Stuck with software you have outgrown
Your bureau has run on the same payroll software for years. It does the job, but it does not suit how you work any more: limited employee portal, no API, awkward multi-client handling, or a pricing change that makes it expensive. You have looked at alternatives, and one fits much better.
Then you think about moving. Every client's company settings, pay elements, employees, year-to-date figures, pension links and pay calendar, re-created in a new package, while the payrolls keep running every week. So you stay.
Why a bureau migration is hard
It is not one migration; it is one per client, each with its own setup. Year-to-date figures must be exact. Pay elements must calculate the same way. Pension scheme links, notices and statutory cases in progress all have to come across. And the switch has to fall at a sensible point in each client's pay cycle, ideally tax year start, but not every bureau can move everyone at once.
Parallel running is the usual safeguard, but doing it by hand, processing each payroll twice and comparing, doubles the workload for weeks.
What a poorly planned move costs
A bad first pay day on the new software can cost a bureau clients. Errors in carried-over figures surface at year end. Staff morale drops under the double workload. And a migration that stalls halfway leaves the bureau running two systems with two sets of processes, which is worse than either.
| Item to migrate per client | Risk if done by hand |
|---|---|
| Company and PAYE settings | Wrong references or pay dates |
| Pay elements and rates | Calculations differ from the old system |
| Employees and year-to-date figures | Small errors carried all year |
| Pension schemes and members | Links and rates lost |
| Live cases, notices and orders | Missed in the new system |
How we build a bureau migration
- We export each client's setup and history from the old software, using its exports, reports or database where accessible.
- A mapping for each client translates settings, pay elements and employee data into the new software's import formats, with differences in how the packages calculate flagged for decision.
- Clients are imported into the new software in waves, with year-to-date figures reconciled against the old system per employee.
- For parallel runs, the inputs for each run are processed in both packages, and a comparison shows every employee whose results differ, with the elements that cause it.
- Each client moves through stages, exported, imported, reconciled, parallel run passed, live, on a migration board, so you can see where every client is.
- Once a client has passed its parallel runs, it goes live on the new software, and the old one is kept readable for history and queries.
Choosing the new software is your decision. If you are still deciding, we can help you test how your most complex clients would calculate in each candidate, which is often more revealing than a demonstration.
A move you can actually make
Migration becomes a planned programme rather than a leap of faith. Parallel runs are compared automatically, so the extra workload is far smaller than processing everything twice by hand. Every client's status is visible. First pay days on the new software are checked against the old. And the bureau finally gets the software it wants.
Are you putting off a move?
- You have outgrown your payroll software but fear moving.
- Re-creating every client's setup looks like months of typing.
- Parallel running by hand would double your workload.
- Your current software has limited exports.
- You would like to move at the next tax year start but have no plan.