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Thursday
02Apr2009

What is a typical data migration project team structure?

DateThursday, April 2

Question received from member (02/Apr/09):

 

Hi, we're putting together a data migration plan for a new ERP system, just wanted to check with the expert panel how they go about structuring the various project teams.

What are the main teams in a typicaly migration project and how should they interact? eg. Who has responsible for signing off business requirements, who signs off technical requirements etc.?

Really appreciate any help you can provide as there is nothing really documented anywhere on all this.

 

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Thursday
19Mar2009

Post-migration validation - is there an industry standard?

DateThursday, March 19

Question received from member:

"I'm interested to see if there are some 'standard' guidelines for the volume of data or other metrics that should be considered when establishing a data validation effort post migration.

I would like to see if there is a metric to corroborate or enhance the approach we're defining for our migration effort.

Is there an industry standard for testing coverage pertaining to a data migration/integration project?"

 

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Tuesday
09Dec2008

Experiencing rounding errors when migrating from EBCDIC to ASCII via VSAM to Solaris

DateTuesday, December 9

Hi, I'm currently working in a data migration project which involves migrating data from mainframe to solaris. The components that I'm currently working with is VSAM. VSAM datasets which are created by PL/1 programs, so they have data which correspond to PL/1 data types in them.

There are cetain data types which when converted from EBCDIC to ASCII cannot be used, because the way it is interpreted in Mainframe and Solaris are different.

We are using a tool called MTK from Clerity to convert the data from EBCDIC to ASCII.

The problem that I'm facing is, while validating the conversion process.

Click to read more ...

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Wednesday
26Nov2008

Data Migration Planning - What are the natural sequence of events to follow?

DateWednesday, November 26

We're putting together a project plan for a migration to be carried out in '09, it's a billing migration to a new system.

My role is to put together a basic plan of the big events that will happen on the project with some timescales and dependencies.

However I'm kinda struggling because the technical delivery teams are very vague about what needs to be delivered by when and in what sequence, we're delivering the project in-house.

are there any tasks that are core to any migration so that at least we can make a framework to work around.

We seem to be going in circles so if you can offer some advice it would sure help me gel the different sides together.

Thanks for any support you can offer.

Comment1 Comment | | in
Tuesday
18Nov2008

Data migration testing project - what are the key things to consider?

DateTuesday, November 18

Hi, currently I am working on a data migration testing project and I would like to know the key important things of data migration from a testing perspective.

Things like identifying the key testing areas, how to go about developing test case / scripts, what Testing techniques to be used in the process etc.

Also, it would be very helpful if I can get access to some sample test cases and test scripts..

Looking forward for your help.

Thanks and Regards.

Comment4 Comments | | in
Friday
03Oct2008

Need advice on migrating from Tandem to Oracle with zero downtime and synchronisation

DateFriday, October 3

We need to migrate customer and financial data for a cable company from legacy system to new system with almost zero downtime.

Click to read more ...

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Friday
03Oct2008

Does any available technology allow for complex data mapping modeling and auto-code generation?

DateFriday, October 3

I'm looking for methods/technologies for data mapping in the context of structured data (database tables).

Does any available technology allows for complex data mapping modeling ?
Is this modelling user friendly ?

At last, does this technology enable code generation ?

Click to read more ...

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Friday
03Oct2008

Is there an application to manage a data dictionary?

DateFriday, October 3

I'm looking to source an application that allows us to manage a Data Dictionary on behalf of our organisation.

The Data Dictionary needs to support the full data lifecycle as data moves from one system to another throughout the organisation from ingest to business intelligence. It needs to capture field names, definitions, data types, table names etc. It needs to cater for the changing naming and definitions as data migrates between systems.

Where ETL scripts or transformation processes are applied within or between databases, it needs to allow these processes to be 'made visible', and related documentation to be stored and made accessible. It also needs to support a formal definition of cross-database metadata.

Are there any applications that do this, or have I just discovered a business opportunity?

I'd be grateful for your ideas in this area.

Many thanks.

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Sunday
28Sep2008

How do I QA our data migration?

DateSunday, September 28

I'm part of the team saddled with the responsibility of QA'ing migrated data from our legacy system.

This is new to me and i was hoping I could get a sort of checklist that would help out in ensuring a thorough job is done.

We've been given Data Migration Tables (mapping tables) to guide in the exercise.

While I'm quite familiar with the legacy banking application, I'm not too familiar with the target system.

What are the key things to bear in mind?

Thanks for your tim.

Comment2 Comments | | in
Sunday
28Sep2008

How do I migrate Blobs?

DateSunday, September 28

We migrate data between two ORACLE database with ORACLE PL/SQL packages.

The record number is relatively low (around 10,000) for the subject I am concerning which is BLOB data migration. We don't use any ETL tool so far.

The migration procedure involves two processes:

1. Save file content into column with BLOB data type in ORACLE database.
2. Migrate data from one Oracle database to another.

I am more concerning the trickiness in the second process.

Since we don't have experience transfer BLOB data type, we are not quite sure what will happen regarding the data accuracy and performance.

Can you pass on any techniques for migrating blob objects in this scenario?

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Sunday
28Sep2008

Consolidating different table structures into one model structure

DateSunday, September 28

I have to migrate data from one data model to another data model in the same schema.

Actually in our current data model we are dealing with 4 different regions America, Asia, Middle East and Australia to deal with different leagal systems.

Now, we are changing the data model to deal all the 4 regions into one table instead of 4 different tables.

Can you tell me the different problems i could face in this migration process.

I am planning to implement pipelined table function, object types and partitioning logic for extracting the data, changing the data format and loading into tables.

