What Should Your Replacement Software Do?

Describe what should stay and what should improve

• Keep this workingStaff can find a customer’s previous orders and use the agreed prices when preparing a new quote.
• Make this easierA change to quantities updates the price without staff rebuilding the quote in a spreadsheet.

Walk through the work with the people who do it. Include tasks that happen less often, such as monthly reports, seasonal scheduling or a customer returning an item.

Use the old screens and documents to explain what matters. You can keep a familiar layout where it helps, while allowing a different approach that makes the task simpler.

Write down the result you need from each task. A new screen called Orders tells you less than being able to find an order, change its delivery date and show the updated details to the warehouse.

Include work that will already be in progress

On the first day, your business may have open quotes, booked visits, unpaid invoices and partly completed jobs. Decide which of these staff will continue in the replacement and which will be finished in the old program.

A job already underway may need its approved quote, deposit, measurements, notes and next appointment. A customer name and order total may not be enough to carry on working.

Use the guide to keeping your records when changing software to plan which details need to move and how you will check them.

Explain who needs to see and change information

List the people using the software and the tasks each person needs to complete. An office employee may prepare a quote, a supervisor may approve a discount and an installer may need the measurements and site notes.

Include customers or other businesses that sign in. Explain what they should be able to see and whether they can request changes, upload documents or view their account.

Check that the replacement can provide the access people need without showing information unrelated to their work. Include the phones, computers and shared workstations they use.

List the reports and connections you rely on

Ask which reports people actually use and what decision each supports. A manager may need to see overdue work; the office may need a list of completed jobs that have not been invoiced.

Bring an example of each useful report and explain its totals, dates and filters. If different staff calculate the same figure differently, agree what it should mean in the replacement.

List the programs and equipment that must keep working with it. Include accounting software, calendars, payment terminals, barcode scanners or machinery where relevant. Ask for important connections to be confirmed early.

Choose what must be ready for the switch

• Needed when staff startFind existing customers, continue open jobs, record new work and correct a mistake.
• Useful after the first releaseAdd a new report or optional feature that the business can work without during the change.

Choose a first release that lets people complete the work being moved. If you introduce it in stages, explain how staff will handle the parts that are staying in the old system.

Avoid leaving a necessary step between two unfinished features. Staff should know how a request becomes completed work and where to record what happened.

The article on choosing an MVP explains how to make a first version useful while keeping later improvements in the plan.

Agree how you will check that it is ready

Choose examples that staff can try before the switch. Include a normal job, a changed order, a cancellation and something that needs another person’s approval.

Write down the result you expect for each example. Check the information people see, the calculations and any messages or updates sent to other programs.

Ask the supplier or developer to explain how the requirements will be reviewed as the project progresses. If a decision changes, update the written plan so everyone is working toward the same result.

Your next step

Make a short list of what the replacement must keep and what it should improve. Add the open work, records and connections needed on the first day. Review it with the people using the current system before comparing demonstrations or agreeing on a build.