Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
It Is Finished… or Is It?
It is extremely difficult to define the concept of “done-
ness” for migration tasks. Meaningful testing usually
cannot occur until complete programs have been built
to the point of performing a complete function or activ-
ity that the users can verify is correct. Contrast this with
the recommended development and testing method-
ology for new system development, which incorporates
stub programming, unit testing, various levels of inte-
gration testing — all according to design specifications,
the users ever see the system. Therefore, the
planning and management process must take into
account these distinctions and account for them.
before
—From
Systems Migration
, Alan R. Simon
Summary
Statistically speaking, IT departments spend most of their time in either
migration or maintenance work. Migration projects are triggered because
the existing application has reached its natural limits, or there is a need
to move from an in-house application to an off-the-shelf one, or vice
versa. Such projects fail when the semantics of the destination system do
not come across well, or third-party tools used in the source system (such
as report writers, visual components, import-export tools, etc.) do not
work in the migrated environment. Migration is different from porting and
reengineering projects, although the objectives and approach may be
similar. Staffing for these projects requires ensuring that skills for both
source and target technologies are available within the migration team.
Thus, getting a proper inventory of the source system is key to scoping
a migration project. Bringing data from the old system to the new one
can be complex — this effort is often underestimated.
Proper cut-over planning is necessary for a successful migration. Aux-
iliary processes such as those related to support, training, communication,
as well as post-migration clean-up work should be part of the project
plan for any migration project, whether it is retraining support personnel,
the users, the sales teams, or others.
