Switch from spreadsheets or another chauffeur system

What it is

A plan for moving your operation into 4fleet without a gap in service, in four phases: export what you have, import it with a preview, run both systems side by side for a week, then switch the old one off. The import wizard has ready profiles for the exports of the chauffeur systems it lists, a generic CSV profile for spreadsheets, and an AI lane for any other file.

Who it is for

Owners. Only the company Owner can run an import, so the owner either runs it or sits next to whoever prepares the files.

Why it matters

A move goes wrong in two ways: data that arrives wrong and nobody notices, or a week where some bookings live in one system and some in the other. The wizard deals with the first through its dry run and rollback. The second is a matter of planning, which is what phases 3 and 4 are for.

Phase 1: Export what you have

Open Settings > Security & data > Import & migrate and answer Where are you migrating from? before you export anything. Each source lists the files it takes and how to get them out of the old system:

• A listed chauffeur system: its reservations or booking list export is required. Depending on the system, contacts, invoices, drivers, vehicles, pricing and an upcoming bookings calendar file are optional.
• Generic flat CSV: for spreadsheets. A clients file is required; drivers, vehicles, rate cards, distance tiers, partners and bookings are optional files.
• Any file (AI): one CSV or Excel file, which 4fleet splits into clients, bookings and the rest for you to review.

Tips

• Export on a quiet day and keep the original files somewhere outside 4fleet. They are your reference if a number looks wrong later.
• If the wizard tells you to clear a date filter before you export, do it, or upcoming reservations are left out of the file.

Gotchas

• Some system profiles bring clients and bookings only. The wizard lists what each one imports; set up the rest in 4fleet by hand or through the generic CSV files.
• Spreadsheets with dates such as 03/04 are ambiguous. Know whether your files are day first or month first before you upload them.

Recommendations

• Start with what you need on day one: clients, upcoming bookings, vehicles and drivers. Old history can follow once the live work runs.
• Write down how many clients and upcoming bookings the old system has. You will compare these with the import report.

Phase 2: Import with a preview

Upload each file to its slot, then check Date format in your files and Timezone of dates and times where the wizard shows them. In Map columns, 4fleet matches the columns it recognizes and asks AI to suggest the rest; the sample rows it sends have emails and phone numbers masked. Change a mapping only when it looks wrong.

Run dry-run in Dry-run preview shows what would be created, with warnings and row problems, and writes nothing. Commit import writes to your live account. Keep the file from Download report.

If the result is wrong, Roll back this import removes every record that import created, including edits made to those records afterwards. If you add drivers, vehicles or partners after the import, Re-link imported bookings attaches them to the imported bookings. It only fills blanks and never replaces an assignment you made. The steps are in Migrate your data from another chauffeur system and Import data with a preview before commit.

Tips

• Run the dry run more than once. Change the date format or a mapping, run it again, and watch how the counts move.
• Spot-check a few records you know well after the commit: a regular client, a booking next week, a booking last month.

Gotchas

• A row whose source id was already imported is skipped as a duplicate, not updated. A second import of a newer export adds new bookings only; a booking changed in the old system after the first import keeps its first version in 4fleet.
• Statuses are translated on the way in. For example, a booking marked no-show or void in the old system arrives as canceled. Check a few past bookings of each status.
• Rollback also removes your later edits to imported records. Decide early whether an import stays.

Recommendations

• Commit when the dry run matches the numbers you wrote down in phase 1, give or take duplicates you understand.
• Save the column mapping as a template only when you will import the same export format again.

Phase 3: Run both systems for a week

The data is in; now check that 4fleet runs your work the way the old system did. Three things deserve the week.

Pricing: generate quotes for the jobs you do most and compare them with what the old system charged. Check which rate prices each service and class shows where a rate is missing.

Email: connect the mailbox clients already write to. Then check Auto-create enquiries in Settings > Automations & AI > Inbox intake: while it is on, each booking request becomes an enquiry in 4fleet as it arrives. That week, the same email can lead to work in both systems. See Connect your business mailbox and Connect your mailbox so enquiries arrive by themselves.

Drivers: invite them to the driver app and let them work a few real jobs in it while the old process still stands behind them.

Tips

• Agree a rule for the week: for example, new requests are quoted in 4fleet, and bookings already in the old system are finished there.
• Run each day's jobs from the 4fleet Calendar at least once, even if dispatch still happens the old way.

Gotchas

• Automatic invoices and payment reminders are off until you turn them on. Leave them off this week, or clients may get an invoice or reminder from each system.
• An imported booking that changes in the old system this week does not update in 4fleet. Make the change in both, or in 4fleet only.

Recommendations

• Keep a short list of everything that surprised you during the week. Fix each item before cut-over, not after.
• Ask one driver and one office person for their verdict at the end of the week.

Phase 4: Switch the old system off

Pick a cut-over date and tell the team. On that date, stop taking new work in the old system, make one last export of bookings created since your first import, and run it through the wizard. The bookings already imported are skipped as duplicates, so only the new ones are added. Then compare upcoming bookings in both systems one last time.

After cut-over, turn on the automations you held back, one by one: automatic invoices, payment reminders and anything else you use. The order is in Go live: turn features on and take your first enquiry.

Tips

• Cut over at the start of a quiet week, not before a holiday rush.
• Keep read access to the old system for as long as you may need to look up past work.

Gotchas

• Bookings changed in the old system after they were imported do not come across in the last import. Compare those by hand.
• People keep opening the old system out of habit. Agree who still may, and for what, such as looking up past work.

Recommendations

• Keep the import reports with your company records.
• A month after cut-over, check that clients, bookings and invoices match what you expect, and that nothing still depends on the old system.