How to migrate from DealCloud to Reuben AI
A practical guide for PE, VC, private credit and family office teams moving off DealCloud, a configurable deal management CRM, to Reuben AI, an AI-native investment operating system. Every deal, relationship record, custom field and pipeline stage is carried across, and the diligence, IC, portfolio and LP reporting work that sits outside a CRM is brought onto the same data layer.
DealCloud (an Intapp company) is well entrenched at large PE and credit firms because it is configurable and stable. The reason teams move on is not the tool, it is the shape of the tool: a deal CRM organises pipeline, but the diligence, IC governance, portfolio monitoring and LP reporting that surround the pipeline still run in separate systems.
This guide covers exactly what to export from DealCloud, how each object maps into Reuben AI, and how the two-week parallel run keeps DealCloud read-only while the fund switches over. Nothing is deleted until the team is confident.
Estimated time
3 to 4 weeks
Before you start
- DealCloud administrator access with data export rights
- Inventory of custom objects, fields and workflows in active use
- Named migration owner inside the fund
- Access to Outlook or Google mailboxes for reconnection
Field mapping from DealCloud to Reuben AI
| DealCloud | Reuben AI | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Deals | Deal | Stage, deal team, source, size and custom fields preserved. |
| Companies | Company | HQ, sector, employee count and custom attributes preserved. |
| Contacts | Contact | Role, seniority, relationship owner and custom fields preserved. |
| Funds & Investments | Fund and Position records | Fund-level metadata, commitment, called and distributed values preserved. |
| Custom Objects | Custom entities or entity extensions | Standalone objects become entities. Attribute-style objects become extensions on their parent. |
| Pipelines & Stages | Pipeline views and investment stages | Stages map to Reuben AI's stage taxonomy. Sub-stages supported. |
| Activities & Notes | Activity feed and Notes | Author, timestamp and linkage preserved. |
| Reports & Dashboards | Reuben AI dashboards and pipeline views | Recreated during onboarding using the standard dashboard library as a starting point. |
Step by step
- Step 1
Export from DealCloud
Use DealCloud's administrator export to pull Deals, Companies, Contacts, Funds, custom objects, activities and file attachments into a single package.
- Step 2
Document the object model
Write down every custom object, field and workflow the team actually uses. Undocumented items still import but are hidden by default to keep the workspace clean.
- Step 3
Translate the pipeline
Map DealCloud pipeline stages to Reuben AI investment stages (New, Screening, Diligence, IC, Closing, Portfolio, Passed). Sub-stages and gates are supported.
- Step 4
Import into a staging tenant
Reuben AI loads the export into a staging environment. Validate ten deals, ten companies and one custom object before promoting to production.
- Step 5
Reconnect email and calendar
Each team member reconnects Outlook or Google. Historical activity is backfilled from the export.
- Step 6
Rebuild workflows
DealCloud workflows and approvals become Reuben AI workflow templates. The standard Deal Process, Diligence and Compliance templates cover most cases.
- Step 7
Parallel run for two weeks
New deals go into Reuben AI while DealCloud stays read-only. After two weeks with no missed activity, archive DealCloud.
- Step 8
Turn on the layer above the CRM
Switch on Blueprint scoring, AI diligence, IC memo automation, portfolio KPIs and the LP reporting cadence. This is the front-office work that a deal CRM does not do.
Nothing gets lost checklist
- Every open deal has a Reuben AI record in the correct stage
- Every company and contact is imported with owner and relationship history
- Fund and position records reconcile against the last quarterly report
- Custom objects and fields the team relies on are represented
- Activities and notes are attached to the right record with original author and date
- Email and calendar sync live for every team member
- DealCloud workflows have equivalent Reuben AI templates or are consciously retired
- One team member owns the archive of the original DealCloud export
Frequently asked questions
DealCloud is very configurable. Do we lose our customisations?
No. Custom objects, fields, pipeline configurations and workflow rules all translate. Undocumented customisations still import but are hidden by default; the migration owner controls what is shown to the team.
How long does a switch typically take?
Three to four weeks for most funds, including the two-week parallel run. Larger firms with many custom objects should plan for four to six weeks.
Can we keep DealCloud for a period?
Yes. DealCloud stays live and read-only during the parallel run. Nothing is deleted until the team is confident in Reuben AI.
Does DealCloud data reconcile with our fund administrator?
Reuben AI validates fund and position records against your last quarterly administrator report as part of the import, so any gaps between DealCloud and the admin are surfaced before go-live.
Talk to the team before you migrate
Book a working session with the founder and a senior engineer. We will map your DealCloud export against a live Reuben AI environment.
Book a demo