26 Aug 08 Data Migration Solution

Data migration is critical to any project, but data often is a looming 800 pound bear with sharp claws. What if you have too much data, too much data corrupted, too much data incomplete and too little time?

A possible solution is to migrate the “necessities” and scrap the rest (temporarily or maybe permanently). What is used for validation? What is used for reporting?

I am working on a project and we are doing just that. We now have all the necessities mapped and migrated over, thus the application could go live. Data or a lack thereof is not holding us back at this point. We can keep our deadline and avoid influencing the critical path.

Separating the data into essential and non-essential also increased productivity as two database resources were used simultaneously.

In the project I’m working on now the non-essential data is only a couple of days behind and will be migrated completely over in ample time.

Tags: critical path, data migration, schema