Data conversion
Moving the item file and the history you already have
The question that stops most replacements is not price, it is "do I lose everything". Usually not — and what comes across is decided by what your current system can export, which is why we look at a real export before saying anything.
Scoped from an actual export, never from an estimate.
Can I move my item file and sales history to a new POS?
Usually, and the limit is what the old system can export rather than what the new one can import. An item file with descriptions, departments, barcodes and cost almost always moves. Sales history moves in a more limited way, because summary and detail are stored differently by every platform. The only honest way to say which applies to you is to look at an export, which is the first thing we ask for.
A conversion is also the one chance to clean the file. Duplicates, dead lines and departments that stopped meaning anything are cheaper to fix on the way across than afterwards.
- The export decides it, not the importWe can only move what the old system will give up.
- Item files move more completely than historyEvery platform stores summary and detail differently.
- It is scoped before it is quotedAn estimate made without seeing the data moves once somebody does.
- It is the moment to clean the fileDead lines are cheaper to drop in transit than to carry.
We will not promise that everything transfers. Some systems export very little, and where that is the case you should hear it before committing rather than during the changeover.
What moves, and what decides it
The parts of a conversion
Each is scoped separately, because each depends on something different.
The item file
Item file setupDescriptions, departments, barcodes, pricing and cost where the old system holds it.
Customer records
Customer accountsWhere the store trades on account, balances and history come with them.
Sales history
ReportingMoves in a more limited way, and what is possible depends on the export.
Suppliers and costs
Purchase ordersSo receiving and ordering work from day one rather than from month two.
How a conversion runs
From the old system to Infinity, in order
Nothing is quoted before the export has been looked at, and nothing goes live before the converted file has been checked.
Name the system and what it exports
Replace an existing POSThe software the store runs today, and the exports it can produce, decide what can move at all.
Look at a real export
Which fields exist, which are empty, and how history is stored, checked in the file rather than assumed from the name of the software.
Agree what moves and what stays behind
Items, customer records, suppliers and costs, and the history the export allows, agreed before the changeover rather than discovered during it.
Clean it and build the item file
Item file setupDuplicates and dead lines dropped on the way across, and departments mapped into the structure the new file needs.
Check it before go-live
Installation and trainingPrices and a sample of items checked against the old system before any lane moves over.
Where conversions go wrong
-
The scope was estimated, not measured
The number moves the moment somebody opens the export.
We ask for an export first and quote against what is in it.
-
The old file is carried across unexamined
Years of duplicates and dead lines arrive in the new system.
The conversion is where the file gets cleaned, deliberately.
Item file setup -
History was assumed to come with it
A promise nobody checked becomes a disappointment at go-live.
What moves is confirmed from the export before anyone commits.
-
Conversion happens on go-live day
Staff enter data while customers wait.
The file is built and checked before the date, not on it.
Installation and training
Conversion questions
Will I lose my sales history?
Usually not, but what comes across depends on what the current system can export. We look at a real export rather than guessing, and tell you before you commit.
What do you need from me to scope it?
An export from the current system — whatever it will produce. That one file answers most of the questions.
Can you clean the file while moving it?
Yes, and it is the right moment. Duplicates and dead lines are cheaper to drop in transit than to carry into a new system.
What if my system exports almost nothing?
Then you should hear that early. It changes the shape of the project, and it is better known before committing than discovered during a changeover.
Tell us what the store runs today
The software, and what it can export if you know. The export itself is looked at when the conversion is scoped, so it does not need to come with the first message.