How to switch to an EWD without losing records

The rule that governs everything else

Your obligation to hold fatigue records for the retention period does not transfer with you. Records made in your old system are still yours to produce, and cancelling that system does not end the obligation. Get them out before you close the account — not after.

Moving from a paper work diary

Nothing needs to be migrated — paper records stay paper records. What you need is a clean seam between the last written page and the first electronic entry.

• Keep the written diary. It stays part of your records for the full retention period, and it's your fallback if a device fails.
• Set up the operator account, nominate your Record Keeper, and invite drivers before changeover day rather than on it.
• Have each driver work through the driver manual first. The NHVR expects familiarisation before recording, and it takes about five minutes.
• Pick a changeover point at the start of a shift, not mid-shift. Finish the shift you're in on paper; start the next one in the app.
• Carry the written diary for the first week anyway. It costs nothing and it removes the pressure if something goes wrong.

Moving from another EWD

This one needs more care, because the records you're leaving behind are electronic and they're inside a system you're about to stop using.

• Export everything still inside the retention window from the old provider, in whatever format they produce for audits. Check the export actually opens before you rely on it.
• Store the export somewhere durable that isn't one person's laptop, and record where it is — the Record Keeper needs to be able to produce it.
• Set up the new account in parallel. There is no rule against holding two accounts while you cross over; there is a rule against a gap in your records.
• Nominate the correct rule set against each driver in the new system — Standard, BFM or AFM. Getting this wrong is the most common setup error, and it changes what the app counts.
• Change over at a shift boundary, driver by driver if it suits you. A staged rollout is easier to unwind than a fleet-wide cutover.
• Only then cancel the old service.

Switching to us specifically

We don't import records from another provider's system, and we'd be sceptical of anyone who claims to — a fatigue record is only as good as its chain of custody, and re-keying one into a new system doesn't preserve that. Keep your old records as your old provider produced them; start clean with us.

Setup is roughly ten minutes for an operator through the registration wizard, assuming you have your ABN and Record Keeper details to hand, and about five minutes for a driver from install to first shift. There's nothing to pay at any point, so there's no commercial reason to hurry the cutover.

After the switch

• Check the first week's records actually arrived in the portal for every driver, not just the ones who called you.
• Run an audit pack for the first fortnight. It's the fastest way to see what a regulator would see.
• Keep the old export for the rest of its retention period. Deleting it early is the mistake that shows up years later.