In these checklists, you will find the most important steps that you should check before your go-live. Here, you will also find hints and tips to help you review topics against your original decisions made during setup.
Tip
Xentral provides you with many pre-configured settings in some areas, such as default warehouse, number ranges in SKR04 format, and tax rates for Germany (7% and 19%).
Review which settings you want to use and which configurations you need to set up differently for your business model, and adjust them if necessary to comply with legal requirements.
Basic settings for the Xentral standard that every customer needs.
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Log in to Xentral as an admin and start with the settings and tests.
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First, enter your company data and VAT ID to set up the initial important system data for your accounting in the system. Additionally, your company name will be displayed for your team in various Xentral interfaces, along with personalized information.
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Set up your letterhead with your logo and the most important text blocks. To issue legally compliant documents, you need to enter the legally required data applicable to your business. Don't forget that there may still be demo data, for example, in the footer of the letterhead. Also, change the text templates according to your requirements.
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Set up tax rates. To issue legally compliant documents, you must specify the legally required taxes applicable to your business. (Information on this can be found in the Accounting section in the articles Tax/Currency and Tax Rates.)
Warning
Before you start creating invoices for your customers, make sure to verify the tax regulations applicable to your business by contacting your local tax office or tax authority.
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Connect your company's email address, which you will use to send documents and emails to your customers and suppliers.
Note: It's best to use a new email address if you don't want to disrupt ongoing operations and don't have time to migrate the existing system. You can also add additional email addresses later.
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Set up number ranges. Use the standard number range provided by Xentral (SKR04) or choose other number ranges in consultation with your tax office. For example, make sure to consider which number ranges third-party systems such as your accounting software require.
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Set up payment methods. Add additional payment methods important for your business and set the payment terms, for example, invoice due in 14 days.
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Check in the system settings for additional important configuration options that may be relevant to your requirements, such as settings for documents or modules.
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Set up shipping methods. Add additional shipping methods important for your business and connect the interface of your shipping service provider with Xentral, such as your DHL business customer account.
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Set up warehouse: Add a warehouse location and storage locations to view your inventory.
If you're a beginner: with one warehouse and one storage location (shelf), you can already start gaining more visibility into your inventory.
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Set up a printer. If you want to print small quantities or conduct tests, you can use the standard PDF printer. If you want to set up logistics process chains, connect the Xentral Printer Spooler to receive quick automatic prints in logistics without any additional clicks.
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Create users and get your team started. Invite your team and assign modules and permissions (user rights). Determine who the key users and admins are in your team. Remember that ideally, you always have someone else in your company who is trained and can trustfully represent you or your admin - not only internally in your company but also, for example, to our Xentral support.
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Enter products and master data. Decide whether you want to create your data manually or if an onboarding path data migration will be necessary.
Warning
You should allocate enough time and ensure that the data is correct and complete in your Xentral system before proceeding with your go-live, and test the final processes once again.
Tip
If you're a small company with a small inventory, manageable manual processes, and a small team, you can start with the most important workflows here and explore and refine settings along the way. However, you should only do this if you have enough time and no pressure, as you're still finding your way before the wave.
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Set up a logistics process. Choose the logistics process that suits you best and configure the workflow. You can also select multiple processes, for example, one for the entire offline area (B2B business, bulk shipping, possibly serial numbers and batches) and one for your e-commerce business (e.g., all online channels, B2C packing table shipping).
For example: For this model, you can use the central standard number range for all e-commerce projects and set up a separate smaller number range for B2B in a new project (sales channel).
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Establish and create a warehouse structure. Choose a warehouse location and storage location division that suits your warehouse. Here, you have various options and are relatively free in the design. Consider which structure has proven effective so far or the paths your team needs to take in the picking process. Based on this, you should choose your picking process and warehouse layout.
For example: You can choose your warehouse location as a site, for example, "Warehouse Augsburg." Your shelves can each include the room number in the identifier, for example, for the main warehouse room "WH001." If you later add a retail store, you can use "POS-001" for the point-of-sale retail space. For many warehouse locations and more complex systems, you can also define as replenishment warehouses, quarantine warehouses, and goods receipt warehouses (interim warehouses).
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Set up your printers in logistics. If you're setting up logistics process chains, connect the Xentral printer spooler to get quick automatic prints without additional clicks in logistics. For multiple packing stations, configure associated document and package label printers for each station.
