Switching
Moving across is an afternoon, not a project.
Nobody changes invoicing system for fun. Here is exactly what happens, what comes with you, and what you should check before you trust it.
What comes across
Your history, not just your contact list
An import that only brings customers leaves you running two systems for a year. This one brings the documents too.
Customers
Names, contact details, and the company registration and VAT numbers your business customers need on their invoices.
Vehicles
Registrations and the cars themselves, attached to the right owners, so the service history has something to hang off.
Invoices
Your issued invoices with their line items, dates and numbers — so last year's job is still there when the same car comes back.
Quotes
Estimates come across as quotes, including the ones still sitting unanswered.
Payments
What has been paid against what, so your outstanding balances are right on day one rather than after a week of catching up.
Your numbering
Invoice numbers carry over and Upshift continues the sequence from where you left off, instead of restarting at 0001.
How it goes
Six steps, in order
- 1
Export from where you are now
FreshBooks gives you CSV files for clients, invoices, payments and estimates from its own reports screen. If you are on a spreadsheet, that is a CSV already. If you are on paper, skip to step three — you do not need to back-capture years of history to start.
- 2
Upload them in one step
The Import screen takes those files together and reads them into customers, vehicles, invoices, quotes and payments. It matches what belongs together rather than dumping four unrelated lists into the system.
- 3
Check the first screen you land on
Open Customers and look for duplicates — the same person spelled two ways is the most common thing an export carries over. Upshift surfaces the likely ones so you can merge them before they split a service history in half.
- 4
Set your letterhead
Upload your logo, pick your colour, add your banking details and VAT number, and set your default payment terms. Five minutes, and every document from then on carries it.
- 5
Price a real job on it
The fastest way to know whether it fits is to quote the next car that comes in. Build it, send it, and watch for the moment the customer opens it.
- 6
Stop double-capturing
Once the first week's work has gone through Upshift cleanly, close the old subscription. Nothing about your history goes anywhere — it is already across.
Straight answers
The parts nobody puts on a marketing page
You are trusting a new system with the record of what you are owed. You should know where the rough edges are.
An export is only as clean as what made it
If the old system has the same customer three times, so will the import. That is why checking duplicates is step three and not an afterthought.
Merging is deliberate and shows you what will move before it moves — invoices, vehicles and all.
Old documents keep their old look
Imported invoices carry their original numbers and totals. New ones come out on your new letterhead. There is a visible line in the sand, and that is normal.
Run both for a week if you want to
There is no rush to cancel the old subscription on day one. Most workshops do a week of real work on Upshift first, and then stop paying twice.
Paper is a fine starting point
You do not need years of back-capture. Start with today's jobs and let the history build. The cars that come back will get their file either way.
We will do it with you
If the export looks strange or the import does not sit right, send it to us rather than fighting it. This is a small company — you get a person, not a ticket number.
Your data stays yours
You can export it, and cancelling does not hold it hostage. Switching away should be as possible as switching in.
Why workshops move
Usually, it is a cap
Most invoicing software is priced on how many customers you keep on file. It is cheap while you are small, and then one day you cross a line you did not know was there and the bill roughly doubles — for exactly the same work, done by exactly the same people.
That is the wrong shape for a workshop. Your customer list only grows. Every car you have ever serviced is a customer you want to keep on file precisely so you can bring them back.
Upshift is R799 a month whether you have fifty customers or five thousand. There is nothing to count, so there is nothing to charge you for.
Bring it across.
Start the 14-day trial and import in the same sitting. If the export gives you trouble, mail us at rassie@monoform.co.za.