Data Migration has become a common occurrence in the insurance world. Whether you are on the side of the database that is migrating or on the side of the database where new data is being migrated into, this can be a very stressful time. Here are some tips on what you can do to make that process go a little smoother.
- Plan Your Work and Work Your Plan: Detailed planning of the data migration process is critical to making the process successful. Create a timeline and project plan for the migration and be willing to adjust it along the way.
- Assemble a Data Migration Team: One person alone cannot handle a data migration. Your plan must include a group of people who are dedicated to a process that will ensure that your migration is successful. This group should include people who are going to doubt the process, as they will be the ones to scrutinize each step and make sure nothing is left out. If necessary, enlist the aid of an outside data migration expert to run the project.
- Decide What Data Is Being Moved: Decide what and how much data is going to be migrated. These decisions should include how many years of data are moving, whether you are moving clients with no policies and whether you are moving all transactions. As an agency, you will need to decide which transactions you are going to migrate. Will it be only open transactions or all transactions? You may even decide not to migrate any previous transactions and start with zero balances. You can do this as long as you have access to your legacy system and are okay with referring to it until all transactions are closed.
- Clean Your Current Data: The phrase, “junk in gets you junk out,” applies perfectly to when you’re migrating your data or accepting data in your database. A concentrated effort should be made to clean out any data that will not be made part of the migration. That can mean closing old activities, cleaning up accounting, inactivating clients that no longer have policies, inactivating employees that are no longer with the agency, or closing old claims that have been settled.
- Test Your Data Migration: Don’t just hope that the migration process will run smoothly. As with any transition, there will likely be hiccups along the way. What you can do is make sure your migration process includes seeing at least one data sample before going live into another database. This will allow you to see how the data will migrate and make any changes before it’s too late. It is better to make the changes and adjustments to the process prior to going live in another database than it is to clean up after.
These are some preparatory steps you can take to prepare the data, but you also need a plan to prepare your staff. Data migrations are very stressful on users and the more transparent you can be about the process, the more understanding they will be. Avoid giving them answers such as “because I said so” or “that is just the way it is going to be.” Our agency migrations always included open communication with our staff and management always invited feedback from them. Don’t just tell the users it needs to be done. Let them know the how, who, what, where, when and especially the why of the data migration. Patience is going to be tested, and you need to constantly check on the mental health of all your end users throughout the process. Having meetings and asking their opinion is never a bad idea. Rewarding them for making the change is always a good thing and making sure they know that you understand what they are going through will be beneficial throughout this process.
Data migration is a very tedious and stressful process, but the more prepared you are for it, the smoother it will go.
Learn more strategies on data migration in the ACN Learning Center, a members-only resource! Available resources include webinars Path to Epic – What to Expect in an Epic Implementation and EZLynx Seamless Data Migration: A Step-by-Step Guide.