Migrating from Time Doctor to Flowace: The "Why" Behind the Move

You've made a smart, forward-thinking decision to explore better productivity management solutions for your team. While Time Doctor has served many organisations well, the landscape of workforce analytics has evolved dramatically. Migrating from Time Doctor to Flowace represents more than just a platform switch. It's an upgrade to a more intuitive, employee-friendly, and analytically powerful system.

Flowace offers compelling advantages that address many of the common pain points teams experience with Time Doctor: a cleaner, more modern interface that your team will actually enjoy using, advanced analytics that provide deeper insights into productivity patterns, features designed to boost team morale rather than create surveillance anxiety, and enhanced reporting capabilities that help you make data-driven decisions with confidence.

This guide will walk you through every step for a seamless and successful migration. Whether you're managing a team of five or five hundred, you'll find clear, actionable instructions to transition smoothly with minimal disruption to your operations.

Pre-Migration Checklist: Laying the Groundwork

This is the most critical phase for success. Taking the time to prepare properly will prevent headaches and ensure a smooth transition. Here's your comprehensive pre-migration checklist:

• Audit Your Current Data: Before you begin the migration process, identify exactly what data you need to bring over from Time Doctor to Flowace. This typically includes your user list with roles and permissions, active and archived projects, and more. Don't feel pressured to migrate everything. Focus on what your team actually needs going forward.

• Set Up Your Flowace Account: Ensure you have admin access to your Flowace workspace and have completed the basic company profile setup. Configure your organization structure, time zones, and work schedules before importing data. This foundation will make the actual data import much smoother.

• Inform Your Team: Communication is crucial for adoption success. Draft an announcement email to your team explaining the switch. Here's a sample template you can adapt:

Subject: Exciting Update: We're Upgrading to Flowace

Hi Team,

We're making a positive change to how we track and optimize our productivity. Starting [date], we'll be transitioning from Time Doctor to Flowace: a more intuitive and team-friendly platform.

What this means for you:
- A cleaner, easier-to-use interface
- More transparent productivity insights that help you work better
- Less intrusive monitoring and more focus on outcomes
- Better project management and reporting tools

We'll provide full training and support during the transition. Your historical data will be preserved, and we're here to answer any questions.

Looking forward to this upgrade together!

Assign a Migration Lead: Designate a point of contact who will own this process. This should be someone with admin access to both platforms, good attention to detail, and the bandwidth to troubleshoot any issues that arise. Having a single owner prevents confusion and ensures accountability.

The Data Migration Process: A Phased Approach

Breaking the migration into clear phases reduces anxiety and helps you maintain control throughout the process. Here's your roadmap:

Phase 1: Exporting Data from Time Doctor to Flowace

Time Doctor allows you to export most critical data through their interface. Follow these steps carefully:

Example 1: Exporting User Lists:

1. Log into Time Doctor as an administrator
2. Navigate to Reports > Custom Export
3. Click on Export after selecting the important fields
4. Download the CSV file containing user names, email addresses, etc
5. Save this file with a clear name like "TD_Users_Export_[Date].csv"!

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Example 2: Exporting Project Data:

1. Go to Reports > Projects & Tasks
2. Select Export and the desired fields from the available options
3. Ensure you're exporting all active projects
4. Download and label the file appropriately with a clear name like "TD_Project_Task_Export_[Date].csv"!

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Phase 2: Preparing Data for Flowace

This is a crucial value-add step that many organizations overlook. Raw exports from Time Doctor often need cleaning and formatting to import smoothly into Flowace.

Clean Your User Data:

• Open your user export CSV in Excel or Google Sheets
• Verify all email addresses are correctly formatted (no spaces, valid domains)
• Standardize role names to match Flowace's role structure (Admin, Manager, Member, Silent User)
• Remove any inactive users you don't plan to migrate
• Ensure the column headers match Flowace's template (download the template from Flowace)

Common Pitfalls to Avoid:

• Missing Required Fields: Flowace requires certain fields like user email and client/project/task names, etc. Ensure no cells in these columns are empty.
• Special Characters: Remove or replace special characters in names and descriptions that might cause import errors.
• Inconsistent Naming: If "Project Alpha" is sometimes listed as "project alpha" or "Proj Alpha," standardize all variations.

Phase 3: Importing Data into Flowace from Time Doctor

Now you're ready to bring your data into Flowace. The platform makes this process intuitive:

Example 1: Importing Users:

1. Log into Flowace as an administrator
2. Navigate to Admin Settings > Members
3. Upload the CSV file after verifying the user data
4. Complete the import

Please see the following link for more details: https://help.flowace.ai/en/article/how-to-upload-users-in-bulk-163cmzr/

Example 2: Importing Projects:

1. Go to Projects and Tasks
2. From the 3-dot options menu, select Upload
3. Upload your prepared project CSV after verifying client/project/task names, and assigned team members
4. Complete the import

Troubleshooting Sub-section: Common Import Errors

Error: "User Email Already Exists"

This means a user with that email is already in your Flowace system. Either remove them from your import file or update their information in Flowace directly rather than importing.

Error: "Required Field Missing"

Check your CSV for empty cells in required columns like email, date, client name, project name or task name. Fill in all required data before attempting the import again.

