One Migration, Start to Finish

A migration is comprised of eight stages, with each stage concluding at a gate. A gate represents a checkpoint with an owner and a written response: someone agrees in writing that the stage is complete, allowing the next stage to begin. Two emails, one from gate 1 and another from gate 6, are presented in full. The engagement involves moving 1,482 client records, 58,740 visits, and 6,310 documents, some of which are paper.

Kickoff occurred on 23 February 2026, and go-live was scheduled for 3 August 2026. Mid-cutover, representing the actual move, occurred mid-way through the process. The client had named their Data Owner, J. Okafor, to address any data-related questions. The kickoff and scope stage took place from 24 February to 13 March. The client identified J. Okafor as the Data Owner, and the exclusion list was established, removing records from before 2019 from the migration.

Gate 1 was signed by A. Reyes, the Client PM, on 13 March. The profiling stage occurred from 16 March to 1 April. Two significant findings emerged during profiling: 1,204 client records lacked a date of birth, which was a required field in the target system, and the service type was a free text field with multiple variations. The profiling report and the decisions made from it were signed by A. Reyes on 1 April.

The field mapping stage took place from 2 April to 1 May, during which the client requested scheduling history to be migrated. This request added three more weeks to the timeline and two weeks of effort. The client ultimately decided to hold the original go-live date, with scheduling history becoming phase two. Gate 3 was signed by J. Okafor on 1 May.