Before you start: realistic expectations
Your first week with a new system will feel slower than your current setup. That's normal. You're building a new habit while still running the business. By week three, it's faster. By week six, you won't remember how you managed without it.
Don't try to migrate everything. Start fresh with your next job and build from there.
Day 1: Get your company set up
Create your account. Add your company name, address and logo.
Set your invoice defaults: payment terms, bank details, your registered address, VAT number if applicable.
Add yourself as the first user.
This should take under 30 minutes. Don't get distracted by settings you don't understand yet — you can come back to those.
Day 2: Add your first clients and properties
Add your three most active clients. Name, email, phone, address.
If they have multiple properties, add those too.
Don't spend time importing historical data at this stage. Add clients as you need them for live jobs.
Day 3: Invite your team
Invite your engineers by email. They'll get a welcome email with a setup link.
Assign each engineer their role: field staff, manager, or admin.
Brief them in a 10-minute call: "This is how you update job status, this is how you log costs." That's all they need to know on day one.
Day 4: Create your first live jobs
Take your current job list — wherever it lives — and add the active ones to the system.
Assign each job to an engineer.
Set a due date.
Add any known costs to the job card.
Don't add historical completed jobs. Only live and upcoming work. History can wait — or not happen at all.
Day 5: Send your first quote or invoice
Pick a job that's ready to invoice.
Review the logged costs.
Create the invoice and send it directly from the system.
This is the moment the system earns its keep for the first time. An invoice sent same-day, with all costs already logged, with your branding on it. That's what you're building towards.
Week 2 onwards
Add H&S documents to the library and attach them to relevant job types.
Set up your notification preferences (who gets alerted when a job is completed, when a quote is approved).
Review your first week's jobs — what's logged, what's missing.
Brief your engineers again on any gaps in cost logging.
What success looks like after 30 days
After a month, you should be able to answer these questions in under 30 seconds, without opening a spreadsheet:
How many jobs are currently open?
Which jobs are overdue?
What did you invoice last week?
Which engineer completed the most jobs?
If you can do that, you've made the transition. Everything else is incremental improvement.
