How do you bring historical survey data in from paper or spreadsheets?
Import the historical responses against a matching survey design, mapping each spreadsheet column to the right question. Your older rounds then sit in the same dataset as new collection, so trends can start before your digital monitoring does.
Most programmes have years of data in spreadsheets and filing cabinets, and treating it as unrecoverable is a real loss: it is usually the only baseline you have. Importing it also forces a useful reckoning with what the old data actually means, because mapping columns to questions exposes the places where categories changed or were never defined.
How to do it
Create or import a survey design that matches the questions the historical data answers.
Clean the spreadsheet so each row is one response and each column maps to one question.
Reconcile choice lists, deciding how old categories map onto the ones you will use going forward.
Import the sites first if the responses describe facilities, so responses can link to them.
Import a small sample, check it against the source, and only then load the rest.
Record the collection date on each response so the history sorts correctly against new data.