Some thoughts on cleaning data before you migrate it
If you’re working with a consultant when migrating to Salesforce.com, they’ll work with you to build out your new database to support your needs. If all goes well, you’ll end up with an empty database that’s ready to fill with data about your constituents. Most projects will have a phase where your consultant (or you if you’re brave) will move data from your old systems to your new one. This moving of data is a lot like “fitting a square peg into a round hole about 100 times.” Fields need to be changed, combined, split apart, etc. This is one place I really think a good consultant can help.
Before you migrate your data, though, you can do some work with your existing data to get it ready for migration. Here are a couple tips that would help a consultant, and can save some time and money in the migration process.
Don’t migrate data you don’t need
If you’ve got a ton of data that is of suspicious quality, or utility, think about ditching it. We all know what a pack-rat’s house ends up looking like over time. Databases can accumulate the same kind of junk. Don’t migrate data just because you have it–make conscious choices about your data
Standardize if you can
If you have 15 lists of names in Excel that are very similar in structure, think about making them have the exact same field names in the same order. This change could save a couple hours in your data migration, and will actually make using those lists easier for you until you start using your new system. Consistency can really help when using data.
When you have multiple lists of people, make sure you treat their information in similar ways. If in some data sources you have the first name as “Bob and Sue” while in others you split that out, that’s extra work during migration. Same goes for address fields. Try to be consistent, and it might be worthwhile cleaning the data this way.
Consolidate if you can
Most groups have a database that is a list of most of their contacts. Most groups also have other lists that contain the remainder of their contacts. If possible, consolidating the extraneous lists into the main database ahead of migration can save time. This doesn’t always make sense, but might in your situation.
Think about hand entering some data
While this doesn’t make sense for the bulk of your data, it may be a good idea to not migrate a couple smallish data sources you have. Each new data source has an up front cost to figure out how to fit it into the new system. If a data source is only 15 rows of data, it might make more sense to enter those by hand after the fact. Plus, lining up some data entry after you cut over to your new system can give you some good repetitions with your new database.
Migration is a pain (for you and the person doing the migrating), with the added joy that it costs lots of money. No one really likes this phase of the project, but it’s critical to your success. A new system loses tons of value if you don’t maintain the connection to your organizational history.
So revel in your data migration and think about doing some cleaning work ahead of time if you have more time than money, and want the data migration phase to go as quickly and painlessly as possible.
