Data Conversion

Transferring from an existing IT system to a new IT system often requires a data conversion. This means that the data from the old system must be transformed to fit the new system.

New systems normally offer optimized and improved methods for data maintenance. These possibilities should be considered when planning the conversion; otherwise you will not gain the full benefits of your investment in the new IT system.

A data set conversion should not be a “one-to-one” operation; instead, it can also include a series of processes which optimize the master database, for example:

• Identify and consolidate duplicates, making sure that you start out with a clean database in the new IT system;
• Restructure and enhance the data, so that new methods may be optimally used;
• Verify data, to make sure that all data is located correctly in the new system.

If the conversion includes consolidating data from multiple sources, then the processes listed above are even more important. It is very easy to combine two good databases to make one bad database!

A conversion example

The present system includes a list of customers, with the following types of data:

Name	Address	City	Contact	Type
High North Inc.	102 Main Street	Lodnon	Peter Nielsen	Business
High North Ltd.	102 Main Street	London NW1 2AB	John Hancock	Business
High North		Lodnon NW1 2AB	Ella Peterson	Ella Peterson
Jasper Kristensen	104 Main Street	London NW1 2AB		Private
Jasper Christianson	104 Main Street	London NW1 2AB		Private
Baguettes Ltd.	106 Main Street	London		Private

The new system will have enhanced capabilities: It offers a contact list that permits adding multiple contact names for each customer, a separate postal code field, and also a field for the business industry branch.

An automatic (dumb) conversion would result in this:

Customer	Address	Postal code	Type	Industry	Contacts
High North Inc.	102 Main Street		Business		Peter Nielsen
High North Ltd.	High North Ltd.	NW1 2AB	Business		John Hancock
High North		NW1 2AB	Business		Ella Peterson
Jasper Kristensen	104 Main Street	NW1 2AB	Private
Jasper Christianson	104 Main Street	NW1 2AB	Private
Baguettes Ltd.	106 Main Street		Private

Contrast this with an intelligent conversion, which would produce this result:

Customer	Address	Postal code	Type	Business	Contacts
High North Ltd.	102 Main Street	NW1 2AB	Business	Insurance	Peter Nielsen John Hancock Ella Peterson
Jasper Christianson	104 Main Street	NW1 2AB	Private
Baguettes Ltd.	106 Main Street	NW1 2AB	Business	Bakery

For many years, Omikron has assisted customers to manage secure and error-free conversions of databases containing customers, leads, suppliers, and products.

If you are considering a system conversion, or need to consolidate data from multiple IT systems, please do not hesitate to contact Omikron by calling +49-7231-12597-0.

You may read more about merging corporate databases by clicking here.

Would you like additional information or a customized offer?

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