Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about the onboarding process, the app, and preparing source data.
General
What is this app for?
It's the workspace for migrating a branch's data into C3 — mapping fields, planning waves, standardizing codes, reviewing data quality, validating each association, and tracking every entity through to go-live. See The Onboarding Process.
Who does the work?
Responsibilities are split by team: Engineering handles ingestion and C3 loading; Implementation drives standardization, review, and validation; the branch provides source-system knowledge, wave preferences, and validation. Some work — GL/charge-type mapping, wave planning — needs the branch and Implementation together. See Roles & Access.
Providing source data
How do I get my data into the platform?
Through the ingestion pipeline — a CSV export to S3, an ODBC/JDBC connection, an API, or a database dump, agreed during source discovery. There is no in-app data upload. See Providing Source Data.
What format should my data be in?
Follow the Data Formats conventions — ISO dates, true/false
booleans, currency without symbols, UTF-8 text. Consistent source formatting reduces quality issues
downstream.
Do I provide my own record IDs?
Yes. Keep using your existing unique IDs — they're stored as External IDs and keep records matched across re-ingestion. C3 Ids are assigned later, during loading. See the Data Identity Model.
Does data have to be provided wave by wave?
No. Ingestion is branch-wide — data is ingested for the whole branch as it becomes available, independent of how associations are grouped into waves.
Standardization
What gets standardized?
Five things, under Standardize: GL accounts (Chart of Accounts), charge types, delinquency statuses, reimbursables, and bank accounts. Map GL accounts first, then charge types, then delinquency statuses; reimbursables can be done in parallel. See Standardization.
What's the difference between global and association mapping?
A global mapping is applied once at the organization level and propagates to every association whose source record matches the code's signature — map here first. An association mapping is an individual override for one association. Overrides are preserved when global mappings re-propagate.
How do I map — in the app or in a spreadsheet?
Either. Every tool supports an Excel template download/upload for bulk mapping and in-app editing for individual records or grouped signatures.
Implementation waves
What is an implementation wave?
A named group of associations organized for phased go-live, carrying go-dark and go-live dates and serving as the unit of sign-off. See Implementation Waves.
Are waves part of the data I provide?
No — waves are planned in the app, not submitted as data. You create waves and assign associations to them in Setup → Implementation Waves.
Can an association be in more than one wave?
An association is assigned to one wave for the purpose of its go-live.
Review and validation
What's the difference between Review and Validate?
Review is continuous spot-checking of data quality across every entity (open to all users). Validate is the formal per-association check plus cross-entity and financial panels, and requires the manager role or higher. See Review and Validation.
What does the Validation Wizard check?
It samples an association's real data across six steps — Association Info, Units, Accounts, Community Members, Bank Accounts, Vendors — that the reviewer marks Passed or Failed, followed by sign-off.
Why is a validation showing as "stale"?
The underlying data changed since the validation was completed. Re-run the wizard on the current data. Staleness commonly appears after the go-dark fresh pull.
Migration tracking and sign-off
How is progress tracked?
Entity by entity, per wave, through the migration lifecycle. Transitions are manual — a person advances an entity's state when the work is verifiably complete. Current states are visible on the Data Availability page.
Who signs off a wave for go-live?
Both sides. The Mark ready for Go-Live gate on the wave detail page requires approval from one Source System (NewCo) and one Target System (Associa) representative before the wave loads to C3.
Configuration
How do I configure an association's billing or delinquency settings?
You don't configure them in the app — billing and delinquency configuration are ingested with the association's data and shown read-only under Review. To change a value, correct it in the source system and re-ingest. See Data Availability & Configuration.
Loading and go-live
What happens after a wave is signed off?
It's loaded into C3 UAT, tested there, taken through go-dark, then migrated to C3 Production. See C3 UAT Loading & Testing, Go-Dark, and Production Migration & Go-Live.
Who do I contact for help?
Contact your onboarding coordinator or the Associa Data Operations team.