T-Minus: staging the migration — as-of, period and archive
Rule 4 and the three migration scopes, what an as-of migration loads, the three levels of period migration, how to choose per object, and the load sequence.
Rule 4: migrate balances you can audit, not history you can’t. Every migration object is given one of three scopes, decided during Discover by doing and recorded per object, with the reason, in the Toolkit’s Migration Scope sheet. The choice drives the object register, the mock plan and the reconciliation workload.
| Scope | What it is | What it holds |
|---|---|---|
| As-of — the default | Master data, open items and opening balances at the cutover date | Customers, vendors, items, employees, assets; open AR / AP, open orders, stock on hand; the opening trial balance. Fastest and fully reconcilable. |
| Period — optional | Adds balances for a period before cutover, e.g. fiscal year to date | Monthly net GL balances per account and dimension. Enables YTD reporting and comparatives. Reconciled month by month. Chosen per need, never by default. |
| Archive — never migrated | Deep transactional history stays in legacy, read-only and queryable | Legacy set read-only at T-0; retained for audit and statutory periods; extracted to a data store if legacy is retired. |
Chasing history is how implementations die. Deep history always stays in the read-only legacy archive — which is why that archive must stay queryable after T-0.
As-of in detail (proposed default)
| Object group | What is loaded | As at | Reconciled against |
|---|---|---|---|
| Structure | Entities, chart of accounts, dimensions, calendars | Configuration | Mapping sign-off |
| Master data | Customers, vendors, items, employees, banks, fixed-asset register | Cutover date | Record counts, key-field hash totals |
| Open receivables | Unpaid customer invoices and credits, with due dates | Cutover date | AR ageing = GL control account |
| Open payables | Unpaid vendor invoices and credits | Cutover date | AP ageing = GL control account |
| Open orders | Open sales and purchase orders, remaining quantities | Cutover date | Open order reports |
| Stock | Quantity and value per item and warehouse (lot / serial where used) | Cutover date | Stock valuation = GL inventory |
| Fixed assets | Cost, accumulated depreciation, remaining life | Cutover date | Asset register = GL |
| Opening balances | Trial balance per account, entity and dimension | Cutover date | Legacy TB line by line — zero delta |
| Payroll YTD | Year-to-date gross, tax and deductions per employee (if mid-year) | Cutover date | Legacy payroll YTD report |
Pick the cutover date at a period end — month or quarter — where possible. Legacy closes the period, the opening TB is final, and the first TRANXACT period starts clean.
Period migration in detail (proposed default)
| Level | What it is | When |
|---|---|---|
| P1 · Monthly balances — recommended | Net movement per account, entity and dimension per month; one journal per period, posted to the matching period. YTD, budget vs actual and prior-year comparatives work. Reconciles month by month. | Mid-year go-live, YTD or comparatives needed |
| P2 · Summary journals | Periodic summaries by account, cost centre, project, customer group. Richer analysis, still auditable; more mapping and more lines to reconcile. | When dimensions matter; current fiscal year only |
| P3 · Detailed transactions — exception only | Individual documents replayed. Rarely needed, since the legacy archive answers drill-down; breaks rule 4 if used by default. | A Countdown Owner decision, logged in the Fit Ledger; usually T-Plus |
Example: go-live on 1 October, fiscal year from 1 January. As-of loads the open items and the 30 September trial balance; P1 adds nine monthly balance journals, January to September, so year-to-date and prior-year comparisons run in TRANXACT.
Period data multiplies reconciliation work: each migrated month must tie to legacy. Limit it to the current fiscal year, or the comparative year, and prefer monthly balances over transactions.
Choosing the scope (proposed default)
| Situation | Scope | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Go-live at fiscal year start | As-of | Opening balances are last year’s closing TB; no period data needed |
| Go-live mid-year, YTD reporting needed in TRANXACT | As-of + P1 | Monthly balances give YTD and budget vs actual |
| Statutory or tax returns span the cutover period | As-of + P1 (current year) | Returns can be produced from TRANXACT for the full period |
| Management asks for prior-year comparatives | As-of + P1 (prior year, annual or monthly) | Comparatives without migrating documents |
| Analysis by cost centre / project across cutover | As-of + P2 | Dimensional history, still auditable |
| An auditor or user needs document drill-down | As-of + archive | The legacy archive answers it; no migration |
| Payroll mid-year | As-of + payroll YTD | Year-end certificates need full-year totals |
The object register and load sequence (proposed default)
The load order follows dependencies, and every object has an owner, a scope and a reconciliation:
- Configuration — entities, chart of accounts, dimensions, tax, currencies.
- Reference master — banks, payment terms, price lists, warehouses.
- Business partners — customers, vendors, contacts.
- Products and people — items, BOMs, employees.
- Assets — the fixed-asset register.
- Open items — open AR and AP.
- Open orders — sales and purchase orders.
- Stock — quantities and values.
- Balances — the opening TB, plus period balances if chosen.
- Payroll YTD — if mid-year.
The Toolkit’s Migration Object Register holds this list with record counts per mock and a live delta. An object is only "ready" when its delta is zero in two consecutive mocks.
Values marked proposed default are the methodology’s recommended starting points. Confirm each one per engagement; the contract, order form and SLA prevail.