Switching Dealer Management Systems (DMS) is one of the most painful — and risky — transitions a dealership can go through. As PartsEdge continues to assist more clients with these migrations, we’ve seen the good, the bad, and the downright frustrating. In our latest webinar, we broke down the most common pitfalls, shared real-world stories, and offered actionable advice to help dealerships navigate DMS conversions with confidence.
Here’s a recap of what we covered:
Whether you're moving from CDK to Reynolds, Reynolds to Tekion, or any other combination, one truth remains: you’re being thrown into an entirely new system that speaks a completely different language. As Chuck Hartle put it, "It’s like moving from the United States to Beijing, China."
Unfortunately, DMS vendors often under-deliver when it comes to training and system setup, leaving parts managers scrambling to figure things out while trying to keep daily operations running.
We’ve seen migrations where:
Sources copy over as shells. No phase-in/phase-out criteria. No day supply. Just empty placeholders.
Pricing structures don’t align. Accessories may suddenly lose their pricing rules.
Demand history is incomplete or missing entirely. Critical fields like "Months No Receipt" often get skipped, wreaking havoc on phase-in/phase-out logic.
Inventory values don’t match. We've seen multi-million dollar inventories come up thousands of dollars short after a migration.
Special orders carry over incorrectly. We've seen stores stuck with orders that are 4-6 years old because there was no cleanup prior to migration.
Before your migration begins, run reports and save all of your current data, including:
Source setups with phase-in/phase-out criteria
Day supply settings
Matrix pricing tables
Price codes and special pricing
Source accounting setups
A full detailed inventory pad
"Close enough" is not good enough. Your inventory value should match exactly after migration — don’t settle for a $6,000 discrepancy on a $1.4M inventory.
Once the new system is live:
Match your inventory totals dollar for dollar.
Verify demand history (especially receipt dates) is fully converted.
Review special order aging.
Check phase-in/phase-out logic by running a stock order.
Confirm reporting is accurate.
Validate source accounting alignment.
DMS vendors will often try to minimize or dismiss missing data. Don’t let them. Push for complete data conversions — especially when it comes to demand history and parts receipts. Missing this data will cause your obsolescence trends to spike unexpectedly.
Inaccurate inventory values
Obsolescence growth due to missing demand history
Communication failures with manufacturers (delays in RIM orders, for example)
Costly downtime for parts and service
Burnt-out team members — some parts managers have even left dealerships rather than deal with poor migrations
As Chuck said: “I’ve never heard anybody say, ‘that migration was seamless.’ But you can absolutely reduce the pain by being proactive, capturing your data, and holding vendors accountable.”
Every DMS system has strengths and weaknesses. The more prepared you are upfront, the faster you can adapt your business processes and minimize disruptions.