Business workflows
Switching trade software: plan the transition before moving data
Changing software is not a contest to copy the greatest number of old records. What matters is that on the first working day everyone knows where a live job and its documents belong. That requires an agreed transition rather than an indiscriminate import.
Review master data before importing
Inspect customers, contacts, items and active projects. Resolve duplicate customers, outdated addresses and unclear units before carrying them over. Keep an unchanged export of the previous data and agree future access to old documents. Whether the destination supports an import must be checked against the actual format; a general promise of importing is not enough.
Run a real job from start to finish
Test a manageable example from customer contact to invoice preview. Include time records, materials and a change, not just a polished quote. Compare important totals and identifiers with the expected result. Include payroll or accounting handover where these form part of your workflow. Correct errors before switching rather than discovering them at the first monthly close.
Set the boundary for new transactions
Decide which live jobs finish in the old system and which move across. Avoid uncontrolled document numbering or parallel invoices for the same transaction. A short transition plan names owners, dates and a fallback. Judge the new system by a workflow that actually functions. Features you might need later should not unnecessarily complicate the first clean start.
Your business checklist
- Clean master data and preserve the original export.
- Check supported import formats using actual sample records.
- Test a complete job including a change and handover.
- Agree cutover dates and ownership for old and new work.