How can you replace systems or even entire system landscapes? How do you decide on the optimal approach? Our article will show you the best approach, which we have used successfully for countless replacement projects in both archiving and data management.
Software gets outdated and must be maintained or, ultimately, replaced. But in insurance and banking, the lifespan of the software systems used for business is often longer than in other industries. In consequence, when replacing a system or an entire system landscape there is little knowledge about archiving the data needed for retrieval or about data migration of the necessary data to the new systems. In the best case, some experience can be gathered, for example, during a merger with another company and the system landscape consolidation that necessitates – but this is by far not the rule.
Nevertheless, it takes close collaboration with a joint effort on the basis of trust and in line with best practices to be able to know and independently asses the risks and pitfalls, the costs, the total duration, and what human resources are needed, and to decide for the optimal approach in the replacement.
Without this knowledge and the exchange, replacement projects in both archiving and data migration are often unclear in their complexity and untransparent in their planning and implementation. Above all, the projects will be completed neither on time nor within the budget, if they come to a noticeable conclusion at all, that is.
A holistic approach to replacement projects in 3 steps
The best approach is to do everything under one roof: from the initial contact to the analysis of the migration project and to the project implementation including controlling, reporting, and archiving.
Step 1: Questionnaire, a condensed first analysis of the migration scenario
- Identifies the "sticking points" of the planned/intended migration
- Compares the results with a standard migration
- Reviews and/or recommends a migration strategy
- Contains the final document with a well-founded estimate of time and cost and dedicated documentation – professional, mathematical, and technical.
⇒ On the basis of the results of the first analysis, the customer can assess the complexity, risks, and costs of a migration, categorize them and make a decision.
Step 2: The 3-phase model
This model, comprising the analysis, realization and implementation phases is a tried and tested, holistic approach model for complex data migration.
- Complete documentation of all tasks of a migration project in work packages, with resource allocation, defined outcome types, and sample solutions
- In addition, it serves for ongoing progress tracking.
⇒ The 3-phase model prepares the customer and all stakeholders for the project and actively supports everything during the project in order to keep the complexity in check and focus on the progress.
Step 3: Migration and archiving with MIGSuite
- Source and target system neutral, from mainframe and enterprise/professional systems to databases and various data types
- Audit-proof, certified in accordance with IDW PS 880
- includes the controlling and reporting components MIGTransform and MIGReport
- guarantees the structural integrity of the data records
- delivers dedicated proof of the mathematical accuracy and
- proof of quantitative completeness
⇒ Using this approach, replacement projects can be understood and their complexity becomes transparent and predictable. This makes it possible to choose the optimal process so the project can be completed on time and on budget.
Are you facing the challenge of replacing a system or even a system landscape? We will be happy to talk about it with you and to develop the optimal process. Here you can make an appointment directly.
Do you have any questions or comments? Then please leave us a comment.