Field notes
Migrating From QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online for Electrical Shops
A lot of electrical shops still keep the books in QuickBooks Desktop. That worked fine in 2015 and works less well every year. Field-service software integrations are migrating to QuickBooks Online and leaving Desktop behind. Intuit themselves are nudging the user base to Online.
Here is the migration plan that gets your electrical shop from Desktop to Online without breaking the books.
Why this is the year
Three pressures stack up.
1. Field-service software integrations. Most modern field-service tools (including FieldCommand) integrate with QuickBooks Online, not Desktop. The Desktop integrations that exist are limited and require third-party sync tools. Online integrations are direct, real-time, and bidirectional.
2. Multi-user access. Desktop requires either a hosted setup or everyone on the same physical machine. Online is multi-user out of the box. Your bookkeeper, your office manager, and your CPA can all be in the books at the same time.
3. Intuit pricing and support. Desktop pricing has changed, support windows are tightening, and new features are landing on Online first. The trajectory is not in Desktop's favor.
The 6-week migration plan
Week 1: Decide your QuickBooks Online subscription tier
Most electrical shops need at least the Plus tier — it includes inventory, project tracking, and class tracking, all of which you probably already use in Desktop. The Simple Start and Essentials tiers are too thin for an electrical contractor with materials and multi-job tracking.
Week 2: Run the Intuit migration tool on a sample file
Intuit provides a Desktop-to-Online conversion utility. Run it on a backup of your file first, not the live file. Open the converted file in Online and check three things — chart of accounts, customer list, item list. If those came across cleanly, the real migration will go smoothly.
Week 3: Clean up Desktop before the real migration
This is the step everyone skips and everyone regrets. Before migrating, in Desktop:
— Merge duplicate customers
— Delete inactive items that were one-off jobs years ago
— Clear out any "unfiled bills" sitting in the system
— Reconcile every bank account through the prior month
— Run a Trial Balance and save the PDF (you will need this to verify the migration was clean)
Week 4: Migrate the live file
Run the Intuit migration utility on the live Desktop file. The conversion typically takes 24 to 72 hours depending on file size. You will get an email when it is done.
Once it is done, log into the new Online file. Run a Trial Balance and compare it to the Desktop Trial Balance from Week 3. They should match. If they do not, that is where you debug.
Week 5: Connect the integrations
Now is when FieldCommand, Stripe, your bank, and your credit card all connect to the Online file. Each integration takes 10 to 30 minutes. Verify each one is syncing correctly before moving to the next.
Week 6: Cutover and Desktop sunset
Pick a cutover date — usually the first of a month. From that date forward, all transactions happen in Online. Desktop becomes read-only reference. You keep Desktop accessible for at least a year for audit and reference purposes.
What breaks during a migration (and how to fix it)
Item list bloat. Desktop item lists often have hundreds of one-off items. Online handles this fine, but performance is better if you clean up first.
Memorized transactions. Desktop memorized transactions do not always migrate cleanly. Recreate them as recurring transactions in Online.
Custom reports. Custom reports built in Desktop do not migrate. Rebuild the 3 to 5 you actually use; the rest were probably ignored anyway.
Payroll history. Migrates as summary data, not full detail. Keep Desktop accessible for payroll audit purposes for at least 3 years.
How FieldCommand integrates with QuickBooks Online
Once you are on Online, FieldCommand syncs customers, items, invoices, and payments automatically. The books stay in QuickBooks Online. The field stays in FieldCommand. Your bookkeeper keeps working in QuickBooks. The owner stops being the manual reconciliation layer between two systems.