Upgrading a large file to Account Right Live - I've lived through it! (and survived)

[MSWF]

If you've been like me and very nervous about how the migration was going to go, here's my experience.

Do a trial run.

Just grab a copy of your data file (mine is 850MB) at any point and follow the upload process/upgrade process as though you are going live.   I did this and came up a with "roadblock" message, then had issues with accessing the file.  All of these issues were ironed out, but after lengthy searches through forums and lengthy phone calls.   At least there was no pressure to rush the process since the rest of the business (28 employees) kept processing on the old system.

Once I did gain access to AR live, I could introduce it to people to play with, using "live" albeit days old, data which appeased the nervous people.

I also did all of my form customisation (they didn't migrate well at all and required a few hours of tidy up).   Then, I just exported them, ready to import when we went live. 

I also spent a lot of time getting my head around setting up user access.   This was really helpful too.

BEFORE you go live, jump on a forum (or call support in a quiet time) and ask for your file to be removed.   You can only have one live file (with my licence anyway).   

On go-live day (yesterday), I knew exactly what to look for, how to access help on the forum, what to expect time-wise (5 hours first then 6 hours), etc...   The file came back, access was fine, I imported my custom forms , set up another user, and we were invoicing the days' sales within half an hour.   

It looks different, somethings are ridiculously slow and I've noted the first "bug" but we don't really have a choice, and there are some nice things too -searching is much easier, data entry easier too.  

I'm glad I don't have to repeat this process, but I wish I'd read this from someone else, so hopefully someone will benefit from my story.

(Ps. if you're thinking of upgrading your file offline then restoring it to the cloud, I tried it but had too many errors, it is very slow, etc etc...)

[Haydes · Accepted solution]

Hi @MSWF

Thank you for taking the time to post your story so that others can benefit.

I have also noted down some points you have made surrounding the upgrade and have ensured that these are passed to the right teams to help improve the processes.

Please feel free to post on this forum again should you have any questions with the new software or if you run into any troubles.