These are answers to questions submitted by attendees on the September 11 webinar, Moving From a Local Server to HawkSoft 6. You can listen to the recording here.
Resources
Migration/Sandbox/Timelines:- End of Support overview (schedule your migration link, end of support deadlines)
- Differences between local server and HawkSoft 6
- Migration resource page (checklists, FAQs, process overview for migrating agencies)
HawkSoft 6 Help Resources
- Tasks learning module overview and in-depth help articles with videos
- Log notes learning module overview and in-depth help articles with videos
- All learning module training courses for HawkSoft 6 (courses by agency role)
Who to contact with questions
- In Migration/Sandbox: Reach out to your Migration Specialist
- Live on HawkSoft 6: Contact Product Support
See all upcoming HawkSoft 6 Webinars and past recordings and Help resources
Questions & Answers
Jump Links to:
Pricing
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What is the cost difference between HawkSoft 5 and 6?
A. Please see this page for information on billing changes.
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For pricing, does the "base fee" still get charged?
A. Yes, there is no change to the base fee.
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I understand the monthly cost, but are there additional costs for an agency to switch over and migrate to HawkSoft 6?
A. No there are no additional costs to migrate your data to HawkSoft 6.
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I have one E-Signature per Seat that the whole office uses. Will the one license charge of $39.00 stay the same or will $39 be charged per user on the HS 6 version?
A. Add-on pricing is not changing with regards to migrations, so the E-signature charge you have today will remain the same after you migrate to HawkSoft. Please reach out to our billing team at billing@hawksoft.com for additional questions about pricing. -
If we decide to keep HawkSoft 5 for a while, without support, will we continue to be charged monthly?
A. Yes. Your subscription is for the usage of the software and you will continue to be billed.
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My agency is owned by a credit union. Our invoices are paid by our accounting department and are currently not set up for ACH billing. Is there a way around this for us?
A. We suggest reaching out to our billing department at billing@hawksoft.com to discuss.
Migration/Sandbox/Training
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How much support will be needed from my IT team in order to make the conversion and what things will I need to get them to do to support the conversion? I compete with other areas of our organization for IT support.
A. This can be addressed in the first meeting you set up with your Migration Specialist. It’s a consultative type meeting. Your Migration Specialist will get an understanding of your agency’s specific situation and will be able to guide accordingly.
- How long is the sandbox period? Is the sandbox only available for 2 weeks or can it be extended some? Is it possible to sync early and explore the online version sand box and sync again later after cleaning the file?
A. The standard time in the sandbox (testing environment) is 2 weeks. However, if your agency has some extenuating circumstances, your migration specialist can work with you to see if accommodations can be made. We recommend scheduling your sandbox sooner than later, so you have ample time to test; otherwise, extensions may not be able to be accommodated as we get closer to the January 31 deadline.
- Does the sandbox 2 weeks start as soon as we sync? Or can we sync data, explore HawkSoft 6, and then we start our sandbox?
A. The sync is to your sandbox, so that timeframe starts once you have your sandbox installed.
- While in the sandbox will we need to work in both HawkSoft 5 and HawkSoft 6, or work in HawkSoft 5 and just explore around in HawkSoft 6 to get used to it?
A. HawkSoft 5 will still be your source of truth and the only place where "real" changes need to be made. There will be a final data migration to capture any changes made during the sandbox period. But we encourage you to practice doing each type of workflow from HawkSoft 5 in the sandbox at least once just to get a feel for it! -
What does NOT transfer over to the Sandbox? The reports? Our current templates? Partner set up? Drag and drop?
A. While client and policy data, attachments, and many settings will be migrated, the agency will need to set up or configure some items and settings again in HawkSoft 6.
Reporting was reimagined from the ground up, so reports and reporting templates do not transfer over. There is documentation on how to set up and use the new reports, which will help make this transition easier. The trade-off is much faster reports with more flexibility.
Due to the differences in the new accounting and commission workflows, historical transactions will not be migrated, but can continue to be accessed in your previous database. Some settings/configuration in these areas will be migrated (learn more about accounting data migration and commission data migration).
Other areas may need to be reviewed and reconfigured if necessary after migrating (like carrier setup, download task rules, user signatures, etc). Your migration specialist will provide information and instructions on this.
For Partner integrations, the migration team assists in ensuring that each active API integration is re-enabled as you transition from HawkSoft 5 to HawkSoft 6. All API Partners that can integrate with HawkSoft 5 today also integrate successfully with agencies on HawkSoft 6.
