What can come over from Heartland
Every restaurant is different, so treat this as a planning map, not a promise. Where a row says “Confirm with your rep,” we could not verify it on a primary Shift4 source.
| What | How it usually moves | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Menu items and prices | Rebuild by hand | Capture groups, items, prices, and routing from exports and screens, then load them through Shift4 menu programming. |
| Modifiers (add-ons and choices) | Rebuild by hand | Capture each modifier group with its rules (required, minimum, maximum) and the items it attaches to. |
| Employees, jobs, and permissions | Rebuild by hand | Heartland screens may not show PINs or exact pay rates. Gather them from the owner and payroll, and approve each permission. |
| Customer records | Confirm with your rep | Customer data moves only with your consent and a scope you approve. Ask your rep what can be loaded. |
| Gift card balances | Confirm with your rep | Balances are money you still owe customers. Export the balance report and ask your rep whether and how they carry over. |
| Loyalty points | Confirm with your rep | Points programs rarely map one for one. Decide how existing points are honored and confirm what can move. |
| Reporting history | Export and keep a copy | Past sales and tax reports stay with the old system. Export the ones you need for taxes and audits. |
Menu items and prices
Rebuild by hand
Capture groups, items, prices, and routing from exports and screens, then load them through Shift4 menu programming.
Modifiers (add-ons and choices)
Rebuild by hand
Capture each modifier group with its rules (required, minimum, maximum) and the items it attaches to.
Employees, jobs, and permissions
Rebuild by hand
Heartland screens may not show PINs or exact pay rates. Gather them from the owner and payroll, and approve each permission.
Customer records
Confirm with your rep
Customer data moves only with your consent and a scope you approve. Ask your rep what can be loaded.
Gift card balances
Confirm with your rep
Balances are money you still owe customers. Export the balance report and ask your rep whether and how they carry over.
Loyalty points
Confirm with your rep
Points programs rarely map one for one. Decide how existing points are honored and confirm what can move.
Reporting history
Export and keep a copy
Past sales and tax reports stay with the old system. Export the ones you need for taxes and audits.
What to gather before you switch
- Your contract end date and any early termination fee in the current agreement
- A recent processing statement (the monthly bill from your card processor)
- Who owns the hardware: bought outright, leased, or financed, and what happens to it if you leave
- Every integration in use: accounting, payroll, reservations, delivery apps, and loyalty
- Your online ordering setup and the web addresses customers use today
- Gift card liability: the total balance customers still hold, and how it is tracked
- The full tax table: each tax name, rate, what it applies to, and any room or order-type rules
- Every job, pay rate, and permission profile, from payroll if the register does not show them
- Screenshots of settings that do not export, such as dayparts, rooms, and printer routing
Typical timeline from Heartland (planning estimate, varies by setup)
Step 1. Gather your records: About 1 week
Exports, screenshots, statements, and contract dates. Varies with how organized they are.
Step 2. Map and approve: 1 to 2 weeks
Match old settings to the new system and approve taxes, pay rates, permissions, and prices. Varies with menu size.
Step 3. Configure and test: 1 to 2 weeks
Shift4 programs the system, then you run test tickets, payments, printers, and reports. Varies with Shift4 scheduling and hardware delivery.
Step 4. Parallel run: A few days to 1 week
Run slower shifts on the new system while the old one stays available. Varies.
Step 5. Cutover day: 1 day
Pick a slow day, freeze changes in the old system, and switch. Plan for hiccups.
Step 6. First weeks live: 2 to 4 weeks
Watch reports, tips, and payouts against the old system and fix gaps. Varies.
Because most records are captured by hand, expect the gather and map steps to take more time than for a supported source.
These ranges are Norvet planning estimates, not Shift4 commitments. Your timeline depends on Shift4 scheduling, hardware delivery, your menu size, and how quickly decisions get made.
Risks and how to reduce them
Something does not work on the first busy night
Run a parallel period on slow shifts, keep the old system available until the new one is accepted, and write down who to call.
