Switching HVAC software without losing the useful history.
A new system changes how the whole shop works, so start with a small trial you can check record by record.
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Export a sample of your records, decide which system holds each kind of record during the trial, run real jobs through it, and check the results before you move the whole shop.
Start with what has to come across
Customer and site lists are often clean while unit details, photos, open repairs, agreement terms and old reports are scattered across different places. Nobody can promise a full history move before seeing the exports, so start by listing what you have and what the crew actually needs on the next service call.
A trial, step by step
- Export a sample. Include customers, sites, contacts, equipment, active agreements, recent reports, photos and attachments, open quotes, work in progress, and enough accounting records to reconcile.
- Map the records. Look for stable IDs, likely duplicates, units filed under the wrong location, missing dates and documents that won’t import cleanly. Keep a copy of the source, and give each problem to a named person.
- Choose where each record lives. For the trial, agree which system is the real one for scheduling, field notes, reports, quotes, invoices, payments and customer messages. If something has to be entered twice, agree who checks that the two match.
- Run two real jobs. Take one PM visit with several units and one reactive call with an open repair through field capture, office review, the report, the quote and the handoff to accounting.
- Reconcile before going wider. Compare record counts, key customer and unit details, the reports, open work and invoice totals, and fix differences while the sample is still small.
Questions to ask early
Can you export your data again after the trial? Which attachments stay linked to the equipment? How are duplicates handled? What happens when a tech records work offline? How do you fix an imported unit that landed on the wrong site? Who approves the cutover, and who can stop it?
What the vendor should show you
How well an import goes depends on your old system, what it lets you export, how clean the data is and how it maps into the new one. Before you switch for real, the vendor should show you the planned mapping, what won’t come across, how you’ll check the result and who fixes it if something goes wrong.
The comparison test script will help you decide whether a trial is worth running. If reports are what’s holding you up right now, try the free service-report builder and read the closeout guide.
Bring the job that gives your office trouble.
We’ll run it through BoltWright with you, from the call to the invoice. Or open the demo first. It’s a made-up shop and needs no signup.
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