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As anyone who knows or have worked with me over the many years I have been involved with Social Housing ICT systems and processes, I have been involved in many data conversions, as well as a few data merges. Of the latter, once 4 housing system databases merging into just one new system.
Now most new suppliers you might procure a system from, will typically have you, dig all your old data out, and provide loaders to take those spreadsheets, text files or base SQL tables, into the new system. The exception to this assumption is clearly where your existing supplier is to be your new one. In this situation, you may well be charged a little more, but a lot of the process is dealt with for you. Which can at times be a valuable investment!
Over the years I have helped RSL’s, Councils and Charities dig data out of all types of diverse sources. Who would have known that my knowledge of 1980’s & 90’s databases, would be useful 30 years later? Usually 5 or 6 days of my time is much more economic, than getting three temps in for 4 weeks. Although ICT is not always the answer (and we need to recognise that).
However, as in a conversation I had with a RSL I am working with currently, just last week, a number of decisions need to be made. It is perfectly admissible to bring all your data across, as is to bring pretty much none of it. I have done both and pretty much everything in between. No approach is right or wrong, or anywhere on that spectrum. Its always about what’s best for the organisation.
One big factor is often what access will you have to that historic data. Your ex-supplier would probably love to let you keep access to that old data, through your current system as read only. Probably because you will most likely be paying up to 50% of your current licence to access it. Now you might be migrating to something else to save money. If this is the case maybe the key consideration is either to migrate most of it OR migrate maybe just some of it (maybe a snapshot of two financial years). Agree on this decision first and potentially save yourself some brass.
Where your cut off is, may depend on the time of cutover to the new live system. A big reveal, most new go-lives do not occur at financial year end. Most however in my experienced are synchronised at a quarter end. This enables some continuity of quarterly KPI’s etc. Clearly one ‘Gotcha’ is making sure that you have new KPIs in place and can UAT them before go-live. I have some sites wait 6-12 months to achieve some of that. No-one buys a new system to plug lots of data into it. They buy one as it should be driving transformation, insights and decision making.
Clearly, (getting slightly techie now) any data entities that are ‘open’, need to be brought over. By that I mean open repairs (from whatever requested date), or any rent accounts with a balance (credit or debit, current or former) etc. These are all clearly reconcilable from old to new system (although this more often than is sensible, seems not to be done to the penny).
This might also be a good opportunity to slim down or transform your structures, as part of the data move. As left as a task to ‘come back to later’, will it ever really happen? Also, old long unused suppliers/contractors/users could be dropped at this point. Sometimes these can be just scripted in data to a generic ID, if this data needs to be carried over.
So what’s to be done if you decide to migrate only two years (or so) of old system data?
Well you can start by thinking what you already have in a physical form. For example 6 years of PDF rent statement documents in a EDRMS solution, or archived monthly reports for areas such as Repairs, Lettings or Case Management. Bear in mind that if your data is already in a database, such as SQL, Ingress, Oracle, Informix, Access, Foxpro, Progress etc, you can retain a copy to query natively. Alternatively, if a non-SQL Server database is in use, it can usually be exported/unloaded and transferred to a standalone SQL Server Database, capable of being easily queried.
If your data calculations are done right, it should be expected that within 3-12 months of having your new system, queries on the old data should dramatically reduce. Not withstanding that, it is also quite likely that specific data will have been left behind unintentionally and this will need to be (hurriedly) transferred over, in the first 3 months. A good quality of UAT should really shake out that one.
Of course GDPR and the direction of your Data or Information manager, needs to be taken fully into account in all of these data migrations. I would suggest that organisations should already thinking about data migration, before contracts are finalised for new systems. Ensure sufficient data conversions are costed in your contract (if costs are applicable), particularly the weekend go-live at double time.
I hope there are a few useful takeaways here for organisations pondering this conundrum. Get in touch if you need help with this or the procure prior, or project assistance as Critical Friend afterwards.
Related Post:So you have moved your data, how do you reconcile it now?
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The Record Company: On The Move.
(c) Tony Smith, Acutance Consulting www.acutanceconsulting.co.uk 07854-655009
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