Are You Ready for Your Next Migration?

Are You Ready for Your Next Migration?

By Liqueo Our Ways of Working Senior Consultant, Joey Flint. 

Our Liqueo consultants are often called in to support new software migrations. Some of these engagements start once delays have already impacted delivery timeframes and we help organisations get back on track. Having just completed supporting the delivery of yet another successful migration, I thought it might be useful to highlight what organisations can do prior to their migrations to ensure that they are in the best possible position to ensure success. Organisations often fall into the trap of assuming that software vendors will take care of all aspects of their migrations. Vendors however, are experts in the particular software solution only. It is up to the individual organisation to ensure that they put their own house in order to ensure success and get the most value out of their migration.

Understand what “good” looks like for your organisation

Organisations often neglect gathering requirements when it comes to software migrations. Don’t rely on your software vendor to understand your specific requirements. This will often cause confusion mid-migration, when new or different software features cause delays, as testers or business analysts try to reverse-engineer current BAU with new software migrations.

Shift testing to the left

Involve your testers in your requirement gathering. Test early and continuously. Encourage a culture in which everyone owns “quality”. We too often still see testing shifted towards the end of the migration without clear acceptance criteria, due to a lack of requirements and an understanding of what ‘good’ look like.

Agree clear ownership

Along with having a clear understanding of what ‘good’ looks like, it is also vital to understand who is responsible for defining this. This is particularly important when it comes to Data Stewardship. It is likely that during your migration you will have to make multiple calls and being clear on roles and responsibilities will mean that you can pivot quickly and inspect and adapt as required.

Quality in… Value out

Migrating to a new software version is the ideal opportunity to focus on Data Quality and to improve your Data Operations. Moving to a new software version will not improve your Data Quality, to the contrary, it will often expose existing flaws, lack of requirements and lack of ownership. Use the time before your next migration to review your Data Operations and ensure that you put yourself in the best possible position to be able to maximise any new capabilities that your upgrade will offer.

Outcomes-based collaborative delivery

Lastly, but crucially ensure that you put the best ways of working in place to prepare yourself for success. Put a lean collaborative delivery framework in place that is organised by outcome rather than reinforces existing organisational structures, vendors, and silos. For more information on how we can help you achieve success, please contact us .