Legacy systems used for enterprise management have typically been built for years or decades. These systems may consist of thousands or tens of thousands of data objects that are distributed across different systems. While some systems will be well documented, others will be maintained only among the supervisors of the employees who use them. For companies that are migrating to the new ERP, the goal of the new system is to bring all this data together into a cohesive system for simplified communication between employees, departments, and partners.

Continue reading keys to success when planning ERP data migration:

ERP data migration together

ERP data champion

A key factor in the success or failure of ERP data migration is the presence of internal data advocates. This person is responsible for data capture and helps transition large amounts of data from the old legacy systems to the new ERP. A data champion is usually a long-term company employee who understands the current database internally and externally and can communicate effectively across departments to develop data collection processes. The role of the data champion involves advancing the project until every piece of data is successfully imported into the new ERP.

Data Champions understand the context of a company's legacy systems and can navigate throughout the organization

As a company insider, data champions understand the context of a company's legacy systems and can navigate throughout the organization to track down domain knowledge experts who understand the details. The work of data advocates will begin with a review of existing systems and interviews with employees to identify the source records for each type of data. After organizing the collected data into a structured worksheet with the required fields and formats for each data object, the data advocate will be involved in importing the data into ERP, testing and validating, and training employees to use the new system.