ERP data migration is not an IT task

IT moves the data. Only the business knows if it's right. Get data migration right, and you are most of the way to a successful ERP go-live.

1. Give every data set a business owner

Customers, suppliers, assets, balances. Each needs a named owner who:

• agrees the data standard: what good looks like;
• decides where quality issues are fixed: source, transformation or target;
• signs off that the migrated data is right.

Profile the data against the standard early. The gaps become your remediation plan.

No owner, no sign-off. No sign-off, no go-live.

2. Design it, then prove it

The design must answer four questions:

• How do values translate between systems?
• How is referential integrity between related entities maintained?
• How do other systems, such as the data warehouse and order management, stay in sync?
• What happens to work in progress: open orders, part-manufactured goods, services mid-delivery?

Then prove it:

• Run at least three full trial loads, timed against your cutover window.
• Track each one on data quality and reconciliation dashboards.
• Reconcile with the reports the business trusts, such as the trial balance and AR ageing.

3. Carve-outs play by different rules

In a carve-out the old system keeps running. So:

• Selection criteria will miss data. Sweep again using anchors such as equipment and revenue lines that are being carved out.
• You need to close in the source system what you migrated, proven by reconciliation.
• Every in-flight process must stop in the old system before it starts in the new one, or you'll bill, build, ship and refund twice.