• the supplier’s track record in data migration projects
• the level of co-operation to be expected from the source system supplier,
  given that it may be losing business as a result of the migration. Under such circumstances any support required from the source system supplier may
  come at a high premium
• the existence of any in-built data migration functionality within either system, but especially the target system.

The supplier of the target system may well be keen to incorporate data migration
into an overall implementation package for the new system. Whilst the supplier’s qualifications for installing its own system are undeniable, its knowledge of the source data is unlikely to be better than that of the client’s own staff. Moreover, the supplier may not have any particular experience of data migration. Even where a system is presented as having in-built data migration functionality, the reality is often that an existing interface has been re-badged as a data migration module, a purpose to
which it may not be best suited.

Given potential pitfalls like these, an organisation undertaking a data migration may benefit from the advice of independent specialists such as ATD. We have participated in several large-scale migration projects in which the source or the target system relied on external suppliers, and our consultants have been successful both in managing those suppliers’ involvement within the respective projects, and in liaising effectively between supplier and client.