The Efficient Way To Manage Data Migration

Outlining a plan is the most crucial part of a migration. Every migration requires a certain amount of strategic digital transformation of the information moving from the source repository to the destination. Considerations should include folder structure, metadata mapping, security, search capabilities, and many other components that will enable users to find appropriate data. It’s imperative that you take the time to identify the problems you have and what is necessary to get resolution.

Why Do Migrations Fail?

There are several explanations for this, most of which revolve around not planning. While most organizations share the same desire to find data easily, they frequently differ on how they arrive there. There are several repositories at your disposal when referring to data organization, but without a solid plan in place, these programs can fail to work as expected. Be sure you’ve crossed your t’s and dotted your i’s before migrating.

Wave has been executing enterprise migrations and providing consultation services since the ’90s. We’ve performed migrations for clients utilizing OpenText, Microsoft, IBM, Paperclip, and more.

Our expert team appreciates the unique challenges that can arise in both current and conventional ECM tools and we’ve distilled our methods over the years as technology has changed. Take advantage of our competence to execute a fruitful migration and digital transformation.

What Should You Consider When Planning A Data Migration?

Take An Inventory

Take the necessary time to assess what you possess, how it’s classified, how much and what types of data you have, and any elements you require like versions, annotations, and workflows.
Clean & Organize

Data migrations resemble moving to a new residence- decide what you want to keep and what you no longer need. Maybe you have data that is not needed. While combing through your information, take a minute to identify opportunities for progress specifically as it pertains to your organizational methods and metadata.
Test The Migration Process

Next, you should test your migration and pinpoint a standard to see how drawn-out the migration will be. Also, implement a data swap evaluation to ensure your migration pipeline is snag-free.
Check In Regularly

If you notice that your migration will take longer than expected during the benchmarking process, be sure to implement routine checkpoints during that cycle and make sure no issues occur. If they do, you can fine-tune your project plan.
Validate Your End Result

To ensure that your end result in the destination system matches what you with in the source system, have a validation measure in place. If you’ve completed data cleansing during the migration, your verification should be able to account for that.
Account For New Content

Sometimes you aren’t able to make the entire system non-editable during a migration, and new information is added. You’ll want to make sure to show any new metadata and any new data that’s included.
Leverage AI Where Possible

Many sources now offer Artificial Intelligence tools that can automate the information cataloging portion of your migration. Should you decide to use this feature, you can utilize existing metadata, and improve it with the help of your AI capabilities.