Decide what to move
- Products: names (English and Arabic), barcodes, SKUs, categories, prices, costs and tax settings.
- Customers: contact details, balances owed, loyalty points and credit terms.
- Suppliers: contacts and what you owe them.
- Stock on hand, by location.
- Past invoices, so returns and customer questions can still be answered.
- Your last invoice number, so numbering continues.
Get the exports early
Find out what your current system can export, and in what format, weeks before you plan to switch. Spreadsheets are fine. Some systems only export reports, which still work if they include the right columns. Keep an untouched copy of every export before anyone starts cleaning.
Clean as you go
- Merge duplicate products and customers.
- Find barcodes used on more than one product.
- Retire products you haven't sold in a year.
- Check that prices and VAT settings are consistent.
Rehearse the import
Do a full trial import into a copy of the new system, then reconcile it against the old one: number of products, customers and invoices, total balances owed, stock quantities and a sample of individual records. Differences found in a rehearsal cost nothing. Differences found on day one cost customers.
| Check | Compare |
|---|---|
| Products | Count, and a sample of barcodes and prices |
| Customers | Count, and the total owed |
| Stock | Total units and value by location |
| Invoices | Count and totals by month |
| Numbering | Next invoice number |
Choose switch day
- Pick your quietest day, and avoid month end and VAT deadlines.
- Close the old system after the last sale and take the final exports.
- Import them the way you rehearsed and run the same reconciliation.
- Count stock if you can, at least for high-value lines.
- Test a sale, a return and a receipt print on every counter.
- Open, and keep the old system available read-only for reference.
Bring the team along
Show cashiers the few things that change: how to search, take payment, hold a sale and print. Keep a one-page sheet of shortcuts by each till. Most staff are comfortable after an hour of real customers.