3 Basic Tips to Data Migration Requirements for your Software Project

3 Basic Tips to Data Migration Requirements for your Software Project

It's late stage of a project, so it's time to start worrying about your data migration requirements if you haven't already! If you have done it, good for you! You can just stop reading. But so many projects push this to the end and then panic when it doesn't go well. I have seen project after project have late deployments because the data was not properly migrated and tested.

Here are a few tips to consider:

1. User your data models to identify what data should be migrated. For example, you can use the boxes in Business Data Diagrams (BDDs) and you can use the data stores in Data Flow Diagrams (DFDs).

2. You can actually do a two-way check here - if you get data dumps and have fields that are not in your data models, then you may be missing a requirement.

3. Plan for a lot of time to test this. Surely someone will test the migration scripts themselves and someone is likely testing your code, but you also want to plan for testing the integration of the migrated data to the code. So often properties are not setup correctly and so the data doesn't show up in your software, even though it's in the database behind the scenes.

How To Choose A Software Requirements Model

Do you find that you're always trying to use process flows on your projects, but they just don't seem to fit your needs?

Do you need to start modeling requirements, but can't quite decide what models to use?

There are quite a few requirements models out there to choose from, ranging from the mundane (process flow), to the amorphous (use case) to the exotic (fishbone diagram). Knowing which models may be most helpful to you can be a bit tricky, but the following tips can help!

Choosing the Right Software Requirements Model

If your application has:

• Lots of User Interaction - useful models can be Org Charts, Use Cases, System Context Diagrams
• A Complex UI - useful models can be Org Charts, Use Cases, Wireframes
• Lots of Involvement with Different Systems - useful models can be System Context Diagrams, Data Flow Diagrams
• Data Processing - useful models can be Entity Relationship Diagrams, Data Flow Diagrams, System Context Diagrams

And don't stop with these - there are many other models to explore! Take the plunge, and break away from process flows today!

Check out these detailed explanations.

• State Tables
• Decision Trees
• Click Action Response Tables
• Data Dictionaries