Data Migration: A summary of my posts!

Over the last 3+ months, I have outlined my thoughts on data migration. In order to be successful with large scale implementations of business systems like (ERP, PLM, CRM, BPM etc.), data migration is a key element.

Data migration is often ignored and not enough attention is paid to this portion of the overall project.

The methodology I have outlined in these posts can be applied to a number of projects including data consolidation, server consolidation, migration from one application to another and the list goes on.

The key is to pay attention to the business needs and to make them successful by taking care of the technology and project management issues!

Good Luck.


1. Data Migration: Challenges & Joy!
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/07/data-migration-challenges-joy.html

2. Data Migration: Challenges & Joy!
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/07/data-migration-challenges-joy-part-2.html

3. Rules For Successful Data Migration
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/07/rules-for-successful-data-migration.html

4. Phases of Data migration
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/07/phases-of-data-migration.html

5. Phases of Data migration
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/07/phases-of-data-migration.html

6. Phases of Data migration: Analysis
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/07/phases-of-data-migration-analysis.html

7. Phases of Data migration: Design
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/07/phases-of-data-migration-design.html

8. Phases of Data migration: Test
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/08/phases-of-data-migration-test.html

9. Phases of Data migration: Validation
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/09/phases-of-data-migration-validation.html

10. Data migration: Risks
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/09/data-migration-risks.html

11. Tips for Successful Data Migration.
http://improveprocess.blogspot.com/2009/10/tips-for-successful-dat-migration.html

"Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are my own only and in no way represent the views, positions or opinions - expressed or implied - of my employer (present and past) "
"Please post your comments - Swati Ranganathan"

In Demand – Data Analytic & Reporting Skills

I recently came across a number of articles on the latest hot skill “Data Analytics”.

With the explosion of information in recent years, companies are under severe pressure to capture opportunities ( increase revenue, profit, efficiency and customers) within a limited time period. This has resulted in a substantial increase in positions responsible for data analytics in order to convert massive amount of information (user behavior trending, adoption, etc.) into meaningful data.

By focusing on the technology know-how or purely number crunching abilities, companies might not reap the benefits of hiring additional head count. The ideal hire profile should include good understanding of business operations and processes in order to translate the data into insights.

There has always been a need for people with good analytical skills who can transform information into meaningful strategies for the business to pursuer revenue/cost reduction opportunities…This skill in most cases cannot be taught in school or by courses offered by a number of institutions. This comes about by having hands on experience and innate curiosity and interest in the big picture.

Tips to those who are embarking on this career path, (1) focus on big picture (2) focus on interpreting results and presenting them from a business case (3) technology often changes, methodologies and sound logic rarely do…

For companies, embarking on business intelligence / Data warehouse solutions, focus on business needs and understand your current reporting capabilities and see if your current staff can support the current and future requirements…a new tool might not be productive by itself…a focused training / learning session on adopting best practices in data analysis and reporting might be of great benefit to your current employees and enable them to grow professionally.

"Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are my own only and in no way represent the views, positions or opinions - expressed or implied - of my employer (present and past) "
"Please post your comments - Swati Ranganathan"

Knowledge management

I have long been a proponent of knowledge management – documenting insights, experiences and lessons learnt so that we don’t reinvent the wheel. In most cases, organizations and individuals tend to forget the lessons learnt in the past…

Over the last two decades or so, with the advent of enhanced document, content and metadata management solutions (ERP, PDM, PLM, Sharepoint, etc.) organizations have been able to document their best practices and lessons learnt to enable faster collaboration, innovation and problem solving.

There have been challenges such as the (1) need to classify and tag knowledge,(2) the need to clearly document experiences so that relative newcomers can come up to speed, (3) ability to search and find relevant data amongst thousands of documents (4) enforce creators and audiences of knowledge sharing to use the knowledge management system and positive value over time.

I was surprised to read an article on “When Knowledge Management Hurts” from http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/vermeulen/2009/03/when-knowledge-management-hurt.html. An excerpt from this page “The advice to derive from this research? Shut down your expensive document databases; they tend to do more harm than good. They are a nuisance, impossible to navigate, and you can’t really store anything meaningful in them anyway, since real knowledge is quite impossible to put onto a piece of paper.”

