Quick answer: Move less data, clean it first and test the migration more than once. Most migration problems come from bringing old mess into a new system.
Common mistakes
- Migrating everything: Decide what you really need. Old, inactive customers and products rarely belong in the new system.
- Skipping cleanup: Duplicates, missing fields and inconsistent names become visible problems once they are in the ERP.
- No owner for the data: Someone from the business should confirm that each data set is correct.
- One-shot migration: A single attempt on launch weekend leaves no room to fix errors.
A safer approach
- List the data sets: customers, suppliers, products, prices, opening balances and open orders.
- Clean and standardize them in spreadsheets before import.
- Do a trial migration into a test environment and check totals against the old system.
- Repeat until results match, then plan the final migration and a freeze on changes in the old system.
Check the numbers
Compare record counts, stock quantities and account balances before and after. Finance and operations should both sign off.
FAQ
Should historical transactions be migrated?
Often only summaries or opening balances are needed. Keep the old system or an archive available for reference.