Moving from Excel to a business portal: a practical guide

Signs that Excel is no longer enough

• You are not sure what the next invoice number is, or there is a gap in the series.
• You retype client details into every quote and invoice.
• You search several files to find which quote was accepted.
• You only learn at the end of the quarter which invoices are still open.
• You sometimes forget recurring invoices, or make them by hand.
• A change in one file does not reach the other.

One or two of these signs are normal. If you recognise four or more, Excel costs you more time and mistakes than it gives back.

There is also a quieter sign: you want to present yourself to clients more professionally. A quote in your own branding, an invoice with clearly readable payment details and a client page where your client accepts online work better than a loose Excel file that you send as a PDF.

What you take with you

• Client details: company name, address, KvK and VAT numbers, contact people.
• Services and rates: what you sell, with description and price.
• Open invoices: what is still to be paid.
• Running agreements: subscriptions with amount, period and next invoice date.
• Numbering: the last invoice number and quote number, so your series continues.

You do not carry over old, paid invoices. Keep those as PDFs or as an Excel file. In the Netherlands a retention period of 7 years generally applies to your records, so do not throw anything away. See also the guide on what an invoice must contain.

A tip for the move: use it to correct data, such as an outdated address or a missing VAT number. You check a foreign client's VAT number in VIES, see the guide on invoicing clients abroad.

An example with numbers

An invented installation company has 140 clients in a list, but almost half have not been active for years. It takes 65 clients with it, 12 services, 9 open invoices with a total of € 14,320 and 4 running subscriptions. The old list stays on file. The move takes two afternoons of entering data and a week of running both side by side.

Switching step by step

1. Take stock. List all your files and what they track.
2. Clean up. Remove duplicates, fill in missing details and drop inactive clients.
3. Fix your numbering. Note the last invoice and quote numbers and let the series continue.
4. Set your company details and branding. Logo, colours, standard texts and terms.
5. Enter clients and services. Start with your active clients and what you sell often.
6. Carry over open invoices and subscriptions. That keeps your overview of what is still coming in.
7. Run in parallel for a while. For a week or two, make your new quotes and invoices in the portal and keep Excel only as a check.
8. Close down Excel. Keep the files as an archive and make them read-only.

Allow a few afternoons, spread over a week or two. Most of the time goes into cleaning up the data and much less into entering it.

What changes

In Excel every document is a file that you create, save and send yourself. In a portal, clients, services and documents are in one place, and data you entered once comes back by itself. An accepted quote can be the basis for your invoice. A subscription is set up once, so the next invoice no longer depends on your memory. And you see in one overview what is open and what is overdue.

What you give up for that is the freedom to fill in everything as you please. A portal has fixed fields and a fixed order. For most service providers that is an advantage, because fewer mistakes creep in, but you need to get used to it first.

What stays as it was

A portal for quotes and invoices is not accounting software. Your purchase invoices, bank entries and your VAT return stay in the software where you keep them now, or with your accountant. With a good link, your accountant gets a copy of your sales invoices, so you do not have to type them again. See also the guide on preparing your VAT return.

Common mistakes

• Wanting to move everything at once, including what you no longer use.
• Restarting the numbering, so you get duplicate numbers.
• Throwing away old files that you still have to keep.
• No transition period, so you half keep up two systems.
• Expecting a portal to also do your bookkeeping and VAT return.

Checklist

• Have clients, services, open invoices and subscriptions been carried over?
• Does the numbering continue from the last number?
• Are your details, logo and terms set up properly?
• Have you stored the old files safely?
• Does your accountant know how the documents will reach them?

Frequently asked questions