How do you reconcile data after migration?
Created with AI.
Reconciliation is what determines whether you can trust the new system. This guide shows what actually needs to be counted and checked.
- 6 steps
- Total time: 2 h 30 min
- Preparation: 1 h
- Result: Documented confirmation that the migration was successful
Required tools
- Extract from the source system — Counts performed before the migration started.
Count and compare
1.Reconcile the number of records per table
Customers, contacts, sales opportunities, cases. The numbers should match, or any discrepancy should have a known explanation—for example, that inactive customers were deliberately excluded.
2.Reconcile totals, not just counts
Add up the value of open sales opportunities in both systems. If the number of opportunities is the same but the total differs, an amount field was not converted correctly, which is easy to overlook.
Check the quality
3.Spot-check relationships
Twenty random customers: do they have the correct contacts, the correct owner, and the correct open cases? This catches linking errors that counts never reveal.
4.Check text fields for systematic errors
Norwegian characters that have turned into question marks, truncated fields, dates with the wrong century. Look specifically for these — they are classic conversion errors.
5.Have the data owners approve
The sales manager must confirm that the pipeline looks correct, and the service manager must confirm that the cases are accurate. Without approval from a named individual, no one has actually confirmed that the migration was successful.
6.Document the reconciliation
Write down what was counted, what differed, and why it was acceptable. In about six months, the question will come up, and this document will be the answer.
Discussion
Ask a question or share what helped you.
