Data Transformation: Ensuring the Best Outcome from your Migration

| Read time: 4 mins

You’ve decided, along with thousands of other ‘switched on’ deathcare providers, that digital transformation is essential for a sustainable future and long-term growth.

Or perhaps, you simply want a better way of doing things and your current systems and processes won’t get you there.

As we say here, digital transformation and organizational change go hand in hand - both at a cultural and process level, so it’s important not only to understand the journey you need to move towards; but also to understand how to connect the dots - how your data behaved and acted previously and how it needs to act in the future.

Your data is critical to this because its story is continuous. You’re creating new data every day - whether that’s new customers, financial information, new records, plots, contracts, mapping…it’s fundamental to you now and in the future.

It unites the old ways of working with the new ways, and allows you to grow along with it.

So whether it’s moving data off the page, or from one solution to another, how it gets to where it's going, and what it does when it gets there - these are both essential to maximizing your return on your investment.

Minimizing risk

Bad data going in means bad data coming out. And that means risk.

Existing errors and inconsistencies, incomplete or inaccurate data - all of that, rather than being addressed, makes its way to its new home to lay landmines for your daily operations.

Which is why the notion of simply moving your data from point A to point B and expecting it to work how it should, is limited.

With this approach, you’re missing the vital opportunity to cleanse and optimize it, limiting how you can use it in the future and setting the stage for future complications. 

All of which is why we look at the process as one of data transformation.

A holistic approach

A holistic approach to data transformation means taking a fully comprehensive, interconnected view of the process within the context of your business goals.

Importantly, it emphasizes the quality of your data as an ongoing concern throughout its lifecycle. This includes implementing steps for cleansing and optimizing it to ensure accuracy, integrity, and overall operational efficiency. 

Ultimately, however, it ensures your process, customer and mapping data remain part of the same story.

With that in mind, let’s look at what good looks like:

A clear and robust process

Without a formalized, transparent migration process in place, you’re opening yourself up to data inconsistencies and even data loss.

Instead, a robust process, ideally one that’s managed by an internal team of data engineers, will ensure that your data stays in secure hands throughout. This will also help you to get ahead of any potential issues before they can escalate.

That’s why we employ…

A ‘find it fix it’ approach

Without taking a proactive approach to identifying and fixing issues in the data, you’re risking potential headaches down the line.

Again, rather than simply lifting data from one place and putting it in another, it’s important to have safeguards in place throughout the process to safeguard its integrity. This will help to ensure that any issue encountered is flagged and resolved before it can cause problems.

Expertise

Your partner should be experienced in handling a diverse range of data sources. No two transformations will be the same - each with their own nuances that are determined by all kinds of factors, including where the data’s coming from and in what format.

With that background, migrating data from multiple, or complex systems would be a problem. Without it, the result for you could be unexpected delays, errors or incomplete migrations.

Be sure to find someone who can clearly demonstrate a proven track record.

Avoid a Single-Point-of-Failure At All Costs

A single point of failure is one component within a larger process whose failure can cause the whole system to stop working. Once that element breaks down, there’s no back up, meaning the whole thing can fall apart.

In the context of a data migration, relying on a single person, or the same team or person for both the transformation and quality assurance runs the risk of oversights, biased testing or delays.

The fix? Maintain separate teams for the transformation and quality assurance testing for a faster, higher quality delivery.

Testing, testing, testing.

Testing should be a key component of any transformation project to ensure that your data has carried over to the new system correctly.

Did you know that our Quality Assurance team carries out 7,000 automated tests for every migration?

And because you know your data better than anyone - you should also be given the opportunity to compare what’s been migrated with your current system.

That way, any stray issues can be picked up and fixed before you sign off and Go Live.

Support

Your data’s in your new system, we’ve tested it and everything looks good. You’re now in your live environment. Is it doing what it’s supposed to? Does it look like it should? Is everything working OK? 

Support for your migration shouldn’t end once you pass go. You should always expect support, ideally from a team that’s familiar with the specifics of your project. This not only gives you reassurance and greater confidence, but because they know the background of what you’re dealing with, they can get to the root of any problem more quickly.

And remember - warranty’s aren’t just for cars and widescreen TVs. A support warranty on your data migration demonstrates that your partner has the utmost confidence in the job they’ve carried out.

Ask your provider if they provide a fixed period warranty.

Support

All of these things together are why a data transformation can more comprehensively ensure that the story of your data remains a happy one, wherever it takes place.

And whoever you choose to look after your data on its journey - whether it’s PlotBox or someone else, make sure that they care about it as much as you do.

Want to know more? Check our video below.