How much migration would you like?

When a predecessor system is replaced, data migration is always a sensitive issue. Do you prefer a fresh start on the greenfield, at most (separate) root data such as addresses, or do you want to implement a full migration in which the entire history is also migrated?

It’s exciting to see what’s going on in the executive board meeting: Senior CEO Christian and Junior CEO Daniel have decided to replace their legacy system with a new CRM and ERP. They discuss how much and which of the data they want to transfer from the legacy system to the new one.

Daniel: We should start as lean as possible and not apply over any ballast into the new system. We could have the admin team or a student enter the addresses manually. We have to create the cases from scratch anyway.

Christian: When I introduced our current system years ago, we paid attention to well-structured data right from the start. We were disciplined in entering all the activities of the contacts! This customer history is of enormous value. We should not only take care of this data, but also transfer it to the new system.

Daniel: Yes, I see the value of this data! But keep in mind that in every “grown” address database there are data bodies and possibly duplicates that we should definitely identify and eliminate. This is a work that should not be underestimated. And because only we know our customers and potential customers, only we can do it. No one can take this work from us! This requires a time-consuming, manual clean-up in the legacy system.

Christian: Yes, but the hour is worth it. And there is also a lot of experience in the mandate data. A sophisticated rate system, all the data of our employees. I am clearly in favour of a full migration. This way we have the complete history in the new system and thus also the evaluations available, without any artificial effective date.

Daniel: But why do we still need the expenses of 1995? At the same time, I fear that we cannot afford such an expensive full migration.

Christian: It can’t be that expensive. After all, we’re not the first company that wants to do such a migration. Ben’t that standard?

Daniel: No, because for every piece of information, e.g. postal code ZIP code on an address, the currency on the mandate in case the degree of employment of employment level employee, the data record from the predecessor system employee has to “arrival” at the correct place location in the new system.

Christian: Well, we can commission the ERP experts to create a data mapping!

Daniel: Yes, I agree. But what we also have to consider is that in the case of a full migration we have to look closely at the trial migrations. Such migrations are complex and we have to be clear about what controls we are doing (e.g. sum of open services). In any case, this means hours on our side. And not everyone in our company can do this. Ideally, this is an experienced manager who knows our company and processes inside out, can check the plausibility of the migrated data and is keen to find errors. I can’t think of a better person than you.

Christian: Thank you for the compliment. A big advantage is that I know the legacy system very well. We get to the legacy data and it is consistent, there are no links to Nirvana.

Daniel: Yes! By the way, what we have to make sure one way or another is that we define a effective date in time for the “sharp” transition from the old to the new system. There will be a short period of time in which we cannot update data. After that, we have to enforce that our employees only enter and update data in the new system.

Christian: Yes, yes, but it is a bit early for that. Let us now move on to the other items on the agenda...

We can see that migration is not just a GL-filling issue. Every migration is multifaceted and not trivial. It is a trade-off between as automated as possible, at a high price, and less automated or manual migration, with little cost. The pros and cons are always discussed and a decision is finally made. This is usually a compromise. This optimum defined for the respective company then has to be implemented. Vertec has a plan for these cases and, above all, solid experience in replacing legacy systems with corresponding migration of customer data.

How do you think Christian and Daniel will decide?

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