Migrating data is an important step in the move from a legacy business system to a new cloud ERP. It is more than just an export/import exercise.

Preparing business and operational data for ERP cutover is an involved, critical component of the implementation process. Messy, incomplete, or poorly mapped legacy data transferred to the new system guarantees inaccuracy, inefficiency, and early troubles with the cloud ERP rollout.

So migrating legacy data should be a controlled business process as part of a cloud ERP adoption, not just an export/import process left for the IT department.

The key objective of this data preparation is keeping the new system clean and orderly while still populating the cloud ERP with the data needed for operations after cutover.

There are four main steps in this data migration process.

Step 1: Inventory and Select the Data for Migration

Before you can prepare data for migration, your organization must define and inventory all sources of business data. Data within your legacy ERP or current system of record obviously should be understood and catalogued, but there often are other sources of data that live in point solutions, cloud services, and siloed data stores that have developed organically over years of operations.

Your new cloud ERP will bring end-to-end visibility and unify these various legacy data silos, so you should account for all business data when migrating and not just what lives in your legacy system of record.

Once you have defined the full scope of your business data, you need to decide which data is required for operations and what should be left out of the system. Some of the data collected by your organization will be unnecessary for ongoing operations and should be archived instead of imported into your new cloud ERP.

This data prioritization and import selection is critical for an orderly transition to the new system, and for not bringing forward data that will needlessly clutter the system. A cloud ERP migration is a fresh start, so use this opportunity for archiving data that is no longer relevant for operations.

Step 2: Cleanse and Standardize Data

Over the course of time, duplicates, inaccuracies, and formatting issues make their way into a legacy business system from human error and poor systems integration. So once data has been selected for migration to your new cloud ERP, it should be cleaned before import.

This data cleansing task can be onerous and time-consuming, but ERP vendors and third-party tools can automate much of the data cleaning process. Use these tools, and avoid the urge to skip data cleaning, or it will create accuracy issues later in your new system.

Standardization is also important for preparing legacy data. Standardize formats, codes, units, addresses, and other values so that they match both company rules and the requirements of your new ERP. This part will require some organizational decision-making, and data standards should be defined as part of the ERP implementation planning process.

Step 3: Map and Transform Data

Data structures will be different in your new cloud ERP, so the third step is mapping legacy data to the new system and transforming the data so it fits in the ERP.

This entails creating a source-to-target mapping for every important field and business object you plan to import into the new system, and defining transformations, code conversions, defaults, and dependencies. This is akin to the consumer process of moving address books; you’re basically moving fields from your old system to the new, and making sure the data fits with what the new system expects.

Make sure that data owners within your organization approve each of these mappings so it is fit for purpose. You’re not simply reproducing your legacy structure in your new cloud ERP, so data owners must understand and agree with the changes in structure.

Step 4: Test and Validate the Data Migration

Preparing legacy data for cloud ERP cutover also includes ensuring that the data actually is correct and performs properly in the new system prior to go-live.

Before actually migrating legacy data to your new system, perform repeated trial migrations in a non-production environment for testing purposes.

In this data migration testing phase, check that all fields actually map correctly during these trial imports, and the values expected match what actually shows in the system. As part of this, compare record counts, financial balances, inventory, open orders, and other control totals to ensure that they match what is expected.

Critical for this data import testing phase is running through your organization’s actual business processes in this non-production system so you can see if the workflows and processes have the right data and perform as expected.

This process testing with real data should be performed by the departments that actually use these workflows so validation is confirmed by the real stakeholders. As the real-world consumers of these processes and data, stakeholders will quickly uncover any mistakes or issues with the data migration before go-live.

Get Help from an Experienced ERP Implementation Partner

We’ve been helping businesses migrate data for more than 20 years as an SAP Gold Partner with more than 300 ERP implementations under our belt. We deeply understand the process for efficiently migrating legacy data and how to avoid the issues that might arise.

For help with data migration and your cloud ERP implementation, or any questions related to cloud ERP, contact one of our experienced consultants by calling (801) 642-0123 or writing us at info@nbs-us.com. We love talking shop.