Data Migration Issues and Keys to Success

Data migration is the process of transferring data between storage types, formats, or computer systems. Data migration is actually the translation of data from one format to another format or from one storage device to another storage device. Usually it is performed programmatically to achieve an automated migration. Data migration is necessary when a company upgrades its database or system software, either from one version to another or from one program to an entirely different program. Unfortunately, most data migration projects don't go as smoothly as anticipated. More than 80 percent of all IT projects either overran or failed, resulting in unexpected costs. One of the primary reasons for this extraordinary failure rate is improper Migration Analysis, the lack of knowledge about the source data early on in these projects. Using conventional approaches to data profiling and migration can create as many problems as they resolve data not loading properly, poor quality data and compounded inaccuracies, time and cost overruns and, in extreme cases, late- stage project cancellations. Comparing and synchronizing models of the source and target databases is one way to migrate changes between database environments. Another way to migrate changes is to apply the deployment script that was used to change the source database to a target model of the target database.