The intrinsic value in any business is based on the key information that is developed over time. These include data on Customers, Suppliers, Contractors, Partners, Influencers, Products, Bill of Materials, Know how documentation and Business processes.
As the volume and detail of this information increases, so does the relative value to the Business Enterprise. This is evidenced by the business owners adoption of Security, Maintenance and Backup system to protect their investment. The relative expenditure often increases reflecting the crucial nature of the data to the business. If an Enterprise is considering the Migration of their current Data to a New System, they are often faced with some inevitable compromises as to the extend of the Data Migration.
Business Owners and Managers often use this opportunity to implement New Business Process and Standards. The business then undergoes a re-engineering of their current business practises. The extent off course, depends on the sophistication of the Business current processes and how well they have been documented. This is where an experienced consultant can often assist to look at Industry best practises, while at the same time be flexible enough to recognise that some processes specific to the particular company may in fact represent best practises.
The acceptance that all Historical Data may not be able to be Migrated to the new system is not understood to well. This would means that you will require access to the old system for some time after transfer. There is no problem with migrating fairly static information (i.e. at the point of Migration or Going Live with the New System). These are data on such things as Customers Suppliers, Contacts, Price Lists, Know How, Documentation. However information that are highly transactional in nature such as; Invoices, Payable, Receivables, Purchase Orders, Sales Orders, Service Orders etc. is often impossible to Migrate. The transactional data feeds into the static data. In this case it needs to be understood that the migration would only be Opening Balance in the General Ledger. In time the new system will build up its own History and the ongoing need to refer to the Old System for Transactional Detail will decrease over time.
Due to the Critical Nature of all of your enterprise data, it is imperative to undergo vigorous testing of all transaction, throughout their cycle (i.e. from beginning to end). The ideal situation is to set up a Sandbox Database so that users can test transactions as they would use in their day to day usage of the system. This will assist in refining the system and fine tuning the training processes for the end users of the system. This Sandbox Database will not be the Final production database.
One of a typical pitfall for Data Migration is get the Job done ASAP. This may result with RIRO (Rubbish In Rubbish Out). A review of your current data is essential so if Data Cleansing is required, or Standards need to be set so that the appropriate Validation can be setup in the New System.
Remember if your New eBusinessERP System will represent your company's One Source of Truth, then you would want the Data to be of the Highest Quality. The process of Validating and Maintaining Data is so important if you plan to give online access to Customers, Suppliers and Partners. The larger the Database and the larger volumes of activity and access to data, by all parties will inevitably cause errors, delays, increased costs and dissatisfaction.
Remember to always build your business for Growth