Data migration can be a complex process, especially when moving to a new system like Salesforce.com. In this article, we’ll explore 3 common Salesforce.com Data Migration Issues that you should avoid at all costs. Whether it’s poor project planning, communication gaps, or lack of engagement from business stakeholders, these challenges can all contribute to a less-than-successful migration. But with the right approach, Salesforce.com Data Migration can be a smooth and efficient process.
Issue 1: Poor project planning and expectations
One of the biggest challenges of Salesforce.com Data Migration is poor project planning and expectations. Without clear communication and process gaps between the Salesforce development, business, and data migration teams, a successful migration becomes less likely. In order to avoid this pitfall, it’s important to establish crystal clear expectations between all parties involved.
- Salesforce team and data migration specialists need to communicate changes to the Salesforce.com data model in the final weeks leading up to go-live. This sets best practices for managing Salesforce and prevents un-intended, time consuming issues.
- Data migration specialists and business stakeholders need to agree what data is migrated from the old business app into Salesforce.com. In some cases this mapping exercise will surface missing fields or functionality.
- Delivery team and business stakeholders should work together to ensure training occurs with real data if you are moving your entire process from an old system into Salesforce.com.
Issue 2: Attempt to fix too many data quality while moving data
When migrating data from one business application to another, such as Salesforce.com, it is important to address any data quality issues that may have been previously ignored. This is because automations and validation rules in the new system may highlight these issues. To ensure that the data migration process is as smooth as possible, it is best to perform extensive data quality adjustments in the source system or after the data has been migrated.
Additionally, Salesforce.com offers a vast ecosystem of solutions and apps, one of which is Cloudingo, which can be a valuable tool for data cleanup during migration. By cleaning the data at the source or after migration, you can ensure that the data is accurate and consistent in your new system.
Issue 3: Manual, human initiated data movement
If your Salesforce.com developers or consultant suggests using DataLoader and Excel for your data migration, it is important to keep in mind that this approach is definitely not be suitable for complex migrations. It is crucial to thoroughly test the migration process in a sandbox environment, running end-to-end migration many times before migrating to production. With that said, you also shouldn’t need to spend a lot of money on technology to migrate your data. Here are some free data tools for Salesforce.com that you can share with your tech team.
Have a Salesforce Data Migration Blueprint for Success
There are lots of resources on the web including the ones we provide for free. Here are key components that you should build into your own successful data migration plan.
- Project timeline + milestones
Having clear milestone and working backwards from “go-live” no less than 6 weeks will help you avoid under-scoping your data migration into Salesforce.com.
- Data migration object inventory
Scorecard to track and report progress and issues through the entire migration lifecycle
- Data mapping docs
Excel / Google Sheets with data mapping and definitions is how a lot of data mapping gets complete. Now we are working on Data Tools Pro free utility to help with the work.
- End to end migration checklist
Complete, documented data migration checklist of all steps that need to occur for migration.
- Business continuity plan
Not typically a part of data migration but something that helps align expectations for what happens on day 1. There are no-redos on migration once users start updating data in Salesforce.com.
More Salesforce Data Migration Resources
