Before starting an S2P project, it is necessary to be aware that data related topics are crucial to ensure a proper operation of the solution. Our clients often do not enough focus on data issues and do not consider data as one of the pillars to succeed in implementing their S2P project.
Before starting an S2P project, it is necessary to be aware that data related topics are crucial to ensure a proper operation of the solution. Our clients often do not enough focus on data issues and do not consider data as one of the pillars to succeed in implementing their S2P project.
From our point of view, there are at least three main topics related to data and it deals with data migration:
- Define the migration strategy,
- Secure data availability,
- Ensure data quality and QIQO – Quality In, Quality Out.
Data is a key element for every project phase, for example, integration tests & User Acceptance Tests (UAT) but their quality is not so important as for migration. But data set is important to improve user adoption when testing the solution.
Define the migration strategy,
Defining the migration strategy is at least as important as defining the scope of your solution. The definition of the migration strategy will trigger how migration will be handled and how important the work effort associated will be, the key points to be managed are:
- Define the RACI matrix: who will Realize, be Accountable, be Consulted or be Informed in the migration process.
- Define what kind of data will be considered: Master data, Transactional data, History data.
- Define the planning including every step of the migration process to the build process of the solution,
Secure data availability
After defining the data migration strategy, we strongly advise to secure your data availability.
Data are available in the several systems across your company. But you will have to manage the capability of the IS&T department to extract massively and in an industrialized way your data to a chosen template. This requires most of the time development of the IS&T department and additional and not forecasted costs and additional working effort. This unattended task can have an impact on the overall project planning.
Ensure data quality
It’s a clear testimony that the data quality is the key to have a strong and powerful S2P solution.
Data quality can be considered from two points of view.
- Migrate the right quantity of data. It is reassuring to retrieve all data from the former system into the new S2P solution. But have in mind that useless data, such as over 3- or 5-years old PO, in the system will pollute it by slowing down the application, distort reporting, distort forecast, waste storage capacity with an impact on solution cost concerning hosting facilities.
To secure this point you will need to convince business departments left over some data and keep them in the legacy solution. Make them comfortable that moving this way you will reduce their work effort on data topics by restricting the quantity of data to be analyzed and therefore increase the spend time on the right data. In the end, the sledgehammer argument is that an option about not migrated data would be to make them still available for display only in the legacy solution.
See the release written by our Senior consultant, Benjamin Verdier !
- 12 recommendations to implement a source-to-pay solution | #1 Assess your maturity
- 12 recommendations to implement a source-to-pay solution | #2 Plan a global implementation strategy
- 12 recommendations to implement a source-to-pay solution | #3 Choose the right vendor
- 12 recommendations to implement a source-to-pay solution | #4 Fix and respect your project planning
- 12 recommendations to implement a source-to-pay solution | #5 Remember your project goals and set up KPIs
- 12 recommendations to implement a source-to-pay solution | #6 What kind of deliverables you will need?
