Prior to using SAP Business One, you must update master data, such as customers and vendors, or products and transactions, in the system. In addition, you can import files from companies within SAP Business One, or from external software applications, to update certain other companies.

The mode of import depends upon considerations such as the types and the volume of data to be imported. These can include master data, for example, business partners, items, chart of accounts, and transactions such as journal entries, inventory transfer, and so on.

The company may choose to add new accounts or customer codes during system initialization. In this case, a combination of manual and automatic data migration may be appropriate.

Note that the migration of documents is affected if master data is modified during data transfer, for example, if new customer numbers are added.