What Happens to Assemblies and Bills of Materials When You Move From QuickBooks Desktop to Intuit Enterprise Suite

This guide covers what happens to manufacturing data in the move, not whether to make it. For that decision, see QuickBooks Desktop Enterprise vs Intuit Enterprise Suite. Intuit Enterprise Suite has its own move tool, separate from the route in how to migrate QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online.

Before you start

• The move comes after you sign an Intuit Enterprise Suite contract. Intuit's move tool looks for that contract when you sign in.
• Update each company file first. Intuit's move article asks for Pro, Premier or Enterprise 2023 at Release 17 or higher, or 2024 at Release 16 or higher.
• Intuit discontinued version 2023 (23.0) as of May 31, 2026.
• If a provider hosts your file, Intuit's walkthrough says to make a local backup and restore it to your own computer first.
• Assemblies are in QuickBooks Desktop Premier, Enterprise and Accountant.
• Intuit's help for Intuit Enterprise Suite says manufacturing features are currently available there. If you later downgrade to a plan without them, assemblies stay as regular inventory items.

For how assemblies work on the Desktop side, see how to set up a bill of materials and build assemblies.

How Desktop assembly data arrives

Intuit's article doesn't say what happens to the subassembly lines on a multi-level bill during the move. Our suggestion: raise your multi-level bills of materials with Intuit before you send the file.

Step 1: Find assemblies that use subassemblies

Steps 1 and 2 are our suggestions, built from Intuit's Desktop help. Intuit's move articles don't ask for them. In Desktop, a subassembly is an assembly item used as a component on another bill of materials. We found no Intuit help article that lists them in one report, so we suggest checking each assembly.

1. 1Go to Lists > Item List and open each Inventory Assembly item.
2. 2Read its Bill of Materials lines and note any line that is itself an assembly.
3. 3List each multi-level assembly with its components at every level.
4. 4Raise each one with Intuit before the move, and ask how it will look in Intuit Enterprise Suite.

In Desktop, Build Assemblies can build the lower levels for you with Automatically build required subassemblies. Intuit Enterprise Suite's manufacturing help describes no such option.

Step 2: Review pending builds

Intuit says every pending build arrives as a Planned manufacturing order. We suggest reviewing them first, so only real production plans come across.

1. 1Go to Reports > Inventory > Pending Builds.
2. 2Double-click a build whose parts are in stock, select Remove Pending Status, then Build & Close.
3. 3For the rest, decide whether each one is still a real production plan.
4. 4Run Reports > Inventory > Inventory Stock Status by Item and read the For Assemblies column. It shows component stock tied up in pending builds.

Step 3: Start the move from QuickBooks Desktop

1. 1Open the company file in QuickBooks Desktop.
2. 2From the top menu, select Intuit Enterprise Suite, then Initiate upgrade process.
3. 3Sign in with your Intuit account. The tool finds your Intuit Enterprise Suite contract.
4. 4Match each company file to its parent or child entity in Intuit Enterprise Suite, then select Let's Begin.
5. 5Work through the checklist. Complete All handles most batch-actionable tasks in one go. Hygiene tasks open the spot in Desktop where you fix them.
6. 6Select Next, review the terms and conditions, then select Send to Intuit. Repeat for each other company file.

The tool backs up the company file before it changes anything. Intuit says you'll get an email when the upgrade is done, normally within 2 to 5 days.

Step 4: Check manufacturing data after the move

1. 1Go to the Inventory app and select Manufacturing. Check that former pending builds show as Planned and finished builds as Completed.
2. 2Open a Completed order's Build assembly link, then select View transaction journal to see the accounting entries.
3. 3Go to All apps > Sales & Get Paid > Products & services. Edit an assembly and select View/edit bill of materials.
4. 4Compare each bill with your Desktop list from Step 1, starting with the multi-level ones.

How manufacturing orders work in Intuit Enterprise Suite

• An order starts as Planned, can be marked In Progress, and becomes Completed when you save the build.
• Planned and In Progress orders don't affect your financial accounts. The Build assembly transaction posts the entries when you complete the build.
• Components on open orders count in a quantity on MO field in your products list and reports.
• A Shortage report lists missing components, counting other open manufacturing and sales orders that use them.
• Estimated cost uses each component's default purchase cost. Actual cost uses your inventory valuation method for inventory items, and the rates you enter for services and non-inventory items.
• Editing a bill of materials changes new manufacturing orders only. You can't start an order without one.

Edge cases

• Deleting a Completed manufacturing order also deletes its Build assembly transaction and reverses the inventory and accounting entries.
• Deleting only the Build assembly transaction sends the order back to In Progress.
• If you downgrade to a plan without manufacturing, bills of materials, manufacturing orders and builds become view-only.
• If you run Desktop Payroll, Intuit's walkthrough asks during the move whether to bring it.

Where QuickBooks Desktop leaves the work to you

• We found no Intuit help article with a single report of multi-level bills of materials, so someone checks each assembly by hand.
• Pending builds sit until someone clears them, and each one comes across as a Planned order.
• Intuit's move checklist covers data cleanup. Deciding how multi-level products will be built afterward is up to you.
• Intuit's move articles describe no check of bills of materials after the move, so comparing them is up to you.

How Logistify fits

Logistify doesn't migrate company files or set up bills of materials. Our post on the QuickBooks Desktop migration readiness audit covers what to check before you decide. If you stay on QuickBooks Desktop, the Sales Order Service enters customer orders into it as sales orders, with a person reviewing exceptions.