Post-Migration Configuration & Onboarding

Data migration is only half the battle. The real success comes from how well your team adopts Flowace. Here's how to set everyone up for success:

Team Onboarding

Create a smooth transition experience for your team members:

Welcome to Flowace Orientation:

Consider having a welcome call covering:

• How to log into Flowace for the first time
• Key differences from Time Doctor (emphasize the positives: cleaner interface, better insights, less intrusive)
• How to start and stop time tracking
• Where to view their productivity insights
• How to manage tasks and projects
• Who to contact with questions

(Share the help articles or videos published by Flowace)

Highlight Key Improvements:

Help your team understand what's better about Flowace:

• Custom alerts and custom workflows as per the team requirements
• More intuitive dashboard that shows what matters at a glance
• Dedicated Privacy Mode respecting both working hours as well as privacy
• Optional screenshot settings that respect privacy while maintaining accountability
• Detailed Raw-Activity Logs that helps the leaders audit the data

Schedule Training Sessions:

Hold brief group training sessions (30 minutes maximum) where team members can ask questions and see the platform in action. Record these sessions for anyone who can't attend live.

Setting Up New Features on Flowace, that weren't available in Time Doctor:

Custom Alerts:

Create custom alerts such as low productivity, late attendance, high idle hours, supicious activity and more.

Custom Workflows:

Create multi approver workflows for your leaves, manual timesheet entires, expenses and more.

Custom Work Categories:

Create work categories such as communication, documentation, and design, in addition to rating apps and websites based on productivity across teams, individuals, or the company.

Raw Activity Logs:

The raw activity logs have a precision of one second, allowing for detailed auditing of activities. This is particularly beneficial for leaders who need to compare captured screenshots with the recorded activities. This feature is controlled through feature permissions and is enabled by default.

Screenshot Monitoring:

Unlike Time Doctor's frequent screenshot approach, Flowace offers flexible options. Go to Screenshot Settings and choose:

• Chose Screenshot frequency (select weekdays, weekends, start and end time)
• Which team members need screenshots vs. those who don't

Integrations:

Connect Flowace with th HRMS tools your team already uses. Navigate to Admin Settings > Integrations and connect seamlessly.

Pilot Group Recommendation

Before rolling out to your entire organization, run a one-week pilot with a small, representative team (5-10 people). This pilot group should:

• Include a mix of roles and seniority levels
• Represent different working styles (office, remote, hybrid)
• Provide daily feedback on their experience
• Help identify any configuration issues before full rollout

Use their feedback to refine settings, clarify documentation, and address concerns before the company-wide launch.

Time Doctor vs Flowace: Comparison & Key Advantages Table

Here's a clear comparison to validate your decision to switch:

Please see the following link for a detailed comparison: https://flowace.ai/compares/timedoctor-vs-flowace/

FAQs

"Will there be any downtime during migration?"

No. The migration from Time Doctor to Flowace happens in parallel, not as a replacement process. Your team can continue using Time Doctor while you set up and configure Flowace. You choose the cutover date that works best for your organization; whether that's a gradual transition or a clean switch on a Monday morning. Most organizations experience zero productivity disruption when following this guide's phased approach.

"Is my team's historical data safe?"

Absolutely. Any data you export from Time Doctor remains secure in your exports. Additionally, Time Doctor maintains your data according to their retention policies, so you're not losing access to anything by making the switch.

"How is Flowace's approach to privacy different?"

Flowace is built on the principle that productivity tracking should empower teams, not surveil them. Unlike Time Doctor's frequent mandatory screenshots, Flowace offers configurable monitoring, feature like work and privacy mode, that respects employee privacy. You can adjust screenshot frequency, make screenshots optional for certain teams, and provide complete transparency. Many organizations find they need less intrusive monitoring when they have better analytics, and Flowace's approach reflects this modern understanding.

"What support is available if we get stuck?"

Flowace provides multiple support channels to ensure your migration succeeds. You have access to chat support during business hours (with typical response times under a few hours), comprehensive documentation and video tutorials in the help center, a dedicated onboarding specialist, and email support with 24-48 hours response time guarantee. Many organizations also benefit from Flowace's migration assistance service, where a specialist walks you through the process in real-time.

"Can we try Flowace before fully committing to the migration?"

Yes. Flowace offers a 7-day free trial with full access to all features. We recommend running a pilot with a small team before migrating your entire organization. This allows you to validate that Flowace meets your needs and gives your migration lead time to become familiar with the platform before the full rollout.

"What happens to our Time Doctor subscription during migration?"

You'll need to manage your Time Doctor subscription separately. Some organizations complete their migration within 1-2 weeks, then cancel Time Doctor at the end of their billing cycle to avoid overlap charges. Coordinate your migration timeline with your Time Doctor billing date for optimal cost efficiency.

Conclusion: You're All Set to switch from Time Doctor to Flowace!

Congratulations on taking this important step toward better productivity management. By following this comprehensive guide, you've successfully navigated the migration from Time Doctor to Flowace—from auditing your data and planning the transition, through exporting and importing your information, to configuring your new system and onboarding your team.

You're now equipped with a more powerful, intuitive, and employee-friendly productivity platform that will provide deeper insights, foster better team morale, and support your organization's growth. Your team will appreciate the modern interface and respectful approach to monitoring, while you'll benefit from superior analytics and reporting capabilities.

Start your seamless migration today.

If you have any questions or need hands-on support during any phase of this process, our dedicated support team is here to help. Reach out via live chat in your Flowace dashboard, email us at support@flowace.ai, or visit our comprehensive help center at https://help.flowace.ai/en/

Welcome to the Flowace family—we're excited to support your team's productivity journey!

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Updated on: 17/10/2025