Replacing old FoxPro accounting and stock software

Through the 1990s and 2000s, FoxPro was one of the most popular tools for building accounting, stock control, job costing and order processing software. Many of those packages are still in daily use, sometimes supported by a one-person software house, often not supported at all.

If that’s you, you’ll recognise the signs. Month end depends on a routine only one person understands. Reports go out to Excel to be fixed up. Nobody can use the system from home. And nobody wants to be the one who updates the server.

Why now

Beyond the general risks of running unsupported software, accounting systems face particular pressure.

Making Tax Digital requires VAT returns to be submitted through compatible software, which old FoxPro packages generally can’t do without bridging tools, and Making Tax Digital for Income Tax is extending similar requirements to many sole traders and landlords.

Auditors, banks and insurers increasingly ask about security and access controls these systems can’t provide. And every year it gets harder to find anyone who can change them.

What moving looks like

For most businesses the answer is a modern platform rather than another bespoke build. Systems such as Odoo cover accounting, stock, purchasing, sales, manufacturing and CRM in one place, run in a browser, and connect to banks, online shops and other tools.

The hard part isn’t the new system. It’s the move. A good migration:

• maps how your current system actually works, including the workarounds nobody wrote down
• extracts and cleans your historical data, so you keep your customer, supplier and transaction history (see getting your data out of FoxPro)
• sets the new system up around your processes, with anything specific to your business built as an add-on
• runs old and new side by side until you’re confident

Why it helps to understand both worlds

Most firms selling modern systems don’t understand FoxPro, and most FoxPro specialists don’t work with modern platforms. If your migration partner can read how your old system really works, rather than guessing from the screens, far less gets lost along the way.

That’s the combination we offer: FoxPro experience going back to version 1.02, and day-to-day work implementing and integrating Odoo.