Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
Mistakes in inventory analysis are a major cause of migration failure, or
scope expansion. Unidentified reports are discovered. The application may
be providing data feeds to other applications. If the application is receiving
data feeds from other applications or outside parties, then they also may
need to change to provide the same or similar feeds to the target system.
They need to check feasibility and budget for that within their projects.
One needs to decide how deep one should go into understanding the
source system. What does one do when one discovers something that is
wrong (known or unknown)?
There are at least two important threads: (1) functionality and (2)
technology. If the technology is understood and a decent migration path
established, a lot of functionality can take that path. For example, if one
discovers that a lot of the business logic is in stored procedures and the
stored procedures can be brought across to the target system with only
minor changes, then one has a pathway to migrate the code without
having to understand the functionality in detail. This may cut through a
large swath of work.
In some sense it is advisable not to go too deep into the source because
one can get lost in it. Categorize the source functionality as
Can be migrated as is
Can be migrated with some change in functionality, user experi-
ence, logic, etc.
Cannot be migrated
For the latter suggest workarounds. There will always be a section of
users who will be unhappy with “lost” functionality. Collecting usage
statistics may be a good first step. Sometimes the functionality demanded
may turn out to be very infrequently used. If the protest seems genuine,
take it seriously. Users who have been using the system for years must
be respected. When they say that the new system will not work if the
“missing” functionality is not there, listen to them. They might not be able
to articulate it well, or might be diffident in making their case — therefore
it needs to be explored seriously.
Migration in Design
As discussed previously, most projects within IT departments are mainte-
nance or migration projects. Application designers should assume that the
application they are designing is a candidate for future migration. Good
designers design systems to be flexible when it comes to functionality
