Salesforce Migration

Salesforce Data Migration Services

Data migration is an unavoidable part of the process if someone chooses to move to a new platform. When it comes to Salesforce then, there are several unique processes with their peculiar complexities that need transferring as well. Irrespective of the nature of the data migration you wish to carry, our final goal is to improve the competitive advantages as well as increase the efficiency of corporate performance.

Salesforce Data Migration should be a priority before you go live. That way you will have all your existing data from your initial legacy system into the Salesforce Cloud without losing any important factor. The good part is that migration is a one-time process which means that if you complete it efficiently once, you don’t have to do it again and your processes will keep running smoothly.

However, that also means that any kind of mistake will mean you will have to go through the entire process all over again. Risks of customers’ sensitive information being lost are equally significant if any mistake takes place in data migration. A little caution will go a long way in saving time and money. To make sure that there is no such risk, here are some best practices RT Labs undertakes when it comes to Data Migration.

Recognize And Categorize The Required Fields:

The first step we take in the process is to identify the fields that are required to be migrated. Once we know what fields are those, then they need to be further divided into three levels, based on their significance for your business. They may be titled as Required, Optional, and System Generated fields. If there are still more fields required, then you may divide them into Legacy IDs and Business rules.

Decide The Order Of Migration

One thing that must be looked out for with Salesforce, is that the order of migration is not as much up to you as it is on the relationships between objects and dependencies. For example, all accounts have specific owners and opportunities which means that you will have to load users first, followed by accounts, and finally the opportunities linked to those accounts.

Now, in a Salesforce application, these interlinked relationships are apparent through their related lists and lookups whereas IDs, also called foreign keys, create relationships in a database.

Clear Instructions For Users

The first step users need to do is to create a workbook outlining their data migration processes. This would be the manual containing the scope of migration and the data mapping for each object that needs to be migrated. Use a simple template so you don’t make the process more complicated than it needs to be. Map each object in the template with multiple tabs including a DM checklist and storage requirements. Once you have defined the scope of the migration process, you can then move onto tailor and customize the list as per your personalized business requirements. RT Labs helps its users migrate from one platform to another by offering its services every step of the way.

Things We Consider Before Data Migration:

We at RT Labs are well aware of the considerations that we need to make when migrating your data:

Create and set up a system administrator profile with a user for data migration
Complete configuration of system
Setting up profiles and roles
Make sure that you also store all possible legacy identities for a Salesforce record. This will be instrumental if you need to troubleshoot later
Also ensure that all your record types and pick lists are defined
If you think it will be used in Salesforce, you will also need to set up every individual currency and product combination in the price books. This is important for loading into the standard price book first.
Finally, proper mapping process and technique needs to be mapped.

Things To Consider While Loading Data

RT Lab’s goes one step further to ensure that the Data Loading goes without a hitch:

Optimize your data after cleaning it but before loading it. Standardizing, cleaning, de-duping, and validating source data would always behoove you so make sure to go through it before loading your source data.
If you want better throughput, use bulk API. This will be especially helpful in avoiding slow load speed if you are working with large data volumes.
Defer what you can and disable what needs to be. To explain it further, once you have cleaned your data up to your satisfaction, move on to safely disable the processes that you would have in one place. This is important to insure against errors that are likely with batch loads in data entry, or even otherwise in case of human error. If these precautions are not taken beforehand, it can lead to complex triggers in the final process, which will at a minimum add a lot to your time requirements. Investigating any possible bugs is also recommended if you want to avoid a slow load.
Your calculations can consume a lot of time if you are migrating a large volume of data, therefore deferring the sharing of calculations will be beneficial.

RT Labs’ Tips For Data Migration

These tips and tricks are outlined to assist you in preparing and executing successful Salesforce data migration:

Define the scope of your project comprehensively and clearly.
The process builder you choose must be adept and aware of the source format as well as the required data format of target Salesforce.
Ensure that your migration process has the ability to identify and differentiate between failed and successful records. A usual method to do so is to have an extra column in a source table storing unique IDs of the target table. This will help you to see the number of errors in the first iteration and then re-executing the process over it, which will only pick up the failed records that are still to be migrated.
Use target profiling and auditing to actively refine the scope of the project.
Clean and clear your data to minimize the data that needs to be migrated in the first place.
All source data in the scope is to be profiled and audited before defining specifications for mapping.
Outline and dedicate a realistic project budget as well as a reasonable timeline depending on factors like data issues and the amount of data that needs to be loaded.
Keep an initial target to volume-test all data in the scope, and do so at the earliest at the unit level.

Salesforce Data Migration