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September 10, 2019 10:00AM

How to Ensure Successful Data Migrations

Investment Management solutions are amazing, but the process to implement them may seem amazingly overwhelming. If you’ve finally settled on the IM solution that works best for your business needs, the next step toward implementation is data migration. 

Data migrations can be a headache. There are often duplicate values, missing fields, and any number of other hiccups that can drag out the process. Regardless of the method, if you have many years’ worth of data to consolidate and migrate into a conglomerate database, it’s going to take some time. Be prepared and set your IM implementation timelines based on the amount and variety of data that you have. 

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Letting someone else take over this task may help to streamline the process as well as ensure all data is moved successfully without bogging down your team with the nitty-gritty details. If you do decide to take on data migration on your own, here are some questions you’ll need to answer before you even think about moving that first piece of data:  

  1. What type of data do I need to migrate? 
  2. What type of migration do I need to perform? 
  3. What storage environment am I currently using? 
  4. How much data do I need to migrate? 
  5. What’s my timetable for this migration? 
  6. How active is the data, and how much downtime will the migration cause?
  7. What’s the right tool(s) for this migration? 

Your data migration plan 

Once you’ve answered the above questions, it’s time to make a detailed data migration plan. Here are some recommended steps to include in your master plan: extraction, transformation, cleansing, validation, loading, and a final review. Let’s go through them one by one:

Extraction 

In this step, all data is removed from its current system to get it ready for migration. If you’re planning to create different categories for your data, you’ll want to do that before you start the extraction process and then extract your data using those categories. There are several data migration tools you can use, so find the one that works best for you and your needs.

Transformation 

Once your data has been extracted, it will need to go through a transformation process to allow it to be compatible with the new system. Sometimes this step is as simple as your data software reformatting the data you have extracted.

Cleansing

During this step, you’ll eliminate duplicate or redundant data, check for corrupted information, and run tests on the data to be migrated. This step can also include replacing, modifying, and/or deleting data as required.

Validation 

Once the data has been cleansed, you’ll test and retest the data in the validation phase to make sure the data migration will ultimately provide the desired outcomes. If any errors are discovered, this is the stage to take care of them.

Loading 

This is the step you’ve been waiting and working for! At this point, your data will be migrated into the new system. 

Final review 

Once your data has been loaded, perform final tests to catch any errors that may have occurred during the loading process. This final step will ensure the integrity of the new system.

When all of these steps are complete, you’re finally ready to access your consolidated data and gain greater insights from it. Since you’ll realistically be migrating data repeatedly over time, put a process in place now that makes data migration as easy as possible in the future.

Still unsure of where to start? It’s always a good idea to engage with experts who understand your needs, goals, and the best software fit for all of the above. That’s where we come in. Contact us now to get your business moving into the future and beyond.