Data safeguarding during an ERP implementation
If you’re considering implementing a new ERP (Enterprise Resource Planning) solution, you will need to think about how to mitigate your data security risks during the migration stage. With the complexities of the project you’ll be embarking on, from mapping and extraction to loading and verification, it’s not hard to see why it’s vital to have a well-defined data safeguarding and migration strategy in place.
The transfer of data to your new ERP solution is the most time consuming and potentially stressful part of any implementation roll out. Follow TVision’s three ways to safeguard your data during the implementation process to ensure you pull off migration effectively.
1. Take it to the cloud
Both on premise and cloud based ERP software will use a secure host for your business operations and data. You’ll use a dedicated IT team to manage your on premise system. While cloud ERP (or Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)) is provided as a service and hosted on remote data centres dedicated to holding applications on multiple platforms.
In the case of Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central for example, the software is hosted on Microsoft’s Azure servers. Moving to a cloud ERP solution like this will give you the assurance you need that your data will remain secure, not only during the migration stage, but for the lifetime of your investment.
2. Devise a data migration strategy
The migration of data to your new ERP solution is a significant project in itself, calling for participation from across the organisation. Therefore, set about the process in the same way you would the actual ERP implementation. Form a well-defined strategy articulated to everyone involved to ultimately eliminate data loss and data safeguarding.
You’ll need to assign roles, delegate responsibilities, establish actions, set deadlines and prioritise the tasks that are associated with both your live and master data. The ERP implementation consultant you’ve appointed will guide you through this task, help you follow their methodology and ensure you migrate your data safely and systematically.
3. Clean and test
A data migration exercise presents perfect opportunity to clean your data. You can review everything, delete any incorrect data, or corrupted files from records and databases. This will leave you only essential and meaningful data to be carried across to the new system.
You can then test the data by selecting and migrating a small quantity into the new ERP solution. Testing lets you identify and resolve any issues before go-live. Once your test selection has been loaded, it should be validated to ensure all elements have been correctly mapped to the right fields. It can then be reconciled with the corresponding records, values and volumes on the new ERP platform.
Your ERP implementation consultant will help you execute a secure data migration and ensure deployment remains within the project parameters. That’s to say to time and to cost. Plus you’ll go live with only the clean, critical data you need. Talk to our trusted ERP implementation consultants who can assure you of a sound data migration process and a successful ERP roll out. If you want to discover how one of the most experienced Microsoft ERP platform partners does this every time, contact the TVision team.
Read more: The right ERP software is the best business decision
Read more: Choosing the best Implementation Consultant
