What to consider when converting to a new ERP for Open POs

Many people are moving from one enterprise resource planning (ERP) platform to another.  There are many pieces to an Open PO that need to be considered when converting to a new ERP.

1. How much history do you need to bring over to your new system? How often do you clean up your open POs in your current system?  Do you need all of your open POs or only certain ones – for example, only those for active vendors?
2. Cleaning up your old POs – closing out old POs that probably will never be finished at this point is a great idea before starting the conversion process.
3. Locations – how will you deal with locations in your current ERP that will not be in your new ERP? Is there a default location that can be used to process the conversion? A memo or user field can be used to store the original information.
4. What about inactive requesters – how will you address these? Providing a default or generic requester when the old ones won’t be in the new system is a good way to handle this.  A memo or user field can be used to store the original information.
5. Vendors – what about open POs for vendors who are inactive in your current system. Are you going to be converting those?  The vendor will need to be added to your new system if the answer is yes.
6. Make sure to have the most current chart of accounts and cost center mapping.