Ensure a successful data migration project

1. Use an experienced partner

A successful data migration project can revolutionise and streamline your business operations and efficiency. But by cutting corners and using anything other than an expert will cost you time, money and inconvenience.

2. Get the experts involved at an early stage

Your data migration project is a big deal. Time and effort should be put into creating an initial brief as well as agreeing a budget. This will ensure the best possible management, and outcome, of your project.

3. Understand your data

Get your data right, from the beginning. By having a clear understanding of the purpose of your data, you’ll ensure that relevant information is captured from the outset and irrelevant data is not transferred.

4. Budget correctly

Just like all other business initiatives, you need to justify the return on investment.Data migration should be no exception.

5. Plan

This is the most important part of a data migration project and must be done properly before the process begins. This will reduce developer work, save money and allow you to decide the full scope of the project.

6. Resource

Get your resource right, internally and externally, and make sure all relevant areas of the business are aware that their input may be needed, for example Finance, Marketing and Senior Management.

7. Future proof your system

What you need from your system now may change radically in the future. Allow the flexibility for different scenarios, for example – daily batch to multiple-day micro batch integration with message queues or real-time change-data capture for continuous transformation and update.

8. Clean your data and keep it clean

Clean data saves time and money. Data migration is the ideal opportunity to conduct data cleansing and then put the relevant data protocol in place to keep it clean.

9. Use data migration as a reason for change

This is the ideal time to decide what your business actually needs – with the correct business rules and without those historic work arounds .The likelihood is that the new system will be different so train staff and make sure they utilise it correctly.

10. Space

Establish the scalability of the data migration across the lifetime of its usage. This should include an understanding of the volumes now and in the future.