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If you wish to learn, share and get ahead within the data migration industry then why not join the community today?

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Latest from the Data Migration Pro Journal...

Monday
30Nov2009

How to Implement an Effective Data Migration Testing Strategy

image Creating an effective data migration testing strategy is critical to reducing risk and delivering a successful migration.

In this article, David Katzoff, Managing Director of Valiance Partners, a specialist data migration technology and service provider, outlines a blueprint for designing an effective data migration testing strategy.

David rounds off the article with a useful checklist of recommendations that the reader can use to benchmark their own approach.

Click to read more ...

Friday
30Oct2009

TM Forum Launches Data Migration Survey

Data Migration Pro is launching a programme to understand how enterprises in different vertical markets are tackling the real challenges of Data Migration. 

To kick this off, we are examining the Communications and Media sector, as represented by the global TM Forum organization’s Data Migration Community.  

The TM Forum data migration community is led by Tony Sceales (also a member of our expert panel), Celona’s CTO and other senior industry figures, the group is in the process of building out an understanding of Best Practice in Data Migration. 

The first step in this process is to survey the TM Forum’s 45,000 members to understand their perspective on what the key issues and drivers for success are, as well as to ask about their experience and capability in Data Migration.

Your views are also extremely valuable, and any Data Migration Pro member can also complete the survey at http://www.tmforum.org/Source/550/home.html.

You will contribute to a crucially important study for our profession.

Please also feel free to join the TM Forum Community and contribute your thoughts and experiences.

Monday
24Aug2009

Webinar: How to prevent your data migration spiralling out of control

This Wednesday 26th August at 1pm (British Summer Time, 12:00pm GMT), Data Migration Pro will host a webinar with John Morris, author of Practical Data Migration.

Attendees will learn practical techniques to help prevent their project heading for failure or delay.

The approximate running time of the webinar will be 30-45 minutes and if attendees use a VoiP headset then the webinar is completely free. There are local toll numbers available for thos who are dialing in.

To register for the webinar please click the following link:

https://www2.gotomeeting.com/register/916140523

Please note that we will be publishing the webinar in this post after the presentation has completed.

Monday
24Aug2009

Best Practices for Content Data Migration : Interview with David Katzoff from Valiance Partners

clip_image002[5]Data migration is not solely the domain of database-to-database data transition, it can often involve complex content migrations of documents and unstructured data.

But how do these migrations differ to the more conventional relational database style data migrations? What is the right strategy? What techniques are involved? What are the pitfalls?

We recently caught up with one of our members, David Katzoff, Managing Director of Valiance Partners,  a specialist data migration technology and service provider operating in this space. Dave has kindly answered a few burning questions on this topic.

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
19Aug2009

Some recent data migration lessons

image Recently, I've been consulting with a mid-sized organisation who are embarking on an initiative to implement a new inventory system.

With just a few days in there have been some serious lessons learned by the organisation on how to approach data migration in the right way.

Click to read more ...

Thursday
23Jul2009

Data Migration Matters2 - Call For Papers

The Data Migration Matters organisers have announced an all day data migration event for the 1st October 2009 in London.

Details will shortly follow of how to attend the event but DMM2 is inviting IT professionals or senior managers with experience of Data Migration to submit a paper for presentation at Data Migration Matters 2.

The selected paper will be presented at the event by the author.

This year there is a special interest in case studies and lessons learned but all topics will be considered.

If you want to find out more details on how to submit your proposed presentation please follow this link:

http://www.datamigrationpro.com/dmm2

Wednesday
15Jul2009

How to rescue a failing data migration project [Part 2 - Plan and Mop-up]

image Last week John Morris posted a detailed account of how to rescue a sinking data migration project, that post provided some excellent stablising techniques John has developed over many years.

This week John closes out the series with a look at how we can re-plan a failing project and successfully "mop-up" on those outstanding tasks that are so important but often neglected.

Click to read more ...

Monday
06Jul2009

How to rescue a failing data migration project [Part 1 - Stabilise]

clip_image002Many members contact us with tales of data migration failure and one only needs to look in the computing press to read the high profile data migration disasters that litter our industry.

We recently contacted John Morris, managing director of iergo and author of Practical Data Migration, for some advice on how our readers can help put their data migration project back on track if it starting to slip off the rails.

John kindly wrote the following series of articles, providing a range of detailed tips and techniques to help you rescue your sinking project.

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
28Apr2009

6 tips for "selling" a best-practice data migration

image If your most recent data migration has failed or suffered major delays then chances are it was lacking a best-practice approach.

There are still countless tales from members and visitors to Data Migration Pro of projects being delivered with issues such as poorly conceived methodologies, a lack of data quality management, impossible deadlines and poorly skilled resources.

So how do we turn things around and convince sponsors and stakeholders to invest in a best-practice data migration?

Click to read more ...

