Switching
Moving from spreadsheets or other software, step by step
You do not need to bring years of history. Bring your masters, your balances and your unpaid bills as of one date, check them before anything is written, then run both systems side by side for a month.
In short
Moving to SimpleERP from spreadsheets or software such as QuickBooks, Xero or Zoho Books takes four steps: pick a start date, export or fill the templates, check and import masters, balances and open bills, then run both systems for a month.
Illustration of the one-screen setup: business, tax and money, and team, with accounts, tax rates, units, roles and numbering seeded.
Pick a start date first
Everything hangs on one date: the day before SimpleERP takes over. Pick the first day of a financial year, quarter or month; the first day of your financial year is best.
- Balances are entered as of that date, by default the day before the financial year starts.
- Old invoices stay where they are. Keep your old software or spreadsheets for history and audits.
- Unpaid invoices and bills come across one by one, so collections carry on without a gap.
What goes where
What maps to what
Most accounting software exports its lists to CSV or Excel. SimpleERP reads those files, or its own templates, column by column.
| In your old software or sheets | Where it goes in SimpleERP | How it gets there |
|---|---|---|
| Customer list | Customers, with tax number, address, credit days and opening balance | A customer export or sheet |
| Supplier or vendor list | Suppliers, with the same details | A supplier export or sheet |
| Bank and cash balances | Bank and cash accounts with their opening balances | A chart of accounts sheet |
| Chart of accounts and trial balance | The chart of accounts, under the matching type, with opening balances | An accounts export or sheet |
| Products, items and stock on hand | Products with tax rate, unit and opening stock per warehouse | An item export or product sheet |
| Unpaid invoices and bills | Open invoices and bills, one per document | An open invoices or aged receivables export |
| Employees | People › Employees, ready for payroll | An employee sheet |
| Past transactions: sales, purchases, payments, journals | Not brought across | Your old software stays the archive |
Step 1
Bring customers, suppliers, products and balances in one go
Open Settings → Import data, pick where your data is today and drop the file. Zoho Books gives CSV exports; QuickBooks, Xero and most other tools export their lists to CSV or Excel; anything else fits our templates. Each kind of data gets a card, in the order it has to go in.
- Columns match themselves from Zoho Books and common spreadsheet headings; change any match before you check.
- Check shows every problem by row as a sentence that says what to fix, such as a tax number in the wrong format.
- Opening stock and balances are dated the day before your start date, so the books open exactly where the old ones closed.
In India, SimpleERP also reads a Tally Prime Masters XML file and Vyapar and Busy exports. See import from Tally Prime (India).
Illustration of the import check for customers from a spreadsheet: 398 to create, 14 to update, 6 to skip and 2 errors, each error a sentence saying what to fix, and an Import 412 rows button.
Step 2
Open bills come across bill by bill
Each unpaid invoice and supplier bill arrives with its own number, date, due date and pending amount, so receipts and payments settle the right bill and the ageing report is right on day one.
- An aged receivables or payables list becomes one open invoice or bill per line.
- No double counting: when a party's opening balance equals its open bills, only the bills remain.
- Receivables ageing matches your old customer balances from the first morning.
Illustration of receivables ageing: 2,441 to collect across 5 buckets, with customer totals.
Step 3
Undo if something looks wrong
Every import is saved as a batch under Previous imports. If a file was wrong, undo the batch, fix the file and import again; SimpleERP reverses its journals and removes what it created in one step.
- Nothing is written until you click Import; Check only reads.
- Undo is all or nothing, so the books never end up half imported.
- Undo stops once work is built on top, such as a receipt against an imported invoice, and says why.
Step 4
Run both for a month, then switch
For the first month, bill in SimpleERP and keep your old books going, then compare sales, dues, stock and tax at month end before you stop the old system.
- Compare the trial balance with your old books on the start date.
- Compare receivables ageing with your old customer balances.
- Compare stock on hand with a physical count of your top products.
- Set the lock date on the first month once the numbers agree.
Honest limits
What the move does not include
- Past invoices, vouchers and journals. History stays in your old software.
- A live connection to QuickBooks, Xero or any other running system. You import files once, on your start date.
- Tax number lookup. Names and addresses come from your file.
- Old .xls files. Save them as .xlsx or CSV first.
FAQ
Questions, answered
Can SimpleERP import from QuickBooks or Xero?
Through their exports. Export customers, suppliers, items, the chart of accounts and unpaid invoices to CSV or Excel, then upload them in Settings → Import data and check the column matches. Past transactions are not imported. See import from QuickBooks and Xero.
When is the best time to switch?
The first day of a financial year, quarter or month; the first day of your financial year is best, because there are no part-year figures to reconcile. Take balances as of the day before.
What if I import something wrongly?
Undo the batch under Previous imports, fix the file and import it again. Undo is refused once something depends on the imported data, such as a receipt against an imported invoice, and the message says what.
Can my accountant do the import?
Yes. Invite them with the Accountant role, which covers accounts, opening balances and open bills, and they can check the trial balance against the old books themselves.
How does SimpleERP compare with QuickBooks?
See our honest SimpleERP vs QuickBooks comparison, and the 30-day implementation plan.
Related
Keep reading
Migrate to SimpleERP
What to bring from a spreadsheet, QuickBooks, Xero or Zoho Books, what stays in the old system, how to pick the start date and the order the Import data page follows.
Read moreFrom QuickBooks or Xero
Export customers, suppliers, products, the trial balance and unpaid invoices and bills from QuickBooks Online or Xero, and bring them into SimpleERP checked and in order.
Read moreSimpleERP vs QuickBooks
Cloud accounting with a large app marketplace, or one simple ERP where billing, stock, books, CRM, HR and payroll share a ledger.
Read moreOpening balances
What opening balances are, why Opening Balance Equity must end at zero, and a worked cut-over from a trial balance with parties, stock and fixed assets.
Read moreAccountants
Balanced books, documents that post themselves, tax registers and a lock date.
Read more
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