Generally, when I sit down to write a blog post, I will create a mind map to capture the main points I want to bring out. Once I had done that with the central topic of “Migrating Systems”, it was so large with so many nodes that I thought it would be better to break this up into multiple posts, instead of one really large one.
Anyone who has worked in technology long enough, rather from a user’s or implementer’s perspective, has had to deal with a system migration. Maybe even multiple migrations. There are different types, degrees, and perspectives concerning system migration.
Different Flavors of Migration
- Type – Migrating your system (hardware or software)
- Degree
- Minor upgrade (e.g., moving from V2.3.1 to V2.4)
- Major upgrade (e.g., Artifacts don’t migrate directly from the old to the new platform, everything needs to be looked at and tested)
- New technology stack (e.g., moving from non-cloud based to cloud-based)
- Perspective
- Your internal business units
- Your external trading partners
- Your perspective
- Things to consider
- Do you want to make everything transparent to your users? If you migrate to a different platform, you may decide that you don’t want your users (internal or external) to make any changes. This is where you will need to get your networking team involved.
- Do you want to do a “big-bang” migration or break it up into smaller pieces?
- Migrating user accounts. Usernames may not be difficult to get ahold of, but passwords may be difficult.
- Do you take the opportunity to clean up your software artifacts and leave the clutter behind?
- Will your important customers take the time to test with you on your timeline? Everyone has their own priorities and vacation plans.
- Degree
- Type – Trading partner migrating their system (hardware or software)
- Degree
- Minor upgrade (e.g., moving from V2.3.1 to V2.4)
- Major upgrade (e.g., Artifacts don’t migrate directly from the old to the new platform, everything needs to be looked at and tested)
- New technology stack (e.g., moving from non-cloud based to the cloud)
- Perspective
- Your perspective
- Your trading partner’s perspective (don’t assume anything)
- Things to consider
- Timeline
- Testing
- File naming conventions
- Who sends and who receives data
- Directory structures
- If anything changes from your perspective, it can quickly become a huge deal.
- Degree
Generally speaking, the EDI group sits in the background, and nobody ever notices us. The only time we get noticed is when things stop working as expected. During a system migration, regardless of the degree, we want to make sure that we continue to go unnoticed. Even though migrations can sometimes be technically complex and challenging, it would still not be a good time to bring unwanted attention to yourself or your team.
Topics
Below are the main topics I will address. I will create links as the topics are covered with other blog posts. I will post more frequently than every other week to complete this in a timely fashion.