You can switch to Qoblex while your current inventory or ERP system is still open for business. You don’t have to pick a moment to shut everything down and hope the numbers land right.
Instead, you build and test almost all of Qoblex ahead of time, and keep your old system as the source of truth right up until you’re ready. Then you move stock control over to Qoblex in one deliberate cutover.
This section lays out that cutover as a plan:
- what you can safely set up in Qoblex today;
- what has to wait for cutover day itself;
- the exact order to bring in opening stock, purchase orders still in transit, and open sale orders, without counting any of it twice;
- how to switch on your store’s live inventory sync only once Qoblex’s numbers are right.
Use the checklist below to track where you are, and open each linked guide for the detail.
Before you start
You’ll need:
- The Authorize Adjustments permission. You need it to authorize the stocktake that sets your opening quantities. The ability to view Adjustments isn’t enough on its own.
- Your Qoblex locations, set up ahead of time. Once your store is connected, you also need its location mapping set up ahead of time, with each Shopify location mapped to a Qoblex location. See What to set up now.
- The Reset Account permission, only if you plan to use Reset account.
Without the Reset Account permission, the Reset your account card on Company Information shows a locked notice instead of the button:
- it’s titled “You don’t have permission to reset the account”;
- it asks you to contact a team member who has been granted the permission;
- it doesn’t name who that is.
The cutover approach
Your previous system stays in charge of stock and orders until one specific moment: cutover.
Everything before that is preparation: building your catalogue, connecting Shopify (or another channel), testing settings, even running a full rehearsal.
None of that preparation should touch real stock quantities, because a stock number in Qoblex is only trustworthy from the moment you stop trusting your old system for it.
That gives you two kinds of work:
| Kind of work | When | What it covers |
|---|---|---|
| Doesn’t depend on a stock count | Whenever you’re ready | Products, suppliers, bundles and bills of material, locations, and your Shopify, WooCommerce and accounting settings |
| Sets or moves a stock quantity | Only at (or right before) cutover | Your opening stock count, any purchase orders still in transit, and any open sale orders |
Your switch checklist
Every row is one task, in the order to do them. Prefer to run your switch as a project? Use the migration project tracker at the bottom of this page.
| # | Step | When | Done when… | Guide |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Set up your Qoblex locations | Now | Every warehouse you’ll stock from exists as a location in Qoblex, and if you sell on Shopify, you have at least as many Qoblex locations as your store has locations | Set up Qoblex before you switch |
| 2 | Connect your Shopify store with safe sync settings | Now | Inventory sync is Do not sync, product sync direction is Do not sync, both automatic new-product switches are off, the matching strategy and price lists are chosen, every Shopify location is mapped to a different Qoblex location, and the settings are saved | Set up Qoblex before you switch |
| 3 | Connect your WooCommerce store with safe sync settings | Now | Inventory, Product, and Pricing Synchronization are all Do not sync, the matching strategy and price lists are chosen, and the settings are saved | Set up Qoblex before you switch |
| 4 | Import your store’s product catalogue | Now | The one-off Shopify or WooCommerce product import has finished and your store’s products are in Qoblex (for Shopify, this also brings in every open store order) | Set up Qoblex before you switch |
| 5 | Add the products your store doesn’t sell | Now | Every product you stock that isn’t in your store is in Qoblex, imported by CSV or created by hand | Set up Qoblex before you switch |
| 6 | Import your suppliers | Now | Your supplier contacts are in Qoblex, imported by CSV (importing from Xero only becomes available once step 13 is finished) | Set up Qoblex before you switch |
| 7 | Set up bundles and bills of material | Now | Bundles and bills of material are defined for the products that need them | Set up Qoblex before you switch |
| 8 | Rehearse the whole setup on your staging store (only if you rehearse) | Before go-live | You’ve tested products, orders, and sync settings on the staging store without touching your real store | Rehearse your switch on a staging store |
