Data Migration
Three segments of data must be considered – master data, transactional data and historical data.
MASTER DATA
Most of the master data will come from your existing application; however, the new ERP application most likely has additional master tables and fields that will need to be populated to create a fully functional company.
Master data includes the following:
• Items/Parts
• Customers
• Vendors
• BOMs
• Routings
• Warehouses
Referential data, such as:
• Area (used by Sales side)
• Number series
• Statistical groups
TRANSACTION DATA
This group of data includes the following:
• Open Accounts Receivable
• Open Accounts Payable
• Open Purchase Orders
• Open Work/Production Orders
• Inventory, Lots
There are several approaches on managing the open orders. Depending on the volume of data and other internal factors, you may choose to handle these transactions in one of the following ways.
Accounts Receivable
1. Migrate open receivables to the new ERP application, or
2. Receive payments in existing system and post adjusting entries in the new ERP application
Accounts Payable
1. Migrate open payables to the new ERP application, or
2. Process open payables in existing system. Hold checks until normal mailing time. Do not enter new vendor invoices in existing system if they will not be paid from that system.
Sales / Production / Purchase Orders
1. Migrate open orders to the new ERP application, or
2. Run a report of open orders. Manually enter the orders into the new ERP application.
HISTORICAL DATA
Historical data can be dealt with in several different ways.
1. Migrate part of the historical data based on transaction date
2. Keep all of the historical data in your existing application
3. Create a data mart; export all historical data to the data mart and turn off the old application
The benefits to the last approach greatly outweigh the other options. You do not need to keep your existing application up and running to access historical data. This eliminates the requirement to maintain the system and be concerned about user access to the data.
OTHER CONSIDERATIONS
1. Use the training and testing phases of the project to determine the gaps between the old and new applications; identify and validate proposed solutions
2. Implementation of a new ERP application is often the time organizations choose to make changes that have been under consideration for a while or changes where everyone has been waiting for the ‘right time’. Now is the time to evaluate your options.
3. The best way to get a head start on configuring your new production company, which results in a more efficient go-live conversion, is to set up a master company in parallel with the test environment(s).
Some of the ways you can use this master company are:
• As decisions are made on how you want ‘new’ data set-up, populate the master company
• Export the configuration from this master company into pilot test companies
• Validate and test assumptions on the way this master company is configured
• Import the configuration of the master company into your new production company after you have completed the validation and as part of your go-live data migration