How To Survive A Computer Conversion
By Deb Gammon
Computer conversion. Just the phrase brings dread into the dealership. Employees fear the unknown and change. Everything you can imagine can go wrong: lost data, hardware crashes, poor connectivity, poor training, and irritated customers. In short, a computer conversion is everyone's worst nightmare. In addition, a poor conversion leaves a bad taste in everyone's mouth-and can doom acceptance of a new system. Many of these can be avoided. Let's address how planning for this event can avert disaster.
When is the right time? There is no perfect time for a conversion. A conversion takes about 4-6 weeks; so two slow months, back to back, is best. Do not convert during the summer (too many vacations and, hopefully, too much business) or at the end of your tax year. Although you would not think so, right before month-end is best for your actual conversion date. This allows the office to finish a month virtually on the old system and start a new month fresh - all with the computer company there to help. Negotiate into the contract a Sunday conversion. Beginning on Saturday night and concluding on Sunday can address any hardware or software failures before business opens on Monday.
Preparing the office and the employees. Nothing is more powerful than having a meeting with all employees and telling them up front what to expect. Share the timetable and the reasons for converting. Let them know your expectations regarding training. Schedule no vacations, trips or conferences during this time. Be honest; tell them it will not be pretty, but as a team, it will work. Since most weight of conversion falls on the office and service, make sure all work is up to date prior to the actual conversion date. Clean schedules. Close all R.O.s - customer pay, warranty and internal. Book deals. Do a parts return. If possible, convert payroll a few weeks after the rest. This reduces employee stress since they know they will still be paid on time.
Training. All training should take place in the dealership the week or two before conversion. This allows for the best recall. Emphasis of the basics is first. There is plenty of time later for all the bells and whistles. Make attendance mandatory. The day of the conversion (when your system is down) is perfect for a refresher. The more they use your actual data to train, the better.
Will it all convert? No. Financial statements, inventory detail, journals and special reports will not. For special reports, include set-up on the new system as part of the negotiated price. Before the conversion specialists leave the dealership, run all reports and check to be sure they work. Inventory detail is re-entered the first day on the new system. Journals and financial statements are done ahead of time.
Avoid lost data. For the conversion, you run a full back-up. For the two nights prior to that, run full back-ups as well. Right after conversion, run all journals and schedules on the old system. Use your CRM process to download customer files to a PC.
The role of the computer company. They are there to convert, train and assist. But you are the customer, and it is your dealership. The conversion specialists work on 10-12 dealerships a year, and they are all different. It is up to you to be sure labor codes, parts source codes and parameters, journals, account numbers, financial statements, customer name files, special reports and schedules are set up the way you want them. Do whatever can be done ahead of the conversion date. Check and recheck the results, especially with financial statements. Insist on account numbers that make sense, and avoid mixing alpha and numbers - it takes extra keypunch time! Have different people install the hardware. This is done before training starts and have the actual equipment tested for connection issues. Be sure all hardware and peripherals are running and functional before training starts. Request the hardware installer's presence in the dealership the first two days of the new system and include this in your contract. Require the conversion specialists to be there for about 4 weeks - two weeks of training and setup before the conversion and two weeks after. Have a preliminary meet-and-greet meeting with all involved. Be sure there are specialists for each department; more than one is best. Converting near the end of the month ensures their presence during month-end. But schedule them for a few days after that; then they are there to assist in checking the accuracy of all schedules and the statements themselves - one more time.
Adjusting to the new system. It doesn't happen overnight. And some of that training does not stick. To counter this, include in your negotiations two follow-up visits, at two months and three months after conversion. Six months after conversion, have the company come back for a week of in-dealership advance training; this is the time for the bells and whistles.
How long do I keep this conversion stuff? Until your next year-end is complete. Store it all in a box labeled "conversion" - and make it a big box!
Finally, the burden of the conversion rests with the system administrator and the dealer. Plan on nothing else during this time. Remember, it is short-term pain for a long-term gain! Many thanks to Dealer Herb Cuene and Controller Kris Pitt who shared their experiences with me for this article after having survived their own computer conversions.
A former dealership CFO after a stint with Crowe Chizek LLP, Deb Gammon consults with auto dealers on financial/accounting/computer matters. dgammon@dealeronline.com
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