Switching from spreadsheets: the 30-day plan

Nobody switches mid-shipment. This is the plan that respects that: live jobs finish where they started, new jobs start in the new system, and the sheets retire by attrition.

Imports, not re-typing

Parties, ports and charges come in from the sheets you already have.

Both systems, one month

Live jobs finish where they started. Nothing is re-keyed mid-flight.

The sheet stays

Your fallback remains untouched until it empties itself. That is the safety.

Week-2 proof

One real quote with the margin visible before sending — the moment the switch pays.

Week 1 — masters in, nothing at risk

1 Import parties, ports and charge codes from your existing sheets. This is reference data — wrong is fixable, and nothing operational depends on it yet.

2 Create logins per person, not per desk. The audit trail is only worth having if names are real.

3 Pick ONE lane (your busiest) as the pilot. Everything in week 2 happens on that lane only.

4 Keep the spreadsheet exactly as it is. It is your fallback, and knowing that is what makes the desk relax.

Week 2 — new jobs start here

5 Every NEW job on the pilot lane opens in the system. Live jobs stay in the sheet until they close — nobody re-keys a moving shipment.

6 Connect the shared mailbox. Arrival notices start becoming dated tasks; the desk sees the point of the switch in its own inbox.

7 Quote one real customer from the system, cost and sell on every line. Compare the margin you SAW with the margin the sheet would have told you — after invoicing.

Week 3 — the rest of the desk

8 Open the remaining lanes. The pilot desk trains the others; the vendor does not need to be in the room.

9 Turn on the customer portal for two friendly customers and count their status emails that week.

10 First invoices go out of the system. Finance reconciles them against the books that were right all month.

Week 4 — retire, don't migrate

11 The sheet now holds only closing jobs. Let them close there. Historical data imports later, if ever — reports need it, operations does not.

12 Turn on reminders and webhooks. The safety net goes live after the desk trusts the basics, not before.

13 Write down what the sheet did that the system does not. That list is your next conversation with us — and it will be shorter than you feared.