Importing Currently On Hire Jobs From Another System

When changing from another hire or rental system to HirePOS, you may already have equipment out on hire that needs to be brought into HirePOS.

HirePOS cannot currently import complete invoices or hire contracts line by line. Active jobs can either be created manually in HirePOS or partially created in bulk using the Contract CSV importer and then completed manually.

You do not have to use the Contract CSV importer.

For a smaller number of currently on hire jobs, it may be simpler to create each invoice manually in HirePOS from the beginning. This also works well if you want to:

• Work through the changeover gradually.

• Run HirePOS alongside your previous system for a period.

• Add active jobs individually as you need them.

• Become familiar with creating and managing invoices in HirePOS during the changeover.

For larger volumes, the Contract CSV importer can reduce repetitive data entry. It bulk-creates the basic contract records, including customers, dates and delivery information. You then open each imported contract and manually add its items, assets, charges and other required details.

The rest of this guide describes this bulk CSV-assisted approach.

Set up the underlying data in HirePOS before importing your active contracts.

You should:

1. Import or create your customers.

2. Import or create your hire items.

3. Configure your Selling Units.

4. Configure your item prices and hire rates.

For the Contract importer, each customer must be identifiable by either a Customer Code or Company Name.

If a customer only has a First Name and Last Name and no Company Name, give them a unique Customer Code before importing their contracts.

Having your items, Selling Units and prices configured before this process also allows HirePOS to calculate the appropriate hire charges as you complete each job.

Create a list of every job that will still be on hire when you change over to HirePOS.

For example, if you have 100 active hire jobs, prepare 100 rows for the Contract CSV importer.

Include as much supported information as possible, such as:

• Contract or invoice number

• Customer Code or Company Name

• Customer PO

• Job reference

• Booked hire dates

• Actual hire start date

• Delivery details

See Import Contracts for the complete list of supported fields and instructions for preparing and importing the CSV.

The internal Comments field can make completing the imported contracts much easier.

Before importing, consider adding the item codes required for each job and its expected total to the Comments field.

For example:

Items: EXC55, AUG450, HYDGRAB | Expected total: $2,450.00

When you later open the imported contract, these comments are visible on the screen and provide a simple checklist of what needs to be added.

Use Comments for these migration notes rather than Message, as the Message field is customer-facing.

Use the Import Contracts CSV importer to create all of your currently on hire contracts in bulk.

Each row creates a record in Contract Mode with its supported customer, dates, delivery and other contract information.

These records are effectively contract shells. The individual items, assets, charges and payments are not imported and still need to be added.

Go to:

Sales/Hire > Find Sales/Hire

Use the filters to show Contract Mode records.

This gives you a working list of the imported contracts that still need to be completed.

Open the first imported contract and:

1. Check the customer, contract number, dates and other imported information.

2. Review the Comments for any migration notes or item codes.

3. Add all hire items, assets and other charges required for the job.

4. Check the quantities, rates and calculated prices.

5. Compare the calculated total with the expected total from your previous system.

6. Make any required adjustments.

7. Change the record from Contract Mode to Invoice Mode.

8. Click Save.

Because your items, prices and Selling Units are already configured, HirePOS can use the dates on the contract to calculate the applicable hire charges as you add the items.

Return to Sales/Hire > Find Sales/Hire after completing each invoice.

Because you have filtered the list to Contract Mode, each completed job disappears from the list when you change it to Invoice Mode.

For example, if you imported 100 active contracts:

• Start with 100 Contract Mode records.

• Complete the first and 99 remain.

• Complete the next and 98 remain.

• Continue until there are no migration contracts left in Contract Mode.

This provides a simple way to track your progress and confirm when all currently on hire jobs have been completed.

The Contract CSV importer is most useful when you have a large number of active jobs and are comfortable preparing data in a spreadsheet or CSV.

There is currently no bulk import that can recreate complete HirePOS invoices or hire contracts with all of their individual line items and linked records.

The CSV-assisted process reduces repetitive data entry while still allowing each active job to be checked before going live:

Import Customers and Items → Configure Prices → Import Contract Shells → Add Items and Charges → Verify → Change to Invoice Mode

For smaller migrations, manually creating each active invoice may be just as practical.

Do not use this process simply to recreate your entire historical invoice database.

If an old invoice only needs to be brought across because the customer still owes money, use Import Invoices (Balance Carried Forward) instead. This is designed to bring outstanding customer balances into HirePOS without recreating every item and detail from the original invoice.

As a general changeover approach:

• Currently on hire jobs: Create them manually, or use the Contract CSV importer to create the contract shells and then complete them in HirePOS.

• Outstanding historical invoices: Use the Balance Carried Forward importer.

• Fully paid historical invoices: Generally retain these in your previous system or historical records unless there is a specific reason to recreate them in HirePOS.

For broader migration planning, see Changing Over From Another System.