ICT Revolutions provides services to cover all aspects of implementing and managing social care case management systems, though the area we are most associated with is Data Migration. We are also called in to help when a migration has gone wrong or threatens the project’s go-live date.
Perhaps this isn’t too surprising – of all the stages in a system replacement which can cause delays and problems, data migration is by far the most significant.
How can local authorities reduce their data migration risks? Our experience, coupled with industry research, clearly indicates Data Discovery as a process which pays for itself in reduced migration effort, improved data quality and significantly reduced project risk.
What Is Data Discovery?
- A process designed to tease out key issues that affect a data migration project and consists of the following :-
- What’s in scope? - Landscape Analysis
- Where’s the data? - Landscape Analysis
- Who’s doing what? - Key Data Stakeholders
- Make it manageable - Key Business Data Areas
- Gain insights - Data Investigation
- Making decisions - Data Task Group
- Action list - Data Quality Issues
- Summary - Data Migration Strategy Document
Some of these terms will be familiar to colleagues whilst some might be new. Identifying Key Data Stakeholders is one key stage which we find is often neglected:
Key Data Stakeholders
- List of KDSH’s and their role for each Business Area
- Key Data Stakeholder roles include:
- Data Migration Analysts: These are the ICT Revolutions Migration Analysts working on the project.
- Data Owners: can be defined as “any individual who has the legitimate right to prevent the migration from happening”.
- Business Domain Experts: These are people who have intimate knowledge of how a data store is currently used. They can be the same person as the Data Owner, but frequently they are not.
- Technical System Experts: These are people with expert knowledge of the back end of the relevant systems.
- Data Management Experts: This includes anyone with responsibilities for data quality, reporting or Master Data Management.
ICT Revolutions has developed and refined a Data Discovery process specifically to support the two types of system we work with – social care and education management.
Outcomes of Data Discovery
A well-managed Data Discovery process results in several useful outcomes:
- You understand – at a detailed level – where your data quality issues are
- You know the data sources before starting migration (there are always a lot more than expected!)
- You have a well structured approach to managing the human aspects of data migration – which includes knowing who the data owners are and understanding key interdependencies
- The key output from the Data Discovery process is a Data Migration Strategy, which becomes your guide for the migration itself
- Data Discovery can take place ahead of data migration. It works really well in parallel with procurement, so that as soon as a supplier is selected you’re ready to hit the ground running
- Best of all, the effort which goes into Data Discovery can be subtracted from the effort needed to run the Data Migration itself – this is all work which needs to be done anyway, you’re just getting it done while everything is calm!
Naturally, we’d like you to buy Data Discovery services from ICT Revolutions – but we’re also happy just to chat about these processes. We’re pretty much all ex-public sector – mostly ex-local government – and we’re always up for a chat. Feel free to lean on us if you have a migration project coming up and just want to avoid the more common pitfalls.
If you’d like to discuss any of this, please contact us HERE