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HomeResourcesDataMigrationChecklist

DataMigrationChecklist
Datamigrations,sometimesreferredtoasdataconversions,areacommon,ifnotnecessary
stepinthegrowthofanynonprofitorganization.Bothdonordataandprogramoutcomes
dataexpandexponentiallyasthenonprofitgrows.

Furthermore,datamigrationsarenotoriousforcreatingasmanyproblemsastheysolve.

Why?Everythingfromunrealisticexpectationstoalackofplanninganddocumentationto

thepealingbackoftheonionwherethemoreworkthatyoudo,themoreissuesyoufind
withthedata.

Asuccessfuldatamigrationdependsonplanning,realisticexpectations,experience,and
flexibilityduringtheprocess.Planningwriteitdownlikeadatamigrationchecklist.

Rememberthissimplerule:youcanttakeallofyourdatawithyoutothenewsystem,nor
shouldyouwantto.

Tohelpyouwithyourplan,startwithagooddatamigrationchecklist.Heresone.
Premigrationplanning6steps:
1.

Team

Establishamigrationmanagementteam.Includekeystakeholders(ex.marketing,
fundraising,leadership).Inparticular,includetheperson(s)responsiblefor

configurationmanagementofthenewsystem,ifthisisnotthesameperson(s)

managingthedatamigration.
2.

Plan

Documentyourplanandincludeaflexibleschedule.Identifythetoughdecisions

upfrontandaddressthem.Forexample,howmuchdatacleaningisrequiredwithyour
migration,andwhenshouldthatcleaningoccur?Doyouhavelegacyfieldsthatneed
tobeparsed(i.e.,separatedintomorethanonedatafield)?Looktoyourdata
governancepoliciesforhelp.
3.

Establishsecurityprotocols

Makesureeveryoneunderstandsthegroundrules.Createnewlogincredentialsfor
thirdpartiesworkingwithyoursystems.Whocanaccessthedata,wherecanitbe

stored,andwhatflexibilitydoesaconsultantorCRMvendorhaveinworkingwithyour
data?
4.

Prioritize

Prioritizethereasonswhyyouaremigrating.Forexample,ifyouaremovingtoanew
CRMsysteminordertosupportexpandedfundraisingcampaigns,thenfocusonthe

featuresandbenefitsofworkingwithnewdatainthenewsystemoverthestressof
tryingcrammoreofyourpoorlyformattedorincompletelegacydatafromyourold
system.
5.

Definestandards

Definethestandardsforasuccessfulmigration.Mostimportantly,determinewhat

datashouldandshouldnotbemigrated.Forexample,inaCRMdatamigration,do

youwanttomigratearecordthathasnotbeeneditedin5years?10years?Another
example,howwillyouhandlefileattachments?
6.

Writeatestplan

Developatestplantodetermineifyouaremeetingthestandardsforsuccess.Donot
waituntilafterthemigrationhasbeenattemptedtofigureouthowyouwillmeasure

success.Largerdatamigrationsusuallybenefitfromindependentvalidationresources,
includingsoftwareifyouneedthem,linethemupnow.

Migrationtasks14steps:
1.

Analyzethedata,revisetheplan

Nodatamigrationprojectgetsveryfarwithoutathoroughdataanalysis.Thiswill

determinethestartingpointforyourdataquality,uncoverpotentialproblems,and
eitheraffirmtheoriginalscheduleandplanorcausethemtoberevised.
2.

Mapthedata

Mapthedataschemafromthelegacydatabasetothedataschemainthenewsystem
database.Identifyinconsistencies,missingfields,andfieldsrequiringeither

consolidation,conversionorparsing.Thisisatimeconsumingstepthatgetsshort

changedwhenorganizationsareinarushtocompletethemigration.Forexample,if

youaremigratingfromanoutofdatedonordatabasetoanewCRM,thedifferences
indataschemascanbesubstantial.
3.

