When implementing new solutions that require data migration, the sponsor is often faced with uncertainty of where data is coming from, what data to migrate, how to validate migrated data and to what extend audit trails can and must be migrated.
Having a good and robust migration strategy and plan in place is key to reduce the risk of being un-successful and not fully aligned on scope, data sources (data structure, quality, etc.), migration flow, time and schedule, data validation approach, data mapping and cleaning, and transformation and how data is stored during migration.
Migration main steps
During planning, the migration plan and strategy are drafted and endorsed as well as the migration mapping and specifications. During the actual migration, data is extracted from source systems and migration testing is run as an iterative process where data incompleteness and quality gaps will be handled. After successful dry runs, a full migration is done and migration UAT is executed. Once UAT is successful, the final migration to production is executed and the migration effort is verified to ensure complete migration of data and audit trail. At the end a migration report is created to provide an overview of testing activities and outcomes.
Identification (Scoping and planning)
HERAX will help you plan the migration strategy and scope. Depending on the old and new systems, the scope of data to be migrated, a plan with a clear process is created to ensure the smoothest migration possible.
Data Mapping
Mapping data sources from the old and new systems are paramount to executing a data migration. Mapping is an iterative process as it is performed alongside system configuration, data cleaning, and legacy system decommissioning, introducing changing source and target system parameters.
Data cleaning
Data migration also offers an opportunity to clean bad quality data from the source system (either in the old system, or as part of ETL) and ensure great data quality when commencing use of the new IT system.
Data Extract, Transfer and Load (ETL)
We can assist in planning and executing the ETL process in a data migration. The ETL process can vary wildly depending on the scope and type of migration and must be carefully planned.
Test and Reporting
Testing your migration process in an iterative way is a key activity, as the margin for error compounds in the complex mapping, cleaning, extracting, transforming, and loading process. We can help you ensure an optimal testing and troubleshooting procedure during test execution and verification.
For more information on this service, request our factsheet below or contact us here.
