| If you're looking for a way to prove your value | | | | Data migrations can be pretty scary projects, |
| to the business, go have a chat with your HR | | | | because there's a lot that can go wrong. Bloor |
| director about the problems with employee data. | | | | Research says there are three main areas [ of |
| Employee data integration is a major challenge for | | | | risk with data migrations: |
| companies today, Forrester Research analyst Paul | | | | |
| Hamerman said in a recent Industry Standard | | | | 1. Data profiling, or understanding your existing |
| article. So, these types of data integration | | | | data |
| projects are a great way for IT to add value to | | | | 2. Maintaining data relationships during the migration |
| the business, he said. | | | | 3. Assuring a smooth handover process at the |
| Employee data problems can create major | | | | project's end. |
| business headaches, as the article's mini-case | | | | In "Business-centric Data Migration," a whitepaper |
| study of Aker Philadelphia Shipyard shows. Aker | | | | available for free download, Bloor contends part |
| had three legacy HR systems - none integrated, | | | | of the problem is that IT departments over-rely |
| and all containing contradictory data. The company | | | | on the "big bang" approach to migrations. Bloor |
| actually spent thousands in fees each pay period | | | | suggests IT can improve success with data |
| because of incorrect payroll checks - not to | | | | migrations by taking a more incremental approach. |
| mention the problems caused by lost injury | | | | Among other things, that requires: |
| reports. | | | | - Planning for the migration from the get-go |
| In 2004, the company decided to clean up its | | | | instead of at the end of the project |
| employee data and consolidate on a new solution. | | | | - Migrating data based on business entities, rather |
| So far, the company has saved almost $660,000 | | | | than data tables, to reduce breaking relationships |
| through reduced fees, payroll errors and escrow | | | | - Running the two systems in parallel until you've |
| payments, according to article. The consolidation | | | | ensured every thing is functioning as it should |
| project also decreased payroll errors by 90 | | | | - Using an external model within the migration |
| percent. | | | | model to tell the applications where to look for |
| How's that for creating a nice ROI and IT | | | | the data, rather than putting flags in the original |
| business alignment? | | | | databases |
| The article doesn't specifically mention data | | | | If you're considering a data migration project, you |
| migrations, but I think it's a safe bet, given that | | | | might also want to review "How to Migrate Your |
| they're moving from three legacy systems to a | | | | Data in Seven Steps," which was recently |
| new solution. In fact, according to Bloor Research, | | | | published in Magazine. It's written by David |
| most data migrations are actually associated with | | | | Barkaway, the company's data integration solution |
| some sort of change to the application | | | | manager for the SAS Global Technology Practice, |
| environment - even in cases where your goal is | | | | and includes more information about the data |
| to switch databases. | | | | profiling step. |