During discovery, our team inspects that various source systems, file systems, applications, etc that will be in the migration scope.  Typically these efforts involve analyzing source system documentation and gathering metadata.  This information is crucial when developing the overall data migration strategy, determining the scope of work, ensuring business rules and conversion logic have been established for all data sources, and that all data sources have been identified.

Our analysts use data profiling tools to analyze and profile data in the source systems.  This systematic examination reveals the quality, content, and structure of source data.  The information revealed from these activities helps our team determine how to cleanse and conform the data, and also aids in the development of business and conversion rules.

Data migration specialists use the results from the Profile step to aid in cleansing the data.  Cleansing the data includes de-duplication, matching, and merging of data records.  Source-to-target field mapping documents developed by business analysts and data team members include business rules and conversion logic to guide the development of cleansing transformations.  The deliverables from the Profile step allow ETL developers to begin their work on transformation logic.

Before data is loaded into the target systems it must be validated by functional team members and business users to ensure the data conforms to all business requirements and is complete and correct.  This process is referred to as pre-load validation and involves generating pre-load validation reports.  The ETL developer, functional team member and business users will conduct review sessions and fix any mapping issues before loading.  The business will sign-off on the pre-load report and the ETL developer is ready for loading.

Data loads typically occur in accordance with the Cut-over and Go-Live phases of the target system.  Master data is loaded into the system before dependent downstream objects can be loaded.  Transactional data is usually loaded during a tight time window to ensure business operations are fully functional when the system goes live.