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- Software Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide
So you’ve taken the big leap, and are changing PMS systems. We know this will be a significant change for your company, and we want to ensure your experience with Breezeway is uninterrupted. In order to do so, it’s important that we are made aware of this change ahead of time, so we can help the team prepare.
Performing a PMS Migration is a common procedure for our team. Your Account Manager can walk you through the process in detail if you have any questions, and a preliminary call to review these steps is encouraged. We’ve outlined what to expect below, so you can best prepare for the migration to ensure there is no disruption in Breezeway.
What is a migration?
A migration from one PMS to another will occur when a company decides to switch the PMS, or reservation system, they are using to manage their bookings.
How does this impact Breezeway?
To utilize Breezeway’s scheduling tools, we pull the reservation and property data from your PMS. If you change softwares without notifying us, your data will be inaccurate and changes to bookings won’t be captured, as we'll be connected to your original system.
How much notice is needed to ensure Breezeway will be migrated on my go live date with the new PMS?
We need a minimum of 5 business days to prepare. We try to make this process as smooth and straightforward as possible by handling most of the work internally; however, our CX Reps will need time to collect the proper documents and information from you, map the homes, and get the work prioritized to our Engineering Team. Please keep this in mind, and try to notify our CX Rep as soon as you know you will be changing softwares, with the anticipated cut over/go live date.
The Process
Step 1: Notify your Account Manager that you are planning to switch softwares. The sooner we know this, the more time we will have to prepare and ensure everything is completed ahead of your go-live date.
The following should be provided to your Account Manager:
- Go Live Date (if known)
- New PMS (you can check to see if we are integrated with your new PMS here)
- API Keys (if you are unsure how to retrieve these, you can ask the PMS support team or reach out to us for help)
- An export of your property data from the new PMS (we will need the Property IDs)
If you are notifying us in advance of any account setup, you might not have some of this information. We just ask that you provide it to us as soon as you can!
Step 2: Your Account Manager will submit a ticket to our Engineering team. We will map your properties using the export of properties from Step 1, to the existing properties in Breezeway. This will allow us to update the current Internal IDs in Breezeway, with the new IDs from your PMS on the day of the migration. This is important because your properties will be unchanged, but the source of the reservation data will be updated.
While we will do the best we can to map each property, sometimes, we will need your guidance on any that we can’t match confidently. Once the ticket is submitted to our team, we will identify a date for the migration. More often than not, this will be the day you go live with your new PMS. Please note, we do not perform migrations on Fridays.
Step 3: The day of your migration! Our team will begin the process of migrating your account. This only takes a few hours to complete. We will work on disabling the old integration (if applicable), adding the new one, and then mapping the properties and reservations. Our team meticulously runs through the reservations to ensure there are no discrepancies in data before making any changes. If there are any concerns, we will address them before making the full cut over.
Once complete, your Account Manager will send you an email to confirm the migration is complete. You will be able to see that the reservations are now being associated with the new integration. Your Account Manager will schedule a call with you to review any changes you might expect (though much of this will likely have been covered in the initial discussion about the migration).
This is an exciting change to be making! We know there is a significant amount of work that goes into a PMS transition and are here to help make it easy for you and your team, and to ensure that the process is smooth and seamless! As always, reach out to us with any questions or visit our help center.
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