Configurethedatabase

Configurethenewdatabasesystem.Payattentiontofieldattributes.Besuretocheck
storagecapacityrequiredtosupportthemigrationimportandtakeamomentto
considerprojectedgrowth.
4.

Preparesupportingtechnology

Prepareanydatamigrationsoftwareorcustomscriptsbeingusedtosupportthedata
loadtothenewsystem.Forexample,willthedatamigrationrequireconversion
scripts?
5.

Test,test,test

Wecantstressthisenough.Createatestfilefromlegacyandimporttothenew

systemdatabase.Forexample,testtheaccuracyoftheimportedrecords.Testnew

systemdatamanagementandreporting.Testallexportcapabilitiesofthenewsystem.
Inparticular,howdoyouextractallofyourdatainthefuture,whenyoudecideto
migratetoanotherCRM?
6.

Reconfigurethedatabase

Basedontestresults,makeanynecessarychangestothenewsystemdatabase
configuration.
7.

Extractthelegacydataandcreatenewimportfiles

Extractthenecessarylegacydatathismayrequiremultiplesteps.Thenpreparenew
importfilesforuploading.
8.

Normalizeandclean

Normalizepoorlyformattedrecords,purgecorruptdata.Applyadditionalcleaning

steps(e.g.deduplication)nowifthisistheappropriatetimeinyourplan.Otherwise,
youwillneedtopracticedatahygienepostmigration.
9.

Loaddatafile(s)

Importthefulldata.Payattentiontoloadtimes,fileorders,interruptions,andother

datamanagementbestpractices.Anybadrecordsfoundintheexportfileshouldfail

onimport.Comparerawresultsoftheloadnumbersofrecordsexpectedtoimport,
numberexpectedtofail,filesize,etc.
10.

Test,test,test

Rerunyourtests,followingyourtestplanandanyrevisionsfrompriortestperiods.If

youencounterdataqualityproblemswiththeimport,research,repair,andrepeatuntil
youachievethestandardsforasuccessfulmigration.Yourvalidationworkmay
identifyadditionalchangesrequiredinthedatabasemakethem.
11.

Finalcleaning

Assumingthatyourplandidnotaddressalldatacleaningstepsaspartofthe

migrationtasks,nowisthetimetorevisitremainingdatahygiene.Doyouhavede
duplicationworkorplanneddataconsolidation?Didyouhaveadditionaldatafiles
scheduletoappendyournewlymigratedrecords?
12.

Parsing

Parsingisataskthatwealmostalwaysrecommendbeaddressedoutsideofthescope

ofthecoredatamigration.Why?Becauseitisaprojectinandofitself.Parsing

involvesadditionalanalysis,filepreparation,databaseconfigurationandtesting.It

maywarrantitsownbudgetandschedule.Smallamountsofparsing,likeanamefield
beingseparatedintofirstandlastnamefields,canbedoneaspartofthemigration,
whenthedatabaseisconfiguredandtheimportfilesarecreated.Butaddressing

multiplefieldswithlotsofdatatobeaddressisoftenbestmanagedpostmigration.By
theway,didyouknowthatMicrosoftExcelhasparsingtoolsthatmaysuityourneeds
justfine?
13.

Support

Yourworkisdone,butdontjumpshipyet.Turnoverthenewsystemdatatothe
businessusersthatstherealtest,bytheway.Keeptheteamassembledand

supportthenewdatabasepostmigrationforatleast30daysbeforeconcludingthat
themigrationisfinishedandlettingtheteamgo.MakesureanyconsultantsorCRM
vendorswhohaveassistedontheprojectremainavailableifneeded.
14.

Archives

Archivesareyourpieceofmind.Retainacompletecopyofthelegacydatabaseyou
mayneedtoreturntoitifyouhavemissedanyimportantdata.Yourespeciallywant
toarchiveanydatanotmigrated.Thegoodnewsisthatyoudontneedtokeepa

copyofyouroldCRMsoftwarerunning.Instead,usesimpledatastoragetoolslike
MicrosoftExceland/orAccess.

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