I am running manual systems, what is the best way to get my stock into Swim

At Swim, we've had a lot of clients come across from manual systems.

Some of these clients opted to type the information in a spreadsheet and use the self import tool, some opted to enter into a spreadsheet and they pay us to perform a data conversion, while others entered the information directly into Swim.

From the experience in all these options, we can say the best option is to enter directly into Swim.  The reason for this is that allows you to train on the system as you are inputting, it ensures there are no data conversion errors (so the data is very clean) and it allows you to print tags as you go.  The tag printing alone will save you much time, as importing from a spreadsheet and then having to go back and find the pieces, print the tag etc takes too long.

What we suggest people do is start with your high end cabinets. So if you sell diamond rings etc, start with those. Take a tray out and enter the details and print the tag. Place the tag back on the item and you're done.  You will then know what is in Swim and what is not, based on what item has a tag.

As you go you will start learning how to 'cheat' a little in Swim using the 'copy existing' feature.  In the stock menu, assemble stock you will see you can add an item or you can 'copy existing'.  The copy existing feature means that you can use an item you already entered, copy all the details across to this new item and then just modify the information you need.  This makes it very quick to enter (and much quicker than a spreadsheet).