What do we need to scope a historical data migration?
We do not need a perfect specification on day one. We do need enough information to understand the source ledger, the destination design and the level of historical detail you expect to carry forward.
Source → history → future state → reconciliation
The more complex the structure, the more important it is to understand the data before committing to a migration plan.
The information that helps us understand the project.
You may not know every answer yet. These are the areas we normally explore during discovery.
Source & destination
Current accounting/ERP system, intended cloud platform, versions where relevant, and who is leading the destination implementation.
Entities & history
Number of legal entities or datasets, financial years required and whether the requirement is full transactional history or a reduced historical scope.
Transaction volumes
Approximate annual or monthly volumes and any known high-volume transaction types.
Currencies & tax
Base currencies, foreign-currency activity, VAT/GST registrations and the tax history that needs to remain usable.
Reporting structures
Departments, cost centres, projects, jobs, classes, locations, funds or other dimensions used in the legacy ledger.
Future-state design
The new Chart of Accounts, entity structure, dimensions and reporting model if these have already been agreed.
Allocations & subledgers
Whether customer and supplier allocations, open items and aged-ledger relationships need to be preserved.
Attachments & references
Any supporting documents, transaction identifiers, descriptions or source references that form part of the historical requirement.
Known data issues
Out-of-balance ledgers, unusual control-account postings, historical corrections or other known issues are useful to know before migration begins.
If the future reporting model is changing, we need the destination design.
Historical data can be mapped, consolidated and restructured, but the target structure needs to be agreed. That might mean a new Chart of Accounts, new dimensions, consolidated entities or different tax and master-data structures.
Structural changes are agreed and documented so there is a clear bridge between the source ledger and the destination.
Extraction requirements depend on the legacy system.
Some platforms need particular reporting or integration tools for our preferred extraction workflow. We confirm this during scoping rather than assuming every installation is configured the same way.
Access Dimensions / Financials
Access Office Integration (AOI) is normally required for our workflow.
Exchequer
Visual Report Writer is normally required for our extraction method.
Dynamics NAV / Navision
Jet Reports is our preferred extraction route where available.
We inspect the data before we promise the answer.
Tools help us extract and process large accounting datasets efficiently. Specialist review is what determines how the source data should be mapped, transformed and reconciled.
For complex or uncertain projects, we may recommend a separate migration-readiness review before confirming the full migration scope.
You do not need every answer before contacting us.
Send what you know. We will tell you what else we need to assess the historical-data workstream properly.