Monday
30Mar2009

Promoting DQ Tools for Data Migration Projects

image One of our members recently had a tough time convincing her peers and sponsors of the need for a DQ tool on their forthcoming data migration project.

She had been pitching the benefits primarily of cleanse, citing the fact their migration tool had limited DQ capabilities so an additional toolset to manage the more complex transformations was required.

The source systems were largely consumer addresses, their business being B2C in the financial sector. The argument she came up against was that they already had a profiling tool so why couldn't that help solve the problem?

Here are some of the additional areas that DQ tools can help increase the success rate of any data migration project.

Click to read more ...

Thursday
26Mar2009

The data migration go-live strategy - what is it and why does it matter?

image In this post we take a look at some of the different combination of data migration go-live strategies and what they mean from a technical and business perspective.

The landscape of data migration implementation options has changed in recent years so we thought a brief introduction to the different approaches would benefit our business and non-technical readers in particular.

Click to read more ...

Wednesday
25Feb2009

How to create a data quality rules management repository (Part 2 - Creating the application)

This post is the second in a series that explains how to create a data quality rules repository using a simple web app for building the functionality.

The following video will illustrate how to create an online application to store, query and share your data quality rules across disparate teams and organisational units.

By creating the repository with the DabbleDB web platform we can eliminate development costs and create a hassle-free hosting solution.

If you missed the first post in this series which discussed the benefits and uses of data quality rules please click here.

 

Please click on the following image to view the tutorial video or click this link: How to build a DQ Rules Repository

Data Quality Rules Tutorial


Useful Resources

Monday
23Feb2009

8 data migration benefits of logical and conceptual data models

image

The use of logical and conceptual data models is often a rarity in data migration projects but when adopted correctly they can create significant benefits for both the business and technical community.

In this post we take a closer look at some of the reasons why they can prove so useful.

Click to read more ...

Thursday
22Jan2009

Interview with Expressor Software CEO, Bob Potter

image We recently spoke with Expressor Software CEO, Bob Potter to find out more about their data integration technology, how it can benefit data migration initiatives and what their plans are for the future.

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
13Jan2009

Does your data migration strategy have an effective plan for systems retirement?

data-migration-system-retirement In this article we discuss the challenges of ensuring that those ageing systems you have migrated from can head off gracefully into the sunset.

We've also posted 25 data migration best-practices to ensure your business is ready, willing and able to retire its legacy landscape post-migration.

Click to read more ...

Tuesday
06Jan2009

Free data quality pattern analysis tool for Excel, will help cash-strapped data discovery analysts

image If you're a new visitor to the site you may not know that our sister site, Data Quality Pro, frequently releases great new community tools that directly benefit the data migration folk on this site.

The latest tool to be created is free to members and like all our tools falls under a creative commons license which means you can use it, change it and share it but please don't sell it without our consent!

It is called the "Pattern Analyser for Excel" and it will help you discover data rules for pattern formats, trap insidious defects you definitely do not want to be migrating and generally beef up your data analysis activities.

In the post we also list our other free tools so far released, pattern analysis for MS-Access and Oracle.

It's free, takes only 20 seconds to download and we've even published a simple tutorial showing a few examples.

Just check out this post for details of the tutorial and how to download the tool.

Thursday
01Jan2009

8 Data Migration Resolutions for 2009

In this article we present 8 activities that have been proven to improve the likelihood of success in data migration projects.

Why not treat them as resolutions for the coming year?

Expand, share, critique but above all learn from them and spot opportunities to implement them when conditions are right.

Click to read more ...

Monday
15Dec2008

Is your data migration project lacking an artefact librarian?

In this article we have introduced the concept of an "artefact librarian" role.

Put simple, this is the person responsible for defining and coordinating the vast  number of materials and documents produced in a typical large scale  data migration project.

Having a dedicated resource to fulfill this role just might help your next project run smoother than ever before.

Click to read more ...

Friday
12Dec2008

Online data migration training now available by one of our contributors, Iergo

Long-time supporters of Data Migration Pro, Iergo have recently added a useful training resource to their site for those wishing to boost their data migration skills.

They have created an online training and assessment centre (no charges apply) that walks the visitor through a series of short tutorials on different aspects of the Iergo data migration methodology.

As John recently pointed out on his blog, the tutorials won't make you an overnight data migration guru but they will help you spot deficiencies in your current migration process.

They are also providing a short online assessment with the training and the option to have your name published once you have completed the test.

Click here for more details and select the online training option.

Wednesday
03Dec2008

Data migration project checklist - a template for more effective data migration planning

When embarking on a data migration project we need to identify the risks and activities well in advance.

This post provides a simple template for helping you identify potential weak spots in your migration planning.

Please critique it, extend it, share it but above all use it to ensure that you are fully prepared for the challenging road ahead.

Click to read more ...