Before launch, write the cutover decision in business terms
Name the cutover owner, the old authoritative record, the proposed new record and the first transaction that will belong in the new system. Define which operations pause and which continue under a movement log. Tell staff where to record work during the window and how they will know the switch is complete.
Set a small number of mandatory conditions: approved item mapping, reconciled stock, working user permissions and successful receipt-to-sale tests. A deadline is not a substitute for these checks. If a critical integration or quantity reconciliation remains unresolved, the owner needs permission to delay the switch instead of accepting unexplained differences.
Prepare the data and explain the import steps
Keep unchanged copies of the old product master, stock balances, open orders and relevant reports. Record the extraction time and which movements occurred afterward. Save your mappings and rejected rows as well as the cleaned files.
inFlow's import guidance separates product details and stock levels. That supports a useful migration principle: establish identity before loading changing balances. It does not mean every business should use the same import sequence for orders, costs and accounting. Confirm that sequence with the vendor and your accounting owner, especially where historic transactions or existing commitments must remain traceable.
Rehearse one whole working day
Use representative test data to receive stock, allocate an order, ship part of it, record a return and correct a mistake. Ask normal operators to do their own tasks with intended permissions. Inspect the resulting balances and record history together.
A fictional distributor might discover that its sales team can promise goods in a location that the picker cannot access. That is a failed operating test even if the import succeeded. Resolve the rule before launch. Include a communication failure too: identify what staff do when a connection is unavailable, and how they avoid entering the same transaction twice when service returns.
Define the fallback and the first reconciliation
A rollback is not simply switching a link back to the old sheet. Once new transactions exist, someone must identify and reconcile them before the previous system can resume authority. Specify who can authorize the fallback, where the movement log lives and how transactions will be transferred without duplication.
After launch, reconcile the first receipt and shipment, then review the agreed first-day exceptions. Keep the old record read-only where practical so people do not quietly create a second truth. Delay deleting exports or closing legacy access until retention and accounting needs are settled. Successful cutover means staff can explain stock and continue work with a clear correction path. It does not demonstrate future accuracy, lower costs or a return on the software purchase.
Sources used for this page
These records support the facts and comparisons above. Merchant-controlled records are labelled so you can separate product claims from independent evidence.
- inFlow CSV import documentation — Merchant documentation · inflowinventory.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-24
- inFlow getting started — Merchant documentation · inflowinventory.com · Merchant-controlled · checked 2026-09-24