When information is one of the most valuable assets a company owns, information management becomes a critical business activity. The domain of information management includes such disciplines as data availability, storage, protection, maintenance, regulatory and policy compliance, and data migration. Today, we discuss why you should follow best practices for data migration and how STAEDEAN can assist you in completing successful data migration projects.
As companies upgrade and/or replace their ERP and other business management systems, it is clear they want to migrate data to the new solutions. In the case of an ERP implementation, which is generally a complex project with myriad moving parts and dependencies, data migration from legacy systems quickly becomes complicated and challenging. That complexity increases when it concerns multiple entities in an international environment. Data from several sources, multiple legacy systems with limited import and export capabilities, multiple lines of business, and stages in the company’s history may come in different, even obsolete formats; display various degrees of integrity; or present distinct requirements for access and protection.
How Do Companies Approach Data Migration?
Some companies follow an unstructured approach to data migration. Technologists hand-code migrations using only Microsoft Excel and .CSV files and perform them laboriously one at a time. Others use data migration solutions to simplify the process and minimize the risk and cost of migration projects. In recent years, more and more companies perform data migration following a project oriented approach, based on best-practices.
Analysts such as Bloor Research have come to a level of consensus regarding best practices for data migration. They recommend that companies ensure high data quality by using automated tools to perform data profiling and cleansing before undertaking a migration. They suggest using a proven data migration tool with a sound methodology instead of hand-coding migrations for speed and efficiency. Businesses should plan data migration as a distinct, separately resourced project that is not simply a component of an implementation. Business stakeholders, not just technical experts, need to be involved in planning and testing the migration and validating its alignment with their goals.
STAEDEAN Data Migration Studio for Microsoft Dynamics AX, one of several STAEDEAN Business Integration Solutions, enables organizations to follow best practices that lead to more successful data migrations. We built the solution with the needs of both business and technical users in mind. Designed for key users and IT consultants, STAEDEAN Data Migration Studio offers the familiar Microsoft Dynamics AX interface. Within a business process-oriented framework, Data Migration Studio provides a huge array of data migration capabilities and accommodates a great variety of data formats and sources. Model-driven, the solution facilitates highly specific, complex migrations without the need for extensive custom coding. It provides powerful modeling and scripting resources to speed multiple migrations with best-practice configurations within internationally active companies.
For mid-market and enterprise companies, Data Migration Studio can streamline data migration by performing multiple migrations from many locations, across organizational and geographical boundaries. Business stakeholders can remain closely connected with data migration projects by participating in a data migration team defined within the solution. By extending Data Migration Studio with STAEDEAN RapidValue, our business process management solution, companies can make data migration even more efficient and reliable with consistent templates and tutorials, support for customer-specific processes, and precise scoping to ensure the project follows business requirements. With all these capabilities,
Data Migration Studio clearly contributes to a lower cost of ownership for ERP systems. Please contact us for any further enquiry.
Eric Van Hofwegen
