DUKAANMATIC BUSINESS GUIDES
Moving from spreadsheets to ERP: get opening records right
A spreadsheet-to-ERP move rarely fails because somebody cannot type a product name. It becomes difficult when different sheets disagree about the same customer, opening stock is counted on different dates, or old invoices are mixed with new ones. A clear starting boundary prevents much of that confusion.
Choose a cut-off date everyone understands
Pick the date and time from which new business transactions will be entered in the ERP. Decide how late supplier bills and older customer receipts will be handled. Keep the previous records available for reference. Without a cut-off, one person may enter yesterday’s sales as opening balances while another enters the same sales again as new invoices.
Clean the master records first
Create one consistent identity for each customer, supplier and item. Review duplicate names, phone numbers, GST details where applicable, units and product variants. Do not merge two customers just because they share a name. For stock, make the difference between a piece, pack and carton explicit. A shorter, checked item list is more useful than importing every old row without understanding what it represents.
Prepare balances with supporting detail
An opening customer balance should be supported by the invoices or reconciliation used to calculate it. Do the same for suppliers. Count inventory at the agreed cut-off and record quantities, units and the valuation basis reviewed by your accountant. If the physical count is completed earlier, account for the movements between the count and the opening date instead of silently using an outdated quantity.
Test a small, representative set
Use the supported DukaanMatic setup or import workflow and check its current requirements before preparing a large file. Start with a few examples: a customer with an unpaid balance, an item sold in a specific unit, a supplier with an advance and a normal sale. Check whether the resulting ledgers and inventory match your expected figures. Do not assume that every spreadsheet format can be uploaded unchanged.
Reconcile before the team starts daily work
For a simplified check, suppose three customer balances are ₹2,000, ₹3,500 and ₹1,000. Their opening total should be ₹6,500 in both your preparation sheet and the customer ledger report. If the total matches, still inspect the individual accounts; two errors can cancel each other out. Save an approved opening summary, retain the original files and assign someone to review the first week’s entries. A short period of close checking is easier than correcting months of work built on an uncertain opening position.