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Solve for Migrating QuickBooks File Attachments to NetSuite OneWorld

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This article is relevant if you are seeking to migrate data from Quickbooks Online (QBO) to NetSuite OneWorld.

Background

We often find that QuickBooks is the most common accounting application for our US-based customers that seek to get on the NetSuite platform.  More and more businesses are using the QuickBooks Online (QBO) version versus the legacy file-based QuickBooks application.

Ten years ago, I discussed how How NetSuite Solved QuickBooks Scaling Problems. Not much has changed — we are pleased to see that NetSuite continues to be the favorite for companies that have grown to the point that migrating to a full-fledged ERP is a significant step toward expanded business operations.

For two clients that recently worked with my firm to migrate to NetSuite, we leveraged Celigo’s Integration.io integration platform to help with data migration efforts. At the time of this writing, the Celigo tool produces outstanding value because it provides the ability to migrate the data without a service charge as a way to help prospective clients understand the value of its integration platform. Thanks to great work by our Senior Technical Analyst, Chidi O., our firm expands on tool limitations to produce a more complete data migration.

Extended Celigo integration.io QBO to NetSuite Data Migration Strategy

I won’t go into the general details of the actual QuickBooks Online data migration using Celigo Integrator.io as this article does a good job.

However, our firm adds additional value by helping clients with more complex migration requirements. The following considerations demand more planning to produce a more complete and satisfactory data migration to NetSuite:

  1. Data Migration Logic Mapping
  2. Multiple QuickBooks to NetSuite OneWorld
  3. Migrating QBO File Attachments to NetSuite

Below is an architecture diagram that helps describe the overall method we use to facilitate a more complete QBO to NetSuite data migration:

Click the image to see the full screen.

Data Migration Logic Mapping

Readers may be interested in my 2015 article, Sequencing Data Imports to Go Live on NetSuite, which helps describe the general order for how to migrate information to the NetSuite instance. It is quite common to enhance the data model and restructure information for enhanced reporting and business operations. I wrote about this in last week’s article, Best Practices for Modeling the General Ledger in NetSuite. Thus, we need a method to develop a map of the legacy data values to the new enhanced NetSuite data model.

We approached the consideration by creating a custom Celigo Import Mapping record which can be used to help assess all the legacy data to plan the migration logic to NetSuite. The custom table acts as a staging environment to help with data analysis and planning. With the data analysis work methodically organized, we can describe the old values to new values which then provides the mapping logic we need to teach Celigo (via additional scripted Integrator.io lookups) how to properly push the old data into NetSuite.

Multiple QuickBooks to NetSuite OneWorld

One of the major benefits of going to NetSuite is the OneWorld multi-subsidiary single-database architecture. However, when coming from multiple QBO company accounts, the database identifiers are going to cause data collisions.

Along with our logic mapping described above, we can describe all the QBO source systems and how we will resolve the inevitable data collisions that will occur when we populate NetSuite’s single-database multi-subsidiary OneWorld structure. We further enhance all NetSuite transactions to hold QBO source systems, QBO transaction ID, and QBO document name identifiers.

Click the image to see the full screen.

Migrating QBO File Attachments to NetSuite

One of the major challenges in data migration is file attachment handling. Celigo Integrator.io offers no mechanism to migrate file attachments. However, we developed a file attachment migration strategy that covers the majority of use cases to link up QBO files to NetSuite transactions.

Here is what we did:

  1. File Attachment Exports: QBO allows you to download all the files manually into Zip files. The challenge here is that the files are subject to a 100MB file size and you can’t grab all the file attachments with one click. Thus, you must revert to multiple-manual downloads. It’s tedious but within reach.
  2. Upload File Attachments to NetSuite: the zip files can be uploaded to NetSuite using the Advanced File Add approach. NetSuite will explode the files and retain the built-in folder structure.  This is good but not insufficient.
  3. File Attachment Folder Structure: the folder structure contains sufficient metadata information so that a map can be developed to link the file attachments to the respective NetSuite transactions. However, there is a group of files that do not have sufficient metadata and thus are “Unattached Documents”.  These files can’t be programmatically linked — yet the files are still available for lookup via global search.
  4. File Attachment Linkage Automation: Using Prolecto’s free-of-license-charge tool called Record Import Export Manager (RIEM), we are able to programmatically link QBO file attachments to NetSuite data structures. See my 2020 article, Fully Automate Complex NetSuite Data Imports, to learn more about this tool.

This file attachment data migration strategy is a breakthrough for any NetSuite customer that wishes to get their QBO file attachments properly linked up to NetSuite.  The good news is that even if you have already migrated to NetSuite, you can still go back and get those QBO files!

Click on the images to better understand the file attachment migration.

Migrate Data with Expert NetSuite Leadership

Data migration efforts are the easiest identifiable ERP implementation project risk. Yet, with these enhancement capacities for inspection and linkage, we can lower risk and effort while we expand the scope and quality of the result.

I am in gratitude to Chidi O. and that I get to work with a team of high-caliber professionals!  Our most recent client offered the following:

“Great work on importing the attachments to the transactions in NetSuite. I have validated JE264 (JE130 in QBO), and they look great. I don’t know how you did it, but it is truly magical.

Thank you for the Prolecto miracle and the wiz of Chidi! 😎👍 “

If you found this article relevant, feel free to sign up for notifications to new articles as I post them. If you need expert assistance to migrate your data from your legacy system to NetSuite, let’s have a conversation.

 

Marty Zigman

Holding all three official certifications, Marty is regarded as the top NetSuite expert and leads a team of senior professionals at Prolecto Resources, Inc. He is a former Deloitte & Touche CPA and has held CTO roles. For over 30 years, Marty has produced leadership in ERP, CRM and eCommerce business systems. Contact Marty to set up a conversation.

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About Marty Zigman

Marty Zigman

Holding all three official certifications, Marty is regarded as the top NetSuite expert and leads a team of senior professionals at Prolecto Resources, Inc. He is a former Deloitte & Touche CPA and has held CTO roles. For over 30 years, Marty has produced leadership in ERP, CRM and eCommerce business systems. Contact Marty to set up a conversation.

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2 thoughts on “Solve for Migrating QuickBooks File Attachments to NetSuite OneWorld

  1. Chidi O. says:

    Thanks for sharing this with the community, Marty!

    Incidentally, I recently discovered some QBO API capabilities in the “Attachable” endpoint that might allow us to overcome the challenges with the current approach and thus achieve a 100% document linkage. Looking forward to trying that out on the next migration project.

  2. Marty Zigman says:

    Thank you Chidi. Indeed, we will see.

    Marty

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