Is this approach fine to get a better performance?

Thanks in advance.

Comment2 Comments | | in
Tuesday
26Aug2008

Are there milestone plans for a combined data migration & data quality exercise?

DateTuesday, August 26

Is there anywhere that I can find example milestone plans for a combined data migration & data quality exercise?

Interested to see approx timescales and order.

Comment2 Comments | | in
Monday
11Aug2008

Data Migration Team Lead - What are the functions?

DateMonday, August 11

Hi - I have just finished reading ‘Practical Data Migration’ by John Morris, which I found invaluable. My career path has taken a similar course as John’s – programmer, analyst, project manager. However, I was a late starter in IT with no formal training. I began as a self-taught VB/SQL programmer. My career route has been a fast tracked through fortunate contract opportunities which has been pigeon-holed by recruitment agents as a Data Migration Specialist in recent years.

My problem is this; whilst not new to the various elements of data migration, I am unsure as to how to approach a ‘Data Migration Team Lead’ (not Project Manager) role.

Please could someone give me an idea as to what I do in my first week within this type of role and what order they should be addressed?

Assumptions:
• Working within a Shared Services environment
• Numerous customers will be migrating from their legacy systems
• The new system will be a Oracle eBusiness Suite bespoke system
• Migration will be for HR & Payroll and Purchase & Ledger data
• Whilst involved with similar projects I am not a functional expert in HR & Payroll and Purchase & Ledger
• I will have 6 data analysts reporting to me
• Trillion will be used for ETL – I have never used!
• This will be a Public Sector project

Any direction would be much appreciated.

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Tuesday
05Aug2008

Ignoring Data Quality on an SAP Migration - What are the pitfalls of ignoring best-practice?

DateTuesday, August 5

I'm just starting on a project to replace our banks core transactional system, along with a number of subsystems. We are currently in the initial stages of determining our data migration strategy to move data from these legacy systems into the SAP banking platform.

As we determine our strategy to do this we are trying to justify the importance of data profiling, data quality, etc. We are receiving some resistance in regards to the necessity of doing this work. The consulting company we have hired has suggested the approach of simply migrating the data and letting SAP take care of the DQ issues.

We are trying to build a case around the importance of performing data profiling, data cleansing, data quality, etc as well as using a toolset to assist us in this work. In our research and talks with various vendors we have been getting a lot of warnings and horror stories about moving dirty or bad data into SAP and more importantly how hard this is to rectify or remove once it has been migrated.

Aside from the obvious reasons NOT to move dirty or poor data into the new system, are there any resources or information about the pitfalls of doing this with SAP and how difficult it is to resolve once the data has been migrated?

Any information would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Comment4 Comments | | in
Tuesday
29Jul2008

What type of DQ platform to select for data migration projects

DateTuesday, July 29

Hi, I am a data analyst for a large utilities company in the US and we're about to start a major data consolidation project.

Our company has opted to deliver the project internally and the architecture team have chosen a scripted approach to data migration.

My question is really surrounding data quality. Myself and 3 colleagues are responsible for carrying out data analysis of the old systems to identify things like mappings to the target app and DQ cleansing issues etc.

We have worked on the systems individually for several years but now we need to merge and link them together I'm interested in getting your opinion on what type of data quality technology would suit this type of activity.

The data is mostly plant infrastructure, service histories, work order type information so no name and address information.

Comment2 Comments | | in
Tuesday
29Jul2008

Evaluating data migration service providers

DateTuesday, July 29

We are planning a system implementation of a new bespoke application in about 10 months time.

The data migration is my responsibility and we are going to tender this work. As I don't really have a technical background I would really welcome some pointers on how we should critique/benchmark potential service providers. I recognize data migration is a very specialized field judging from all the articles and blogs I've read on your site so I want to be sure that we select the appropriate provider.

Welcome any feedback you can offer.

Comment1 Comment | | in
Wednesday
02Jul2008

What can I do about the lack of progress on the customer side?

DateWednesday, July 2

We are working on a large project and as it has progressed I have become increasingly worried about the progress made.

The legacy systems seem to be less well maintained and more complex in their interconnections than the client had said and things do not seem to move very far each week.

We are contracted to do the in flight cleanse, transformation and upload but not the extraction.

What do I do about the lack of co-operation from the customer side?

Comment2 Comments | | in
Friday
27Jun2008

Campaign management data migration - need advice

DateFriday, June 27

I'm working for a client that is implementing a campaign management and analytics solution.

We're currently designing the solution architecture and conceptual data models for the solution. One of the requirements for the solution is that there is a minimum of 15 months worth of data within the data marts for analysis purposes.

There will be approx 15 data sources for the solution. Some of the data sources only keep their data online for 3 days before it is archived off to tape stored in an underground bunker somewhere!

I need to work on a migration strategy to perform an initial data load and verification of that data load.

Do you have any pointers on where I should start, activities testing approach and what governance can be applied to ensure success?

Comment1 Comment |
Wednesday
18Jun2008

JDE to SAP Data Migration - how should we proceed?

DateWednesday, June 18

We will soon be migrating from JDE to SAP.

How should we proceed?

The question where we perceive complexity is with Media Objects.

Can you offer some advice?

Comment1 Comment | | in
Monday
19May2008

How can I estimate how long an ETL project will take?

DateMonday, May 19

This question seems to be a recurring theme, several new members have posted the same issue:

"I need to estimate how long it will take me to perform extract transfer and load on some data.
Can anyone point me at some resources - or even better, give me some advice? "

Comment5 Comments | | in
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