Cutover day goes badly
Pick a slow day, freeze menu changes the day before, and have the old system export ready as a fallback.
Staff are not ready
Train the people who use the register on their real jobs, such as server, bartender, and manager, before the cutover date.
Gift card and card-on-file balances get stranded
Get the balance reports first, decide how each balance is honored, and confirm with Shift4 what can move before you cancel anything.
Specific to this switch
A room-level tax setting shows that taxes exist, not what they are. Wrong tax rules are expensive, so test every tax case before go-live.
Who this switch tends to suit, and who it does not
Business types that often fit: Full service, Bar, Counter service, Multi-unit. This is a starting point, not a verdict. A statement review tells you more.
Often a good fit
- Restaurants with an organized owner or manager who can document taxes, jobs, and routing, and who plan the project with time to spare.
- Full-service and bar operations that want the new setup reviewed field by field rather than copied blindly.
- Owners whose Heartland agreement is ending and who can schedule the move for a slow season.
Probably not a fit if
- You need to switch in days. A manual rebuild needs room for review and testing.
- Nobody can document your tax rules and pay structure.
- A long remaining term or large early termination fee makes now the wrong time.
What needs to be compared before you leave Heartland
A POS switch is a business-process migration. The safe sequence is source capture, field mapping, owner approval, target configuration, testing, cutover, and acceptance. Do not cancel the source system until the records and workflows you need have been accounted for.
- Menu groups, items, modifiers, revenue classes, and tax classes
- Employees, jobs, pay rates, permissions, and report access
- Rooms, tables, sections, printers, and KDS routing
- Discounts, gratuities, cash handling, tips, refunds, and closeout
- Online ordering, delivery, payroll, accounting, loyalty, and gift cards
Export this before canceling Heartland
- Every available Heartland export
- Screenshots of settings that do not export cleanly
- Employee / job / permission records
- Menu, modifier, tax, and pricing records
- Table / room layout and printer-routing references
- Historical financial and settlement reports
Watch-outs
Do not assume Heartland fields map one-for-one into Shift4 objects.
Room-level tax flags do not by themselves document the actual tax rules to rebuild.
Employee roles should not be translated into broad admin access without owner approval.
Migration counts should reconcile source → canonical data → target configuration before go-live.
Conversion-path note
Current Norvet procedure is manual extraction + reconciliation unless Shift4 provides written confirmation of a supported Heartland conversion for the merchant.
Questions owners ask about leaving Heartland
Does Shift4 convert Heartland data automatically?
In the onboarding material we reviewed, Heartland was not named as a conversion source. Unless Shift4 confirms otherwise in writing for your restaurant, treat it as a manual rebuild.
What has to be rebuilt by hand when leaving Heartland?
Plan on taxes, employee jobs and pay rates, permissions, dayparts, rooms and tables, printer and kitchen routing, and discounts. Menu items can often be taken from exports, then reviewed.
How do I check that nothing was lost?
Count records on both sides (employees, items, modifier groups, taxes), then run test tickets that cover food, drinks, and tax cases. Matching totals alone does not prove each record is right.
Is there a trial period if I switch to SkyTab?
Trial periods and agreement lengths can vary by offer and by partner. Ask your rep to confirm the trial period and the agreement length in writing before you sign, and ask what it costs to leave early.
Who does what
Norvet is a Trident Merchant Solutions partner. Trident partners with Shift4 (the parent company of SkyTab). Shift4 provides SkyTab and the card processing, and Shift4 programs and installs the system. Norvet helps gather and check your information and coordinates with the partner team.
Also useful: the restaurant processing cost calculator and the POS lock-in test.
Sources
- Norvet POS Migration Extraction Playbook, reviewed 2026-09-13 (Shift4 onboarding form conversion sources)
- Norvet research on Shift4 Dine, 2026-10-07 (pages on shift4.com were not machine-readable that day, so unconfirmed items are marked)
Last reviewed 2026-10-11.