Should you move from Greentree to MYOB Acumatica?

Sometimes the answer is no.

If MYOB Greentree is doing what your business needs, you are on a current version, your customisations are documented, and your reporting works, there is no good reason to move. Changing ERP is expensive and disruptive, and doing it because a system feels old rather than because it is holding you back is a poor trade.

The reasons that do justify moving are usually specific: infrastructure you no longer want to own, customisations nobody understands, people who cannot get to their own numbers, or capability the business now needs and cannot get.

Avanza Solutions and the Verde Greentree practice are part of the same group. So this page is written to help you work out which situation you are in, rather than to move you along.

Work it out for yourself

Book a conversation

When staying is the right answer

Work through these honestly. If most are true, the case for moving is weak and you should spend the money elsewhere.

Greentree does what you need.
Not everything you might one day want. What you need.

You are on a currently supported version
and upgrades have been manageable.

Your customisations are documented,
and more than one person understands them.

Reporting works
and the people who need numbers can get them.

Your infrastructure is sound,
or it is somebody else's problem under a hosting arrangement you are happy with.

Nothing on the horizon
is about to change the shape of the business.

If that describes you, the useful next step is not a migration conversation. It is a review of what you are currently paying for and whether you are getting the value from what you already own. Talk to whoever supports your Greentree.

When moving starts to make sense

The signals that actually justify the disruption are more specific than "the system is old".

The infrastructure question has arrived.
A server due for replacement, a hosting contract up for renewal, or an IT team you would rather not have maintaining a database. Hardware decisions force ERP decisions.

Nobody understands the customisations any more.
Not a migration problem. A risk you are carrying today. Migration just makes it visible.

Licensing is rationing information.
When an extra user costs enough that people who should see their own numbers cannot, the system has started shaping the organisation rather than serving it.

The business changed shape.
New entities, new locations, a different operating model, a new compliance obligation, or an acquisition.

Reporting has moved into spreadsheets.
If the numbers that matter are assembled outside the system every month, you are already running two systems. One of them just is not licensed.

One of these on its own is rarely enough. Three or four together usually is.

THE PRACTICAL ANSWER

What moving from Greentree actually involves

What can be said generally, and holds for any migration of this kind:

Your customisations sort into four groups

RETIRE

Nothing depends on them any more.

REPLACE

Standard functionality does it now and did not when they were built.

REDESIGN

The requirement is real but the way it was implemented cannot survive the move.

REBUILD

Genuinely specific to your business. Almost always the smallest group.

The exercise of finding out which is which is worth doing whether or not you migrate.

History is a choice, not a given

How much transaction history comes across affects both cost and performance. Most organisations bring balances and a defined period of detail, then either archive the rest or keep read-only access. Agree that arrangement, and its cost, before you give notice on anything.

Your own team carries the heaviest load at two points

Data cleansing and opening balance sign-off, and user acceptance testing. Both land on finance. Any supplier should give you that in days by role and phase before you sign.

WHY THIS IS DIFFERENT HERE

The part that makes Verde Group unusual

The most common worry in any ERP migration is that the new partner will not understand a system they did not build, and that things will be lost in the handover because nobody on the new side knows what the old one was doing or why.

Within Verde Group, there is no handover to a stranger.

The people who have supported Greentree in New Zealand and the people who would implement MYOB Acumatica work for the same organisation.

Avanza Solutions implements MYOB Acumatica and is part of Verde Group, which also supports MYOB Greentree customers in New Zealand. We have an interest in this decision and we would rather say so than pretend otherwise. The tools in our migration toolkit are published so you can reach your own conclusion, including the conclusion that you should stay where you are.

If Greentree is still the right answer for you, the Verde Greentree practice continues to support it. That is not a holding position while you make up your mind. It is a practice with its own customers and its own future.

IF YOU ARE WEIGHING IT UP

What to do next

Two things, and neither of them requires talking to us.

Work out what your current setup actually costs you each year

Not just licence and maintenance. Infrastructure, external support, upgrade projects annualised, and the staff time going into manual work and spreadsheet reporting. Most organisations have never put a number on it, and it is the number that decides the question.

Catalogue what has been built on top of Greentree over the years

Customisations, integrations and reports, with who uses each one and whether anyone still understands it. Organisations that do this consistently find a meaningful part of what they assumed they would carry forward does not need to move at all.

Both are free tools in our ERP Migration Toolkit, and you can complete them without involving anyone.

Open the ERP migration Toolkit

QUESTIONS

The ones people ask first

Should we move from Greentree to MYOB Acumatica?

Not necessarily. If Greentree does what your business needs, you are on a supported version, your customisations are documented and your reporting works, staying is a legitimate and often correct decision. The reasons that justify moving are usually specific: infrastructure you no longer want to own, customisations nobody understands, licensing that stops people seeing their own numbers, or capability the business now needs and cannot get.

Is Greentree being discontinued?

For anything about the product roadmap, MYOB is the authoritative source and you should ask them or your partner directly rather than rely on third-party commentary. What we can say is that Verde Group continues to support Greentree customers in New Zealand.

What happens to our Greentree customisations if we migrate?

They sort into four groups: retired because nothing depends on them any more, replaced by standard functionality that did not exist when they were built, redesigned because the implementation method cannot survive the move, and rebuilt because they encode something specific to your business.

The last group is usually smaller than expected, and cataloguing them is worth doing whether or not you migrate.

Can we keep our Greentree data and history?

You choose how much comes across. Most organisations migrate balances and a defined period of transaction history, then archive the remainder or retain read-only access to the old system.

Agree the retention arrangement and what it costs before you give notice on anything, because the terms are rarely better afterwards.

Who can help us migrate from Greentree in New Zealand?

Avanza Solutions implements MYOB Acumatica and is part of Verde Group, which also supports Greentree customers. That means the people who understand your current system and the people who would implement the new one work for the same organisation, which removes the usual handover risk. Other partners are available and it is reasonable to talk to more than one.

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