Data Migration

Do you find yourself saying....
“Our organisation has multiple on-premises source systems that we’re looking to move onto cloud based platforms. Our vendors are asking us to move away from these on-premises platforms as they are no longer supporting them. That leaves us needing to migrate our data from these on-premises platforms to new cloud based platforms.

We’re concerned that this could impact the continuity of our business and might be a very difficult task given the multitude of data sources within our organisation. Where should we start?”

What is Data Migration?

Put simply, data migration is the process of moving data from one location to another, one format to another, or one application to another. Generally, this is the result of introducing a new system or location for the data.

____  Once a strategic data migration plan has been established, there are a number of key initiatives that need to be met

These include:
  • Phasing of the cutover (e.g. region, category, status).
  • Business rules associated with the functionality / field differences between the systems.
  • Degree of historical data to be migrated – typically there are more data quality issues with more historical data.
  • Automated versus manual migration activities.
  • Duration of parallel run / defined success-fail criteria; and back-out criteria.
  • Resourcing & timing – requires a level of commitment and time of business areas.
  • Furthermore, organisations need to ensure the timing does not conflict with critical business periods and other key initiatives underway within the organisation.

Our Experience and What You Need To Consider

Through a range of projects, we have seen the pitfalls associated with data migrations, and have evolved an approach and framework that minimises these. We have also developed reusable routines and templates, which if appropriate, may be brought to the engagement to fast track the project.

Based on our experience, the major factor that impacts a successful data migration project is ensuring that there is sufficient up-front planning, and that preliminary analysis is undertaken. This will enable clarity of what the project will, and will not, achieve, thereby managing the expectations of all parties concerned. This approach also ensures that a realistic migration strategy and set of costings are identified up-front. With these artefacts in hand, it enables the project sponsors to be well armed when seeking corporate endorsement and resourcing.

The experience of our staff in data migration projects has taken place in a range of organisations (e.g. utilities, financial services, retail, government). The roles undertaken have extended across the full life cycle of the project – including project manager, cutover manager, planning, architecting, design, analysis, development, testing, implementation, warranty.

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IMS supports our customers in evaluating, designing and
 implementing the appropriate solution

Questions You Might Have

  • When is the best time to undertake a data migration initiative?
  • How long does it take to undertake a successful data migration project?
  • What does a successful migration look like?
  • What are the main pitfalls associated with a project of this type?
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Potential realised.