| 9 | Connect your production store and import its catalogue (only if you rehearsed) | Before go-live | Your production store is connected with the same safe settings as step 2 or 3 (including its own matching strategy, location mapping and price lists), and its product import has finished | Rehearse your switch on a staging store |
| 10 | Disconnect the staging store and clear rehearsal data (only if you rehearsed, after production is connected) | Before go-live | The staging store is disconnected and every rehearsal order, purchase order/GRN and stocktake is cancelled or deleted by hand (don’t reset the account at this point: it would also disconnect production and delete your setup), and any test batch you don’t want is zeroed with a stock adjustment (a batch import can’t be cancelled or deleted) | Rehearse your switch on a staging store |
| 11 | Set your opening cost | Before go-live | Every product you’ll stock has the Moving Average Cost you want to open with, set before you authorize your cutover stocktakes (batch- and serial-tracked products are the exception: set their cost after the batch/serial stocktake, see Count batch and serial stock). If you rehearsed, check the products your staging store created, because they carry the staging store’s cost | Bring in opening stock |
| 12 | Untrack and archive overlapping items in Xero, or make them non-inventory or inactive in QuickBooks | Before go-live | No product Qoblex will manage is still a tracked item in Xero or an Inventory item in QuickBooks, and for QuickBooks, Qoblex support has switched on Sync products as Untracked | Line up Xero or QuickBooks with your opening stock |
| 13 | Connect and set up your accounting integration | Before go-live | Xero or QuickBooks is connected and its setup wizard is finished with your accounts, tax rates, and tracking categories mapped. Finishing (Save & Finish) is what saves the mapping and starts postings, so do it only when you want them to start | Set up Qoblex before you switch |
| 14 | Stop treating your previous system as the source of truth | Cutover day | Every outstanding entry in your previous system is finished | Cutover day, step by step |
| 15 | Ship orders that had already shipped before your count | Cutover day | None of them shows Awaiting Stock any more (do this before you count) | Bring in open sale orders |
| 16 | Count stock and upload each location’s stocktake | Cutover day | A Draft stocktake adjustment exists for every location you’re bringing live | Bring in opening stock |
| 17 | Turn on live inventory sync for every connected channel | Cutover day | Inventory sync is set to push from Qoblex, with the right locations selected, and saved | Cutover day, step by step |
| 18 | Authorize every location’s stocktake | Cutover day | A stocktake is authorized for every location you’re bringing live | Cutover day, step by step |
| 19 | Count batch- and serial-tracked stock | Cutover day | A batch/serial stocktake adjustment is authorized for every location with batch- or serial-tracked products, and each of those products’ Moving Average Cost has been set afterwards | Count batch and serial stock |
| 20 | Import your open purchase orders | Cutover day | Every open or part-received purchase order is in Qoblex, with Track Inventory set correctly on each | Bring in open purchase orders and stock in transit |
| 21 | Import your open sale orders | Cutover day | Every unfulfilled order, backorder, and pre-order is in Qoblex and has allocated against your counted stock | Bring in open sale orders |
| 22 | Start authorizing real transactions in Qoblex | After cutover | Qoblex is your stock master, and sales, purchases, and adjustments post as normal business | Cutover day, step by step |
| 23 | Match your accounting opening stock balance | After cutover | If Xero or QuickBooks is connected, your stocktake journals have synced (and in Xero, been posted), and the Stock On Hand account balance on the Balance Sheet matches the Total Cost on Qoblex’s Stock on Hand report (Reporting > Inventory) for the locations you brought live, with any difference journaled by your accountant | Line up Xero or QuickBooks with your opening stock |
Migration project tracker
Download the migration project tracker (Excel). It’s a copy of the checklist above that you can plan with.
- Enter your cutover date, your store, whether you’ll rehearse, and your accounting system.
- Track each step’s status as you go.
The tracker works out a target date for each step, greys out the steps that don’t apply to you, and turns overdue steps red.
It opens in Excel. To use it in Google Sheets, upload it to Drive and open it there.
If you’d like help planning your switch, from sequencing to go-live, see Onboarding.