Preparing Your Accounts Data Before Going Live on Navigator

Modified on Fri, 20 Feb at 8:38 AM

Overview
Before you go live on Navigator, you need to provide clean, detailed accounting data so we can load your balances correctly. This avoids missing invoices, incorrect allocations, and reconciliation issues after launch.

Why This Matters
If your balances are loaded without invoice level detail, you will not be able to allocate payments and receipts properly in Navigator. This creates problems for:

Debtors and creditors reporting
Payment allocation
VAT accuracy
Month end reconciliation
Year end reporting for your accountant

If you get the data right before go live, your opening balances will load cleanly and your accounts will reconcile correctly.

When You Need to Do This
You must provide these files before your go live date.

You should also do this again for your final go live import if your balances change between test load and launch.

What You Need to Provide
You must provide the following reports from your current accounting system.

Sales Ledger (Debtors) Report
This must show:

Customer account name
Invoice number
Invoice date
Invoice amount
Outstanding amount
Total outstanding balance per invoice

Important
Do not send a single total per customer account. We need invoice by invoice detail.

This allows Navigator to allocate receipts against specific invoices.

Purchase Ledger (Creditors) Report
This must show:

Supplier account name
Invoice number
Invoice date
Invoice amount
Outstanding amount
Total outstanding balance per invoice

Important
Do not send a single total per supplier account. We need invoice by invoice detail.

This allows Navigator to allocate payments against specific invoices.

A Summary of Your Totals
Alongside the detailed invoice reports, you must also provide a written note confirming your totals, for example:

Sales ledger total outstanding balance: £X
Purchase ledger total outstanding balance: £Y

This gives us a quick reconciliation point after import.

What We Will Do With Your Data
Once you send the files, we will:

Import the detailed outstanding invoices into Navigator
Check that the imported totals match the totals you supplied
Confirm your balances in a test environment
Run a quick reconciliation check with you before final launch

This is a sanity check to confirm the data has imported correctly.

Common Mistakes to Avoid
Avoid these issues, as they will delay your go live.

Sending totals only
If you send one total per account, invoices cannot be allocated correctly.
Missing invoice references
If invoice numbers are missing, payments and receipts cannot be matched properly.
Providing old reports
If reports are not up to date, your balances will be incorrect on day one.
Sending data without totals
If you do not provide your expected bottom line totals, reconciliation takes longer.

Recommended File Format
Send the reports in Excel or CSV format.

If exporting CSV, keep the format simple:

One line per invoice
No merged cells
No blank header rows

What Happens Next
Once your balances are loaded, we will arrange a review call to:

Walk through the imported ledgers
Confirm the totals match your current system
Confirm you are ready for go live