Switching to Bubs
Switching club management software, one checkable step at a time
Your roster, households, member classes, member numbers and opening balances come across into a new club, reconciled to the cent before anyone uses it. Modules go live in stages, and your data exports in full whenever you ask.
The approach
Why does switching feel so risky?
Switching club management software is the decision clubs put off longest, and for good reason. The roster, every household and every member's balance live in the old system. The staff know its screens. The controller has closed a hundred months on it. And the switch has to happen without closing the golf course.
Bubs is built so that the switch is a sequence of small, checkable steps rather than a leap. Your data comes across into a brand-new club that nobody is using yet, gets checked against your own reports to the cent, and only then opens to staff and members. Modules go live in stages. The books run in parallel until your accountant agrees them. And the club's data exports in full whenever you ask — before, during and after.
What moves
What comes across, and what stays behind
The data the club runs on moves. The record of what already happened stays in an archive the club keeps.
Comes across
The roster
Every member and household, with member classes, relationships and contact details as your roster holds them.
Member numbers, verbatim
Each person's number exactly as the club issued it — leading zeros, punctuation and all.
Charging privileges
Who on each household may sign for charges, carried per person.
Opening balances
One balance per account from your final aging report, dated as of the day the old system was frozen.
Tee sheet rules
Booking settings and privilege rules, so the sheet opens under the policy members already know.
The newsletter archive
Past issues copied file by file and checked, not left as links to a portal that's about to close.
Stays behind
Transaction history
Past charges, statements and tee times stay in an archived export of the old system, which the club keeps.
Saved cards
Members add a card or bank account in the new app; card numbers are never copied between systems.
Passwords
Nobody's login is carried over. Members claim their account with a one-time code sent to the contact on the roster.
How it runs
How does the switch actually happen?
Seven steps, run with your general manager and controller in the room. Each has a check that has to pass before the next one starts.
- 1
Map your data
Your club provides a sample export, and together we agree which columns identify members, spouses, dependents and staff. Nothing is inferred from names or row order.
- 2
Dry run
The import runs without writing anything and reports what it would create, and every row it would reject with a reason a person can act on. Each reject is reviewed and fixed at the source.
- 3
Rehearsal
The whole sequence runs against a test environment, so the timing and the surprises are known before the real day.
- 4
Freeze and final export
On a quiet day the club stops posting to the old system for a few hours and produces the final roster and aging report.
- 5
Import into a new club
The data is written in one transaction into a club that didn't exist a minute ago. Either all of it lands, or none of it does.
- 6
Reconcile to the cent
Imported opening balances must equal the aging report's total, less any rejected lines, exactly. Debits, credits and three hand-checked members are signed off by the controller.
- 7
Configure and invite
Payments are connected, modules switched on, and staff invited and trained on their own screens. Then members are invited in batches to claim their accounts.
Reversible
Nothing is at risk until members arrive
The import never writes into a club that's in use. If anything is wrong, the new club is discarded and the import runs again from the same files. The point of no return is the first member claiming an account — and that only happens after the controller signs off the balances.
Staged
Go live one module at a time
Start with the member app, the tee sheet or the grill — whichever the club is ready for — and add the rest as staff get comfortable. On the books, the journal export to your current accounting package runs alongside the new general ledger until your accountant agrees two consecutive month-end closes.
Leave any time
Your data, always exportable
The club's administrators can export all of its data at any time, in a documented and versioned format. It's the same format the Bubs importer reads, so the export is proven to be complete.
Members' first look
A carried-forward balance members understand
The first thing a member sees after claiming their account is their balance. In Bubs it reads as a balance carried forward from the club's previous system, with the date it was struck — and a credit reads as a credit, not a number with a minus sign.
Because the detail behind that balance stays in the old system, members can question it through the same dispute flow they use for any charge, and the office answers from the archive.
- Opening balances labelled with their as-of date
- Credits shown as credits
- Members can dispute an opening balance
- Household members invited by the account holder or the office
FAQ
Switching questions
How long does switching club management software take?
The data move itself happens in one day with a short freeze. The preparation around it — agreeing the data mapping, dry runs and a rehearsal — takes a few weeks, and modules then go live in the order the club chooses.
Do we lose our members' transaction history?
History stays in an archived export of your old system, which the club keeps and can read. Bubs carries each account's opening balance with its as-of date, so members see where they stand from day one.
What if the import is wrong?
The import always creates a brand-new club in Bubs and never writes into one that is in use. If the data or the balances are wrong, that new club is discarded and the import is run again. Nothing goes live until the balances match to the cent.
Can we keep our member numbers?
Yes. Member numbers are kept exactly as your club issued them, including leading zeros, and each person in a household keeps their own.
Do we have to switch everything at once?
No. Modules are switched on in stages. On the accounting side, the journal export to your current package continues alongside the new general ledger until your accountant has agreed two consecutive month-end closes.
Can we get our data out of Bubs?
Yes, in full, at any time. The club's own administrators can export its data in a documented, versioned format — the same format the Bubs importer reads.
Plan your switch
Tell us what you run today and when your season is quietest. We'll map what moves, in what order, and how you get it all back out.