Before Switching Business Software, Try One Export

Before approving a software switch, try a small export with the people responsible for the systems. Agree what information must arrive and what someone needs to do with it. Opening the file shows that it is readable. You still need to check what arrived and whether someone can use it for the agreed task.

Choose records that represent real work

Imagine a service company moving its customer cases. In this hypothetical example, case C-104 belongs to Žáček Studio, organization O-27. Its status is “Waiting for approval”, its estimate is €1,250.75, and its history records a revised proposal sent on 14 October. The proposal itself is attached.

The future user needs to find the case under the right organization, understand what is waiting, read the dated update and open the proposal. That gives the manager and technical staff something concrete to check. Matching record counts would miss a case linked to the wrong organization or an amount interpreted incorrectly.

Select a small representative set, including the relationships, values, files and history needed for the agreed work. You do not need every historical field for every purpose. Use synthetic records or appropriately minimized records you are authorized to use, in an isolated setup. Protect the exported copy and suppress live notifications and actions. Keep confidential exports out of unapproved converters and AI tools.

Check what the export actually contains

Ask technical staff to identify the supported export route, format, permissions and relevant versions or plan conditions. Check identifiers and how the destination will interpret amounts, dates, statuses and relationships. A CSV can suit the agreed task; opening it alone does not establish that the whole transfer will work.

Airtable’s attachment documentation gives a useful example. Viewer links require access, while download links expire. It recommends downloading attachments from exported CSV links before they expire. A URL in a spreadsheet is therefore not the same as retaining the document. Check your own supplier’s route rather than assuming every export behaves this way.

Other export formats have their own boundaries. GitLab’s project export documentation describes version-dependent contents and exclusions and warns against using project exports as backups. Its support example involving uploads shows why the route matters: an export can complete when uploads are excluded, leaving attachment files absent. Separately retrieved files do not make an importable project archive.

Try the destination task

If you have chosen the replacement, have authorized technical staff safely trial its supported import. Then ask the future user to perform the agreed task through their own authorized account. For the example case, check the organization link, status, amount, dated history and actual proposal together.

A successful sample establishes that sample under those conditions. It does not prove every record will transfer faithfully, cover every unusual case or demonstrate performance at full scale. Exported records also do not by themselves transfer workflow logic, integrations, access rules, credentials, consent or licences.

Make the decision explicit

Keep a short record of the selected record types and time range, required information, source and destination routes and versions, checks performed, exclusions and person responsible for each unresolved gap. A gap may need mapping, another supported route, separate file retrieval, a scoped migration step or an accepted limitation.

Weigh that effort against the value of staying, as the UK government’s technical lock-in guidance recommends in its cloud context. Finding a limitation does not automatically justify replacing a supplier. Verify the required transfer and continuing access arrangements before cancellation or deletion.

If you need help moving particular records, our migration service is a place to discuss the source, destination and information that must arrive. Scope, price and any guarantees are agreed for the work.

Questions about software exports