Data Migration
As part of the project to transform an application to a new technical architecture, the various data structures in the application must be analysed and loaded to the Q-TE repository. Q-TE understands the metadata - content, context and structure - of the applications in question. It is then possible to develop a largely automated facility to map data from legacy to the new (Q-DMS).
Key Features
- Accommodates any client source database irrespective of whether it is relational, hierarchical, networked or straight flat files. Includes VSAM, DB2, Oracle, IDMS, IMS, SUPRA, Sybase, Informix, SQL Server and Adabas.
- Can accommodate and combine source data from multiple database structures i.e. clients can migrate and merge data from multiple applications to a single new deployment.
- Can deploy to different target database managers.
- The key input needed from the client about its source application is a report detailing the Data Definition Language (usually known as DDL but the term can vary from database to database).
- A lexicon is developed which encompasses all source and target application data names.
- Q-DMS is an iterative process. The initial pass analyses and suggests all "candidate" data mappings and standards rule. Following that, refinements are made and Q-DMS is re-run until everything meets the required standards for loading to the new data model.
- Supports overrides for specialised non-generic data manipulation rules - i.e. the client can manually override the standard manipulation rules.
- Provides program support for data cleansing both automatically if the manipulation rules can be defined, and/or manually by subject matter experts (SMEs) if required.
- Retrofitting of data and database changes made by the client during the data migration project is a simple matter of taking a completely new cut of the data and DDL and re-processing it through Q-DMS (often an overnight process).
- Where appropriate, clients can access Q-DMS outputs remotely.
Benefits
The high level of automation drives the following business benefits for Quipoz clients whether existing or new:
- Reduced dependence on SMEs - older applications are usually poorly documented and often only understood by a small number of client personnel.
- The elapsed timeframe to prove and test the data migration is significantly faster and should no longer be on the overall project's critical path.
- Q-DMS can track data usage through the application code where required i.e. poor/inconsistent data naming, or short data variables with names that have little or no meaning.
- Speedy retrofitting of changes and minimal freeze periods.
- Most of the Q-DMS work can be undertaken off-site.
Contact Quipoz for more information