A conversion tool moves your data into Xero and it does that job well. What it does not do is build the file around the data, and the gap between those two things is where a migration that technically succeeded turns into a file nobody can quite trust.
- A data conversion and a Xero setup are two different pieces of work, and only one of them is automated
- Scoping comes first, because the package is sized on counts that are easy to read wrongly
- Whatever goes in messy comes out messy, so the source system is cleaned before anything is uploaded
- The mapping exercise is a judgement call about how two systems differ, not a form to approve
- Superannuation fund details, tracking category opening balances and some payroll data do not come across at all
- Finalising single touch payroll across a system change needs checking, or employee income can be reported twice
JetConvert is genuinely good at what it is for. It takes a file out of MYOB, QuickBooks or Reckon and lands the data in Xero accurately, at a scale and speed no person is going to match by hand. Nothing below is a criticism of the tool.
It is a description of the boundary. A conversion delivers data. A working file is data plus the structure around it, and the structure is the part that has to be decided by somebody who understands both systems. When a migration goes wrong it is almost never because the data failed to arrive. It is because everything that was not data was assumed to have arrived with it.
What a conversion actually moves
Transactions, contacts, accounts and history move. That is the product, and it is delivered reliably.
Configuration does not move, because configuration is not data. Invoice templates, bank rules, repeating transactions and third party connections are things somebody built in the old system, and they have to be built again in the new one. Superannuation fund details for payroll do not transfer. Opening balances for jobs and tracking categories cannot be transferred automatically and are entered by hand. Bank account details come across often enough with errors that checking them is a step rather than a courtesy.
None of that is hidden. It is the documented edge of what a conversion is. The trouble comes from nobody owning the list.
Scoping, before anything moves
The cheapest hour on the whole job is the one spent before the upload.
Conversion packages are priced on the volume of data, the number of years being carried, the employee count, and whether historical tracking category data has to come across. Those inputs look obvious and are not. We worked with a business migrating two years of data with 40 employees. Straightforward, until the detail: across those two years the combined count of active and inactive employees was above 50, which put them into a larger package at a different price.
Found at the start, that is a scoping note. Found halfway through, it is an incomplete migration and a second conversation about money.
Every file has a detail like that in it somewhere. The point of scoping is to go looking for it while it is still cheap.
Timing, and the window you pick
Timing is a decision most businesses make by accident, and it changes how much work the migration is.
The best window is the start of a financial year. Beginning about two weeks before 1 July gives enough room to clean the source system, size the package correctly, work through the mapping and have Xero ready from day one of the new year.
Early in a new financial year still works well. Not much has happened yet and the year is almost all ahead of you.
Around six months in is workable, provided both systems run in parallel for a period afterwards. Parallel running is how a business finds out the migration was complete instead of assuming it, and it means the first activity statement out of the new file can be checked against something.
Eight or ten months in is the one we would talk you out of. At that point the better plan is usually to finish the year where you are and start the migration a fortnight before 30 June, so the business begins the new year already running in Xero.
Clean the source, then convert
A conversion reproduces what it is given. It does not repair anything on the way through.
Before a file is uploaded, the bank accounts should be reconciled and balancing, the contact list reviewed with duplicates removed, the item list tidied and correctly structured, and inventory verified. Every one of those is easier to fix in the system you already know than in an unfamiliar one where you cannot tell an import artefact from a real error.
There is an honest exception. Sometimes the reason a business wants to leave is that the current file is a mess, and cleaning it thoroughly is not realistic. Then a decision has to be made about what to carry: if the current year is reasonably clean and the earlier ones are not, migrating the current year only and drawing a line can be the right answer. That is a call for an accountant and a specialist looking at the actual numbers together. It is not a default.
The mapping exercise, and why it is not a formality
Once the source file is clean, the specialist takes a backup, selects the package and uploads. JetConvert then produces the mapping exercise: every account in the source system matched to the account it should become in Xero.
This is the step that cannot be automated away, and inventory is the clearest reason why. MYOB, QuickBooks and Xero do not treat inventory the same way, so a faithful account by account translation is sometimes the wrong answer. Somebody has to know how the source system was structured, how the destination handles the same idea, and where the two do not line up.
Get the mapping wrong and the opening position in Xero is wrong from the first day, which is considerably more work to unpick afterwards than it was to get right beforehand.
This is also where knowing both ends earns its keep. We were MYOB and QuickBooks advisers before we were Xero advisers, so a source file is not being read cold.
The payroll check people get caught by
If the business runs payroll, single touch payroll finalisation has to be reviewed as part of the migration.
Moving between systems without checking it creates a real risk of employee income being reported to the Australian Taxation Office twice, once from the old system and once from Xero. It needs identifying before the move and confirming after it, and it is not something a conversion flags on your behalf. The order of operations for a clean finalisation is set out in Xero payroll and STP finalisation.
Alongside that, tax file numbers and some payroll detail do not migrate, and the superannuation fund details have to be entered again. Payroll is the area where an incomplete migration surfaces fastest, because a pay run has a date attached to it.
Training, because the workflow moved too
Changing accounting systems is not only a change of software. It is a change of how the work is done.
Processing a leave application in MYOB uses a particular item in that system. In Xero the same task is handled a completely different way. Without being shown the difference, people either invent a workaround or enter it incorrectly from the first week, and the file starts collecting a new set of problems while everyone believes the migration went fine.
That is why handover and training sit inside a migration rather than after it. The aim is not a file that is set up. It is a team that can use it.
Where to start
If you are planning a move, the useful first step is scoping, not converting. If you are already in Xero with a file that does not feel right, the useful first step is finding out which of the items above was never done.
The full service, and what each step involves, is on MYOB to Xero migration. If you would rather just talk it through, Book a Call Today and we will look at where you are starting from.
Straight answers, in plain English
Is JetConvert good?
Yes, for what it is. It moves data out of MYOB, QuickBooks or Reckon into Xero accurately and at a speed no manual process matches. What it does not do is build your setup: invoice templates, bank rules, repeating transactions, integrations, superannuation fund details and tracking category opening balances are all outside the conversion, by design.
What does JetConvert not bring across to Xero?
Superannuation fund details, tax file numbers and some payroll information do not migrate. Opening balances for jobs and tracking categories have to be entered by hand. Bank account details frequently arrive with errors and need verifying. Custom invoice templates, bank rules, repeating transactions and third party integrations are configuration rather than data, so they are rebuilt rather than converted.
When is the best time to migrate to Xero?
The start of a financial year, beginning roughly two weeks before 1 July so the file is ready rather than rushed. Early in a new financial year is still good, and around six months in is workable if both systems run in parallel afterwards. Eight or ten months into a year is usually better spent finishing that year where you are and planning the move for 30 June.
Can I do a Xero migration myself?
You can, and for a small, well kept file it may be all that is needed. It becomes a specialist job when there is payroll, when inventory is involved, when more than one year of history is being carried, or when the source file is already the reason you are moving. The cost of correcting a migration afterwards is generally higher than the cost of scoping it properly first.
Does a Xero conversion fix errors in my old file?
No. A conversion reproduces the file it is given, so errors travel with the data and are harder to spot in an unfamiliar system. That is why the source is reconciled and tidied before anything is uploaded, and why the alternative, carrying the current year only, is sometimes the better answer.
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