<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
is	O
the	O
process	O
of	O
selecting	O
,	O
preparing	O
,	O
extracting	O
,	O
and	O
transforming	O
data	O
and	O
permanently	O
transferring	O
it	O
from	O
one	O
computer	B-General_Concept
storage	I-General_Concept
system	O
to	O
another	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Additionally	O
,	O
the	O
validation	O
of	O
migrated	O
data	O
for	O
completeness	O
and	O
the	O
decommissioning	O
of	O
legacy	O
data	O
storage	O
are	O
considered	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
entire	O
data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
process	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
key	O
consideration	O
for	O
any	O
system	O
implementation	O
,	O
upgrade	O
,	O
or	O
consolidation	O
,	O
and	O
it	O
is	O
typically	O
performed	O
in	O
such	O
a	O
way	O
as	O
to	O
be	O
as	O
automated	O
as	O
possible	O
,	O
freeing	O
up	O
human	O
resources	O
from	O
tedious	O
tasks	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
occurs	O
for	O
a	O
variety	O
of	O
reasons	O
,	O
including	O
server	O
or	O
storage	O
equipment	O
replacements	O
,	O
maintenance	O
or	O
upgrades	O
,	O
application	O
migration	O
,	O
website	O
consolidation	O
,	O
disaster	O
recovery	O
,	O
and	O
data	B-Operating_System
center	I-Operating_System
relocation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
,	O
"	O
nearly	O
40	O
percent	O
of	O
data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
projects	O
were	O
over	O
time	O
,	O
over	O
budget	O
,	O
or	O
failed	O
entirely.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
such	O
,	O
to	O
achieve	O
an	O
effective	O
data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
,	O
proper	O
planning	O
is	O
critical	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
the	O
specifics	O
of	O
a	O
data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
plan	O
may	O
vary	O
—	O
sometimes	O
significantly	O
—	O
from	O
project	O
to	O
project	O
,	O
the	O
computing	O
company	O
IBM	O
suggests	O
there	O
are	O
three	O
main	O
phases	O
to	O
most	O
any	O
data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
project	O
:	O
planning	O
,	O
migration	O
,	O
and	O
post-migration	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
applications	O
of	O
moderate	O
to	O
high	O
complexity	O
,	O
these	O
data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
phases	O
may	O
be	O
repeated	O
several	O
times	O
before	O
the	O
new	O
system	O
is	O
considered	O
to	O
be	O
fully	O
validated	O
and	O
deployed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Feasible	O
migration	O
and	O
back-out	O
scenarios	O
are	O
developed	O
,	O
as	O
well	O
as	O
the	O
associated	O
tests	O
,	O
automation	O
scripts	O
,	O
mappings	B-General_Concept
,	O
and	O
procedures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
cleansing	O
and	O
transformation	O
requirements	O
are	O
also	O
gauged	O
for	O
data	O
formats	O
to	O
improve	O
data	O
quality	O
and	O
to	O
eliminate	O
redundant	B-General_Concept
or	O
obsolete	O
information	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
If	O
all	O
is	O
deemed	O
well	O
,	O
migration	O
begins	O
,	O
including	O
the	O
primary	O
acts	O
of	O
data	B-General_Concept
extraction	I-General_Concept
,	O
where	O
data	O
is	O
read	O
from	O
the	O
old	O
system	O
,	O
and	O
data	O
loading	O
,	O
where	O
data	O
is	O
written	O
to	O
the	O
new	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Post-migration	O
:	O
After	O
data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
,	O
results	O
are	O
subjected	O
to	O
data	B-General_Concept
verification	I-General_Concept
to	O
determine	O
whether	O
data	O
was	O
accurately	O
translated	O
,	O
is	O
complete	O
,	O
and	O
supports	O
processes	O
in	O
the	O
new	O
system	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
During	O
verification	O
,	O
there	O
may	O
be	O
a	O
need	O
for	O
a	O
parallel	O
run	O
of	O
both	O
systems	O
to	O
identify	O
areas	O
of	O
disparity	O
and	O
forestall	O
erroneous	O
data	B-General_Concept
loss	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
is	O
a	O
difference	O
between	O
data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
and	O
data	B-General_Concept
integration	I-General_Concept
activities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
is	O
a	O
project	O
by	O
means	O
of	O
which	O
data	O
will	O
be	O
moved	O
or	O
copied	O
from	O
one	O
environment	O
to	O
another	O
,	O
and	O
removed	O
or	O
decommissioned	O
in	O
the	O
source	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	B-General_Concept
integration	I-General_Concept
,	O
by	O
contrast	O
,	O
is	O
a	O
permanent	O
part	O
of	O
the	O
IT	B-Architecture
architecture	I-Architecture
,	O
and	O
is	O
responsible	O
for	O
the	O
way	O
data	O
flows	O
between	O
the	O
various	O
applications	O
and	O
data	O
stores	O
—	O
and	O
is	O
a	O
process	O
rather	O
than	O
a	O
project	O
activity	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Data	O
is	O
stored	O
on	O
various	O
media	O
in	O
files	B-Operating_System
or	O
databases	B-Application
,	O
and	O
is	O
generated	O
and	O
consumed	O
by	O
software	B-Application
applications	I-Application
,	O
which	O
in	O
turn	O
support	O
business	O
processes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
will	O
result	O
in	O
having	O
to	O
move	O
physical	O
blocks	O
of	O
data	O
from	O
one	O
tape	O
or	O
disk	O
to	O
another	O
,	O
often	O
using	O
virtualization	B-Application
techniques	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
latter	O
case	O
is	O
less	O
likely	O
to	O
require	O
a	O
physical	O
data	B-General_Concept
migration	I-General_Concept
,	O
but	O
this	O
can	O
happen	O
with	O
major	O
upgrades	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
However	O
,	O
some	O
modern	O
applications	O
are	O
written	O
to	O
be	O
almost	O
entirely	O
agnostic	O
to	O
the	O
database	O
technology	O
,	O
so	O
a	O
change	O
from	O
Sybase	B-Application
,	O
MySQL	B-Application
,	O
IBM	B-Application
Db2	I-Application
or	O
SQL	B-Application
Server	I-Application
to	O
Oracle	B-General_Concept
should	O
only	O
require	O
a	O
testing	O
cycle	O
to	O
be	O
confident	O
that	O
both	O
functional	O
and	O
non-functional	O
performance	O
has	O
not	O
been	O
adversely	O
affected	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Changing	O
application	O
vendor	O
—	O
for	O
instance	O
a	O
new	O
CRM	O
or	O
ERP	O
platform	O
—	O
will	O
inevitably	O
involve	O
substantial	O
transformation	O
as	O
almost	O
every	O
application	O
or	O
suite	O
operates	O
on	O
its	O
own	O
specific	O
data	O
model	O
and	O
also	O
interacts	O
with	O
other	O
applications	O
and	O
systems	O
within	O
the	O
enterprise	B-Architecture
application	I-Architecture
integration	I-Architecture
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Application	B-Application
programming	I-Application
interfaces	I-Application
(	O
APIs	B-Application
)	O
may	O
be	O
supplied	O
by	O
vendors	O
to	O
protect	O
the	O
integrity	O
of	O
the	O
data	O
they	O
have	O
to	O
handle	O
.	O
</s>