Your migration specialist will review these details when you are in the sandbox and preparing to migrate. -
Did you say all reporting starts over? We will be able to see reports of our history?
A. Due to the new setup of reports, saved reports cannot come over to HawkSoft 6. But because you are locally hosted today, you will have access to all of your HawkSoft 5 reports that you can compare to the reports in HawkSoft 6. But you should be able to run the reports you used previously in our new Quick Reports system in HawkSoft 6, which has over 30 premade reports and allows you to customize your own.
We are in the middle of development for Historical Reporting for HawkSoft 6! We anticipate its release later this year. It will not be available in HawkSoft 5. -
With the differences in HawkSoft 6 from HawkSoft 5, are there any options for training similar to the training tailored specific to our agency like when we originally started with HawkSoft?
A. While individual training is not feasible for all agencies, we do have many online training courses, videos, and webinars that provide excellent training on the new workflows.
Please see this page for more information on available training resources. -
I know you get to have the sandbox for a little bit before going live. And there is some training built in there. But do we get some one-on-one time with a trainer? We have watched the existing videos and just know there are specific items we will need a human to go over with us.
A. While in person training is not feasible for all agencies, our migration team is there to help assist your agency. We encourage you to watch the videos and test your agency’s specific workflows as much as you can while in the sandbox. Create a list of questions to review with your migration specialist during your final meeting. After migration, our Product Support team is readily available to assist you with outstanding questions.
Features/QuickBooks
- Besides the fact that this is different than HawkSoft 5, what has given agencies the most of headaches?
A. Task Center often raises questions, as it replaced Suspenses and is a more robust system. While it takes some time to learn, it is becoming agencies' favorite feature after they’ve used it for 3-6 months. We will also be enhancing it with "stacked Tasks," which will automatically generate the next task.
Trust Accounting has been completely reimagined, so it can be a longer learning curve for many. - Although you say unlimited online file storage [on the new cloud platform], how long will this be a reality? More and more companies are charging us more to store our data. Also, how will data breach be used and getting our data back - will we be able to maintain our own backup as well on HawkSoft 6?
A. It is hard to predict the future. Our intent is not to change this. If certain agencies are outliers and use our system in a manner that it is not designed, our intent is to have discussions with those individual agencies and not require all agencies to cover those additional costs.
Please see this page for information on data security and backups.
- If we decide to stay on HawkSoft 5, would I lose the export link that's installed for QuickBooks Online?
A. No, this will still be available. - Will we be required to go cloud with QuickBooks and Outlook to comply with Integrations with those software's?
A. The QuickBooks and Outlook integrations will remain operable for both Desktop and Online versions whether you stay on HawkSoft 5 or HawkSoft 6. However, we cannot guarantee functionality of those integrations on HawkSoft 5 after the end of support date (6/30/26) since HawkSoft will no longer make updates to support changes made by those third parties. On HawkSoft 6, we will continue to make updates to ensure compatibility.
- Once migrated to HawkSoft 6 will our QuickBooks and Outlook local versions need to be cloud versions as well in order to integrate with Hawksoft 6?
A. Our QuickBooks Online integration is phenomenal. While we do currently still support QuickBooks Desktop, we encourage you to consider going online because of the time savings and efficiencies. The classic Outlook is still fully supported, as well as the new Outlook; however, the new Outlook is still in development so there are some things that are not fully supported yet. As Microsoft continues to release things, we will continue to update our integration. - Will HawkSoft 6 work with on premises QuickBooks Enterprise (i.e. QuickBooks Desktop) or the old Outlook? Will HawkSoft 6 also work with on premises PBX systems for call pop up?
A. Yes, it continues to work the same as it did in HawkSoft 5. - I have to complete annual vendor management due diligence. Currently it is limited for HawkSoft because the data is stored locally. If we store the data on the cloud, I will need more due diligence documents from HawkSoft. Will you be able to supply a due diligence package about financials and security?
A. Yes, send your request to support@hawksoft.com and they will route this to the right team. We will have you sign an NDA to start off that process.
- For those of us using HawkSoft texting, is there any way to receive a push notification or e-mail so we know a text came in even if we are not logged in to HawkSoft?
A. This isn't currently available in HawkSoft 5 or HawkSoft 6. All new features are being added only to HawkSoft 6, so if this update is made in the future, it will be in HawkSoft 6.