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Set up shipping methods. Add additional shipping methods that are important for your business, and integrate the interface of your shipping service providers with Xentral, such as your DHL business customer account. You can choose multiple shipping service providers and configure them in shipping rules or through mappings in the online shop importer. For self-pickup sales orders, Xentral provides a shipping method that prompts you to prepare the package for pickup during packing.
Caution
Perform a test print of a shipping label through your logistics workflow and verify the workflow, the shipping labels, prices, and the performance of your setup.
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Process automation: Depending on the selected logistics process, you will receive either partial or full automation of your process.
For example: A partially automated process, such as "Simple warehouse booking without further processing," enables you to handle individual sales orders with automatic stock removal and document creation, as well as batch processing multiple sales orders simultaneously. Since the process does not involve scanning at a packing station, you can print the documents at your desk or reception counter.
For example: A fully automated process like two-stage picking allows you to handle larger quantities at selected times or to pass them to logistics in batches. In these automation stages, you have many configuration options. For these standard workflows, preconfigured logistics processes in the project settings (logistics section) can assist you.
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Advanced: If you require a more complex setup with special configurations, multiple warehouses, and warehouse types, you can set up various processes through the project settings, warehouse settings, shipping methods, printer configurations, and packing station settings.
Caution
For individual logistics settings and process steps, we recommend the following articles:
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Process starters (Dispatch center, Calculate auto-shipping)
Warning
Here you may also need the expertise of a partner or have requirements that will be handled by an IT partner or administrator.
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Integrate a shop to Xentral: Integrate your (test) shop with Xentral and import a test sales order as the first step (= Order to cash process).
Begin with integrating your (test) shop and setting up the basic functions: fetching sales orders, sales order status feedback ("picked up"), inventory synchronization, and tracking feedback.
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Test sales order: Ideally, you can start with a test shop or a test sales order to familiarize yourself with Xentral and the possibilities of shop configuration. In the basic setup, connecting the shop is quick and straightforward.
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Requirements for the shop/marketplace interface: You should pay attention to the synchronization of data and inventory levels. First, consider your requirements in this regard.
For example: You can receive inventory changes (goods receipt, offline sales, inventory depletion due to defects, reservation for a customer) back to your shop(s) and marketplaces.
For example: However, you can also choose a different strategy and, for example, directly enter large quantities for a manageable small product range (e.g., food) into your e-commerce systems and marketplaces and optimize them. In this case, you will need safety stock (replenishment warehouse), whereas individual reservations from B2C customers and an immediate synchronization play a less significant role.
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Check the sales order data. Verify the completeness of the sales order data and set up the mappings correctly. Xentral provides a standard setup for various e-commerce systems. If you make changes to the standard setup of your shop, you can further configure the import and refine it using mappings, settings, or small technical adjustments.
Warning
Here, you will need technical expertise and possibly the support of a partner or an IT administrator to address requirements that may arise.
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Advanced: Consider which system should be the leading one. For a manageable product range, you can optimize your products within the shop systems or marketplaces. Xentral would then be the system responsible for handling the sales order collection and synchronizing inventory, but it wouldn't overwrite product data.
Tip
Determine for yourself how important the requirements of specific marketplaces are in terms of product management. Perhaps you prefer to maintain the data yourself and upload it to the marketplace as a CSV file. Or you may want to use a separate PIM system. If the data structures align with your model, you can also list the products from Xentral.
Warning
Note: Pay attention to the features of each shop. Not all e-commerce platforms offer the same capabilities. You can find a detailed list in the Shop feature matrix.
Checklist for data migration: Products, customers, suppliers - Fill Xentral with the essential data to go live
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Set up the product number range. Use the standard product categories or create your own.
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Enter product data. Maintain the key product master data such as product name, description, purchase price, sales price, customs tariff number.
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Set product type. Classify the product as inventory product, bill of materials, discount product, service product, postage product.
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External numbers, SKU. Maintain external numbers and SKUs for online shops and third-party systems
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Simple address data import. To save time, you can load the most important standard address data fields into your system and use the templates provided by Xentral, for example.
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Simple article data import. To save time, you can load the most important standard article data fields into your system and use the templates provided by Xentral, for example.
You can find information on extensive data migration in the overview of data migration and in the setup path Import of master data - Contacts, Products (Implementation). Movement data can be imported via the Receipts importer or the API.
Warning
Here, you will need technical expertise and possibly the support of a partner or an IT administrator to address requirements that may arise.