Data Migration: The House-Moving Guide for Your Digital Assets

One of our customers recently formed a joint venture with another financial services company. Merging data from three different platforms and migrating it into their own platform was a golden opportunity to assess their existing systems and create a new and improved one.

Mergers and acquisitions are great at grabbing headlines and serving as a litmus test for the status of the global economy. But behind those flashy headlines, there’s a whole lot more going on. It’s all about crafting a well-thought-out plan that ensures the combined company sets sail towards a future filled with growth and success. One of the most important steps on that journey is data migration. This blog post outlines our experience in supporting this data migration process.

Table of Contents

1. Understanding Data Migration: Packing, Shipping, and Unpacking Your Digital Assets

2. The Stages of Data Migration

   • Designing a New Landscape

   • The Complex Puzzle: Merging Legal Entity Accounts and Contracts

   • Planning for Success: The Countdown to a Flawless Go-Live

   • Safeguarding Your Digital Assets 

3. Behind the Scenes: The Team That Made It Happen

4. Download Your Data Migration Checklist

Understanding Data Migration: Packing, Shipping, and Unpacking Your Digital Assets 

Metaphorically speaking, data migration is a bit like moving house. Picture this: you pack up each room into boxes, just like you would when moving. But instead of directly transporting those boxes to your new place, they get shipped off to a distribution warehouse. There, some of the boxes have their contents changed, updated or upgraded before they’re dispatched to your new house. Finally, each box is carefully placed in its corresponding room and unpacked, bringing your new home to life. We all know how stressful moving house can be, and data migration is no exception. But with the right expertise and a touch of planning, it can be a smooth and exciting journey.

The Stages of Data Migration 

Now, let’s delve into what data migration actually involves. It’s a multi-step process that starts with extracting data from its original sources. Then comes the cleansing phase, where any errors or inconsistencies are sorted out. Next, the data values are transformed and aligned to fit the new data schema. And finally, a well-thought-out plan is put in place to load the data in the correct sequence, ensuring that records are inserted and updated in the right order. Let’s go through those stages one by one and see how we did it with the financial services customer in question. 

Designing a New Landscape 

First on the agenda was the new Salesforce platform design. Our customer wanted to incorporate a new Know Your Customer (KYC) application, which previously operated on external on-premise solutions. This application was crucial for the sales teams to carry out legally compliant contractual activities.

A Know Your Customer (KYC) application is a software system that verifies customer identities. It collects personal details, identification documents, and proof of address to prevent fraud and illicit activities. KYC applications can use technologies like OCR and biometrics for accurate verification. They streamline customer onboarding, enhance security, and ensure compliance in industries such as banking, finance, and e-commerce.Find out more about the ‘Know your customer’ guidance at Gov.uk

Creating the new KYC application came with its fair share of challenges, the biggest being how to smoothly transfer data from three systems into one. They needed to establish new Legal Entity accounts, which would contain the relevant KYC case information, complete with supporting evidence. What’s more, the KYC information had specific security requirements to meet business compliance and confidentiality standards. Their goal was to maintain the integrity and availability of information, safeguarding it for the business and its valued clients.

The Complex Puzzle: Merging Legal Entity Accounts and Contracts 

Now, let’s move on to the second part of this data migration story, which hinged on the successful implementation of those Legal Entity accounts. Once those were in place, it opened the doors for the migration of contracts and their associated renewal opportunities.  

A previous migration project had already taken care of moving sales opportunities, accounts, and contacts, providing a foundation for the new data to find its rightful place.   

This second stage was key to the new company’s revenue-generating activities, so there was no room for error. The contract data was intricately linked to customers, users, company legal entities, products, opportunities, and contract history. So, failure to migrate the data accurately would have dire consequences, impacting vital automations designed to boost productivity and streamline billing processes. 

Planning for Success: The Countdown to a Flawless Go-Live 

Planning the big go-live moment for the data migration went through three iterations. It was all about getting the sequencing right and allocating the necessary resources to complete the task within a tight four-day timeframe.  

It took more than 24 hours to load files and attachments due to their size – just one complication to going live on time. On the first day of the migration, the sales users could already see the primary level data. Then, on days two and three, we made related data available. And on the final day, we made the files and attachments accessible, completing the perfectly planned migration. During the post go-live support period, we only received one support ticket. 

 It just goes to show the meticulous planning and execution that went into making this data migration a success. 

Safeguarding Your Digital Assets 

Of course, data security was the top priority throughout the project, both for us and our customer. Each business had its own security team, ensuring that only the right data was shared on secure servers. The Credera team, for example, could only access the necessary extracted data sets and target systems.

Behind the Scenes: The Team That Made It Happen  

It’s important to remember that behind the scenes of this successful migration was a dedicated army of experts from three different businesses. The Credera team focusing on data migration, the Salesforce project team – on KYC app development, and the customer. All three teams worked tirelessly for four months to design, build and test the migration. The most complex part was transforming and mapping the data. There were countless reconciliations of account and KYC information to ensure all records were correctly associated to their new accounts. 

Just like moving house, data migration involves carefully packing and transferring each piece of valuable information. Imagine sorting through rooms, deciding what to keep and what to leave behind, ensuring that everything finds its place in the new home. Similarly, data migration after a merger requires a thoughtful evaluation of existing systems, meticulous mapping, and transforming data values to align seamlessly with the new unified platform.