Pick the date carefully
Slowest day of your slowest week. Never a Friday, never before a holiday, never during peak season. This single decision prevents most launch problems.
Two weeks before
Configuration and data work happens here, not on go-live day.
- Export data from the old system
- Clean the catalog or menu before importing
- Build and review the configuration
- Set up integrations and test them
- Order and receive hardware
Check your network and peripherals early
Confirm your internet connection can handle the new system, and that printers, cash drawers, and scanners are compatible and arrive with time to test — not the morning of go-live.
One week before
Train the whole team on the configured system. Run practice transactions. Print cheat sheets. Confirm your integrations actually fire.
Decide what happens to the old system
Know in advance when you'll stop taking sales on it, when you'll pull your final reports, and when the account actually cancels. Don't let the old contract auto-renew while you're busy launching the new one.
Go-live day
Full staffing, the old system available but powered down as a fallback, and support reachable all day. Batch out the old system properly and confirm the final deposit before closing the account.
The first week after
Expect to be slightly slower than before for a few days — that's normal, not a sign something's wrong. Watch for the same recurring question from staff; that's usually a sign a workflow needs adjusting, not more training.
Reconcile before you cancel anything
Compare your first week's deposits against your reports before you cancel the old processor or system. Catching a setup mistake in week one is easy; catching it in month three is not.