I dug a little deeper and found “Does Knowledge Sharing Deliver on Its Promises?” from http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/article.cfm?articleid=1841. This article clearly identified some of the shortcomings and listed some reasons why! The key takeaways from this article (my $0.02) are:
The first key implication is that it is unsafe to assume that more knowledge sharing is always better.
The second key implication is that it unsafe to assume that the net effects of using even the right type of knowledge are always positive. Instead, the design of a project team affects its ability to achieve the desired advantages of knowledge sharing.

As long as we continue to generate data, we should be able to leverage this! This will mean that users, employees and organizations will need to step back and understand the value in maintaining knowledge and experience within their boundaries and implement steps to capture, share and use knowledge effectively.

"Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are my own only and in no way represent the views, positions or opinions - expressed or implied - of my employer (present and past) "
"Please post your comments - Swati Ranganathan"

Pareto Analysis

Pareto charts provide a tool for visualizing the Pareto principle, which states that a small set of problems (the "vital few") affecting a common outcome tend to occur much more frequently than the remainder (the "useful many"). A Pareto chart can be used to decide which subset of problems should be solved first, or which problems deserve the most attention.

The Pareto principle (also known as the 80-20 rule, the law of the vital few, and the principle of factor sparsity) states that, for many events, roughly 80% of the effects come from 20% of the causes. Vilfredo Pareto observed that 80% of the land in Italy was owned by 20% of the population.

This principle can be applied to quality improvement to the extent that a great majority of problems (80%) are produced by a few key causes (20%). If we correct these few key causes, we will have a greater probability of success. It is the basis for the Pareto diagram, one of the key tools used in total quality control and Six Sigma.

Step by step process:
1 List all elements of interest
2 Measure the elements, using same unit of measurement for each element.
3 Order the elements according to their measure
4 Calculate the percentage for each element out of the total measurement
5 Accumulate the percentage from top to bottom to equal 100%.
6 Create a bar and line graph, line representing cumulative percentage.
7 Work on the most important element first.



"Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are my own only and in no way represent the views, positions or opinions - expressed or implied - of my employer (present and past) "
"Please post your comments - Swati Ranganathan"

Marcel Proust on Discovery/Innovation

"The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes"

Do you see opportunities where others don't? Do you know where to look for new ideas?

On a personal note, I have found that this approach of "fresh eyes" is very useful!

"Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are my own only and in no way represent the views, positions or opinions - expressed or implied - of my employer (present and past) "
"Please post your comments - Swati Ranganathan"

Problem solving 101, Part 3.

Cause and Effect Diagrams were developed by Kauro Ishikawa of Tokyo University in 1943. Cause-and-effect diagrams or fish bone are used to list the many and varied causes that can be attributed to a problem. These diagrams can help identify the reasons why a process is not performing as intended or hoped.
Cause and Effect Diagrams help you to think through causes of a problem thoroughly. Cause and Effect Diagrams are also known as fish bone Diagrams, because a completed diagram can look like the skeleton of a fish.
How to Use the Tool:
Follow these steps to solve a problem with a Cause and Effect Diagram:
Identify the problem:
Write down the exact problem you face in detail. Where appropriate identify who is involved, what the problem is, and when and where it occurs. Write the problem in a box on the left hand side of a large sheet of paper. Draw a line across the paper horizontally from the box. This arrangement, looking like the head and spine of a fish, gives you space to develop ideas.
Work out the major factors involved:
Next identify the factors that may contribute to the problem. Draw lines off the spine for each factor, and label it. These may be people involved with the problem, systems, equipment, materials, external forces, etc. Try to draw out as many possible factors as possible. If you are trying to solve the problem as part of a group, then this may be a good time for some brainstorming. Using the ‘Fish bone’ analogy, the factors you find can be thought of as the bones of the fish.
Identify possible causes:
For each of the factors you considered in stage 2, brainstorm possible causes of the problem that may be related to the factor. Show these as smaller lines coming off the ‘bones’ of the fish. Where a cause is large or complex, then it may be best to break the it down into sub-causes. Show these as lines coming off each cause line.
Analyze your diagram:
By this stage you should have a diagram showing all the possible causes of your problem that you can think of. Depending on the complexity and importance of the problem, you can now investigate the most likely causes further. This may involve setting up investigations, carrying out surveys, etc. These will be designed to test whether your assessments are correct.
Strengths
Rigorous analysis which overlooks no possible problem source
creates an easy to understand visual representation of the causes, categories of causes, and the problem statement
Weakness
The simplicity of a fishbone diagram can be both its strength and its weakness. As a weakness, the simplicity of the fishbone diagram may make it difficult to represent the truly interrelated nature of problems and causes in some very complex situations.

"Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are my own only and in no way represent the views, positions or opinions - expressed or implied - of my employer (present and past) "
"Please post your comments - Swati Ranganathan"

Problem solving 101, Part 2.

In early 1990’s Ford Motor Company introduced a standardized set of steps to be followed in solving problems by quality improvement teams within the company. These eight step process of problem solving is known as 8D (Eight disciplines). It is the basis for all subsequent problem solving technique developments such as 6D, 7D, 9D and 10d.
The 8D is a methodology for product and process improvement, with an emphasis on team synergy.
The 8 steps are
D1. Establish the Team. Assemble a cross-functional team that has the knowledge, time, authority and skill to solve the problem and implement corrective actions. And set the structure, goals, roles, procedures and relationships to establish an effective team.
D2. Describe the Problem. Define the problem in measurable terms. Specify the internal or external customer problem by describing it in specific, quantifiable terms: Who, What, When, Where, Why, How, How many.
D3. Implement Containment Actions. Define and implement those intermediate actions that will protect any customer from the problem until permanent corrective action is implemented. Verify the effectiveness of the containment actions with data.
D4. Identify and Verify Root Causes. Identify all potential causes that could explain why the problem occurred. Test each potential cause against the problem description and data.
D5. Choose and Verify Corrective Actions. Confirm that the selected corrective actions will resolve the problem for the customer and will not cause undesirable side effects.
D6. Implement and Validate Permanent Corrective Actions. Choose ongoing controls to ensure the root cause is eliminated.
D7. Prevent Recurrence. Identify and implement steps that need to be taken to prevent the same or a similar problem from occurring in the future:
D8. Congratulate the Team. Recognize the collective efforts of your team. Publicize your achievement. Share your knowledge and learning throughout the organization
Strengths
• Effective approach at finding a root cause, developing proper actions to eliminate root causes, and implementing the permanent corrective action.
Weakness
• 8D training can be time consuming and difficult to develop.
Usage
• Major non-conformances
• Customer complaints
• Reoccurring issues

"Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are my own only and in no way represent the views, positions or opinions - expressed or implied - of my employer (present and past) "
"Please post your comments - Swati Ranganathan"

Problem solving 101, Part 1.

The first step in problem solving is to understand the symptoms and then try to identify the root cause. There are many methodologies widely used. The “5 Whys” method is a simple method and can be effective in most cases.

For most problems, we can get to the root cause by drilling into proposed explanations by repeatedly asking "Why?" The 5 Whys method was developed by the Toyota Motor Corporation. It is based on the observation that five iterations of asking "Why?" is usually enough to get to the root cause of most real world problems.
Example
The following example demonstrates the basic process: My car will not start. (the problem)
Why? - The battery is dead. (first why)
Why? - The alternator is not functioning. (second why)
Why? - The alternator belt has broken. (third why)
Why? - The alternator belt was well beyond its useful service life and has never been replaced. (fourth why)
Why? - I have not been maintaining my car according to the recommended service schedule. (fifth why, root cause)

Strengths
1. It helps to quickly determine the root cause of a problem
2. It is easy to learn and apply

Weakness
1. The results are not repeatable. We may well end up with different results depending on who runs the exercise.
2. Inability to go beyond the investigator's current knowledge - can't find causes that they don't already know

Getting to the true root cause can be tricky to a beginner! but continued practice of this exercise help. Don't stop at the first or second simple answer, or be blinded by the symptoms or settle for the first ‘apparent’ cause. The first ‘cause’ offered is almost never the real root cause.

Even though this method was popularized by Toyota, this method of inquiry has been around for ages. I remember a poem/song my wife sings to our son.

For want of a nail a shoe was lost,
for want of a shoe a horse was lost,
for want of a horse a rider was lost,
for want of a rider an army was lost,
for want of an army a battle was lost,
for want of a battle the war was lost,
for want of the war the kingdom was lost,

"Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed here are my own only and in no way represent the views, positions or opinions - expressed or implied - of my employer (present and past) "
"Please post your comments - Swati Ranganathan"