Organizations periodically encounter the need to replace obsolete enterprise systems as they reach end of life, face the loss of vendor support, or fail to keep up with evolving business requirements. One important step in the replacement process is the mapping and migration of the obsolete system’s data to the new system. Ideally, this migration process should be a straightforward extracttransform- load (ETL) exercise where existing data is:
ETL success is dependent on the accuracy, completeness, and standardization of the source system’s data. Unfortunately, data in long-lived enterprise systems often fails these standards due to a number of factors that can include:
These issues often result in a costly and time-consuming remediation process.
Find and repair incompatible metadata so information migrates seamlessly into new application.
This client was looking to replace their obsolete physical records management system (RMS), implemented in the early 2000’s, which managed approximately 25M records. During the life of this system, multiple migrations took place, frequently without data validation. One recent migration involved a massive relocation of records from multiple locations to a centralized facility, and a substantial portion of the records’ metadata was not correctly updated to reflect the move. As a result, the system contained incorrect or invalid metadata.
In preparing for the migration to the new RMS, the client identified an estimated 8.5M records they suspected had invalid or missing metadata that would prevent them from migrating. Issues included:
Planning to remediate only one-third of the migrated records was unacceptable so the client allotted time and resources to find and fix these problem records.
Rather than risk ETL failure or incur the expense of a prolonged post-ETL remediation, Access Sciences counseled the client to choose an alternative course of action, cleansing the data prior to ETL, ensuring a smooth transition into the replacement system.
Our client, a global organization with operations in over 40 countries, trusted Access Sciences to cleanse their data prior to ETL. Our approach included:
Our work processes revealed an additional 4M records requiring corrections, raising the overall total to 12.5M records. This represented a 47% increase in workload, which we were able to complete successfully on time and under budget.
At the end of the data cleanse effort, the client’s 25 million records had moved from 50% to 99.78% migration ready. With accurate source data in place, our client was able to confidently move forward with the migration to their new system.
