status, and purchase link/history presence.

10. Phase 7 — Cutover criteria

ActiveCampaign should only be downgraded, paused, or cancelled when all are true:

• All active automations have explicit disposition: migrated / retired / intentionally deferred
• Contact counts reconcile
• Suppression data reconciles
• Restore test passed
• Latest full exports archived in 2 locations
• GHL live sends validated
• David signs off

11–13. Rollback plan, immediate next actions, and recommendation

Rollback plan

1. Stop further imports
2. Preserve logs and broken batch file
3. Revert target automation changes if needed
4. Re-import from archived export
5. Reconcile counts again
6. Resume only after root cause is understood

Never fix forward blindly on customer data.

Recommended immediate next actions

• Export full ActiveCampaign data set
• Export current Supabase tables
• Archive both in 2 locations
• Create automation inventory for the AC automations
• Write the AC → Supabase / GHL field map
• Run one restore test
• Migrate one low-risk automation first
• Validate end-to-end
• Then proceed automation by automation