Most small marinas run on a spreadsheet, or three: one for customers, one for the slip list, and one that tracks who still owes for the season. SlipRight brings all of it in through four files, each landing on the one before it, and we will do the move for you, free, if you would rather send the files and get back to the docks.
What to pull together first
Gather these:
- Customers, with an email for each. SlipRight tells customers apart by email, so two rows with the same address are one customer with two boats. A customer with no email still comes in, matched by name and phone.
- Boats, with a name and a length. The length prices any per-foot line on an offer, and a boat whose length it can't read ("thirty") is left off with a note while the customer still comes in.
- Which slip each boat is in, as a dock and a slip number: N-4 on North Dock.
- What each customer owes, or has in credit, as of one date, with a due date and a memo if you have them.
The order the import goes in
Settings → Data → Import has four cards, numbered in the order a switch goes.
- Slips go first, so customers have somewhere to land. Each row needs a dock and a slip number, and a dock SlipRight hasn't seen is created.
- Customers and boats go second, and a row with a slip column puts the boat in that slip as long as the slip is empty. An import never moves anyone or empties a slip, so a slip with someone already in it is left alone and the row says so.
- Inventory is third, and the count on hand becomes each part's starting count.
- Balances go last, because every row names a customer who is now on file. A customer who owes gets one invoice, marked Sent with nothing mailed. A customer with money in their favor gets credit on their account, which their next invoice uses.
The dry run, and undo
Nothing is saved when you choose a file. SlipRight shows the first rows with the match it made for each column and marks what each row will do:
- New, Update, Adds a boat, or Adds a slip;
- No change;
- Skipped, and why.
Under that sit the counts and the rows to look at. A row with no name, a repeated email, or a slip that doesn't exist goes in that list, so you can fix the spreadsheet and try again before anything is written.
Records already on file get one choice for the whole file: Skip them or Update them. Update writes only the cells that differ, and a blank cell leaves what's on file.
When you do import, the batch sits in Past imports with its report, and Undo takes the whole batch back while nothing depends on it. Once an imported customer has been invited, or a carried-over invoice has been paid, Undo is refused and names the record that holds it.
The map from an aerial photo
Your spreadsheet gives SlipRight the slip list, and the map shows where each slip is. Type the marina's address in Settings → Maps and SlipRight drafts the docks and slips from an aerial photo, finding the slips along each dock from the boats tied up in it. You check the draft, fix what it missed, and number each dock in one go. Once the customers file lands, the live map shows who is in each slip, and each boat owner sees their own slip on it from their phone.
Start the new season here, let the old one finish there
The safest time to switch is between seasons, before renewal offers go out. Run the new season in SlipRight: the offers go out from here, boat owners sign here, and the invoices follow. The old spreadsheet only collects what is left on last season, and the balances import carries that over as one invoice per customer.
SlipRight never sends an overdue letter for a carried-over balance, since that is the old system's collection, and late fees follow your setting. Switching this way keeps live agreements out of the move, and moving those mid-season is the part that goes wrong.
The tie-out
Before you close the old file, put four numbers side by side with it:
- customers
- boats
- occupied slips
- total owed
Each import's result shows its counts, Export shows how many slips, customers, and parts are on file, and the balances result says how many owe and how much. When the four match your spreadsheet, the old one is done. When one doesn't, the rows to look at usually say why.
Who does the move
SlipRight moves your data free: customers, boats, and who is in which slip. Send us what you use today and we run it through the same screens, with the same dry run. If you would rather do it yourself, save each sheet as a CSV and import it from a computer; the Sample CSV on each card shows the columns.
Either way, you can leave as easily as you came. Export gives you slips, customers and boats, and inventory with the same columns the import reads, and for the books, every invoice, every payment and refund by date, and a QuickBooks journal.
See what else SlipRight does at slipright.app/features. Sign up or Request a demo.