Making a Software Change: Data Migration Done Right

Deploying new software is a common task in today’s digital world. With that comes the unfortunate necessity of changing from one software to another. Whether it be for increased feature scope, end of software life, or simple budgeting purposes, sooner or later every fitness club will find that they need to make a change.

Assuming that you’ve already selected the software you want to use, making the change is the next step. Unless you’re handing off the keys to an outside company entirely, you’ll need to at least be aware of the key steps that go into creating a clean cutover with the software, regardless of what it does for your company:

Identify responsibilities - The who, the what, the when.

Develop the plan - No matter how capable or experienced the team handling your migration is, they should create a detailed plan for key milestones, safety procedures, and quality checks.

Create the mapping - By mapping out common data elements and common workflows between the old software and the new, you can save yourself and your team from the steep learning curve that comes with using any new tool.

Backup your data - This is one of the most important steps that is commonly missed during a data migration. Regardless of how confident the tech team performing the migration is, make sure you have a tested backup and rollback plan available.

Migration and quality checks - With all of the above complete, you can now execute the migration and cutover. Immediately following the migration, make sure to run any quality checks you planned in step two.

Step 1: Identifying Responsibilities

Identifying whose responsibility each part of the migration belongs to is a key step that is often overlooked. As migrations will frequently involve two or even three parties (the business, the new software vendor, and sometimes the previous software vendor), you need to establish key details for each of the major parts of the work.

Start by identifying everybody involved. You should have a clear point of contact for each separate entity involved and a clear chain of escalation in case something goes wrong. Next, agree upon who is performing what. Oftentimes the new software vendor will handle the data itself, but the mappings might be yours to sort out. Project management can fall on either side of the fence, but the business owner is almost always responsible for determining how to train their team on the new software. Establish all of this in writing so that there is no confusion about who needs to be working on which part of the migration.

Lastly, write out your timeline. While deadlines are notorious for slipping, having a target date in mind for project completion will allow you to receive feedback during the planning phase on feasibility as well as allow you to measure whether or not you are on-track throughout the change.

Step 2: Develop the Plan

Once you have all of your key stakeholders established, get everybody in agreement with a formal execution plan. For common changes, such as from one major CRM provider to another, it may be tempting to skip this step. While that may go smoothly, nine times out of ten you’ll be wishing you had taken an extra hour to do more planning in advance.

The key parts of an execution plan should all contain key goals, technical safety notes, and target delivery dates. The three parts are:

Pre-Deployment Preparation Steps

Deployment Steps

Post-Deployment Steps

Pre-deployment steps are the first and most time-consuming part of the plan. They include any relevant data mappings, integration details, and back-up protocols. The deployment steps are often the most complex; they involve installation of the new component, system connections, data movement, quality assurances, and a non-disruptive cutover. The post-deployment steps are the easiest, as they are the least time-sensitive and typically only include monitoring for stability and the decommissioning of any deprecated software.

Step 3: Create the Mapping

Here at GroeFit, we take data seriously - if you haven’t had a chance, check out our article on data warehouses to get an idea of what it means to have good data. However, data mapping is only one piece of your software migration and will often be handled by professionals.

The part of the mapping you are most likely to be responsible for as a business owner is the workflow mapping. This is the non-technical documentation for your staff to know how they should engage with the new product. This vital step will allow you to keep morale high during a potentially turbulent change period. While nobody likes having to form new habits, creating a workflow mapping from the old procedures to the new allows your team to quickly understand and interact with your new software.

Step 4: Backup Your Data

Your data is too valuable to risk losing to a failed migration. If you take note of only one thing in this article, let it be this: Backing up your data before starting a migration is the single most important step in a software change. Studies estimate the cost of lost data to be in the millions of dollars every year. A simple backup and rollback procedure can save your company from this all too common risk.

When creating your backup plan, follow these three rules:

Store your backup in two different ways - one local and one offsite. This protects against both major system lockouts and against local disasters.

Test your backups. A backup is only useful if you can use it to recover your system. Your backup has no purpose until you’ve verified that it is functional, correct, and complete.

Destroy your backups at a preset milestone. An entire copy of your company’s data is something incredibly valuable. Once you are sure you no longer need it, dispose of your backup so that it cannot fall into the wrong hands.

Finally, make sure you have a clear rollback procedure that makes use of your data backup. Migrations can fail for many reasons, some of which are outside of your control. Whether it’s the power going out, a bug in the migration code, or simple human error, deployments can fail. Only a proper rollback procedure can minimize downtime and save your business from being stuck without a functioning system.

Step 5: Migration and Quality Checks

If you have followed all the steps prior to this, your migration should be smooth and painless. The day-of execution will be as easy as starting the process and waiting for it to complete.

Once your migration has completed, the only major task left is checking that the quality of the new system meets your expectations. Quality checks can come in two flavors: data quality and system health. While the team performing the data movement should have built in data quality checks, it’s still a good idea for you to spot check some common elements between the old system and the new system to make sure everything is correct.

For system health, you should be able to check whatever self-diagnosis tool your software has or view the resource usage of the device. Test out common workflows and verify that everything works as you expect. Don’t be afraid to reach out to the vendor if you encounter anything you’re unsure of - they’ll be happy to help you with any questions you have, especially following a new installation. Being proactive in testing your software functionality will ensure that you don’t run into a system error or other problem when you’re using it in the field, saving you time and reputation for customer-facing applications.

Conclusion

Software migrations don’t have to be long, painful processes. The GroeFit team’s years of experience handling data and integrations can attest to that. If you keep these key steps in mind, your migration can be easy, clean, and lossless. Don’t let poor planning and untested backups bring your system down - the work you put in ahead of time will pay huge returns when the time for cutover arrives.

Like what you read? GroeFit is a company specializing in data and analytics for the fitness space. We offer computer vision solutions and integration services to companies like yours - sign up today!