The last three parts of our conversion blog (see all of the posts here) go hand-in-hand and require the most time on the project plan.

Development - During development of the conversion routines, you may want to consider using error handling standards based on corporate standards. This is where data profiling can really help out. There is nothing worse than running thru 3 million rows of conversion records and hitting a snag with data that did not convert properly.

Please, do not change the database to allow the errors in the data. It will just make life harder later on. Instead decide how to conform, and convert the data based on our new application, and consider data profiling as your friend.

Implementation - Implementation should be completed multiple times. Some companies require three cutover to production practices before final implementation.

I like this approach, but it must be well thought out, data needs to be in the right environments, and every one of the team member on board and ready to work based on the rollout plan. Consider a post-implementation review after each cutover practice.

Ongoing Support – Yes, this application will require on-going support. This is hard for quite a few companies that are project oriented. You still need a team for on-going changes, enhancements and fixes. I like to keep the "fix-it" team intact for a few weeks after cut-over to production, just in case there are any issues.

Well, happy conversions, and I look forward to our new format for 2015!