Data Conversion
John Ziakas Ted Peay Questar Regulated Services 1140 West 200 South P.O. Box 45360 Salt Lake City, Utah 84145-0360 Summary Data conversion is the most demanding, costly, time consuming and misunderstood stage of any AM/FM/GIS project. It represents the moment of truth, where for the first time, management gets to see whether the system, as they envisioned it, is really a workable solution for their needs. It is here where the results of incomplete or poor planning become very obvious. Conversion is typically 40 - 70% of the total project cost of any major AM/FM project. The dependencies are on the level of quality, accuracy, source data, manpower and custom software needed. Establishing a spirit of cooperation and teamwork among all organizations is always a good first step for any project. It is essential that communication processes be in place internally as well as with vendors or consultants to ensure a successful project. Document and publish all assumptions so that nothing is lost and conduct regular project reviews throughout the conversion. Be proactive! Several tasks need to be completed before conversion can begin. An FRS (Functional Requirements Specification) will need to be developed which will become the primary reference source during the conversion effort. All source documents will need to be examined and inventoried, user expectations aligned with the project scope, quality control standards established and data maintenance responsibilities agreed upon. A sufficient commitment of resources assigned for the duration of the project is imperative. The determination of use of vendors must be made. The benefits of using outside vendors to aid in a conversion effort often outweigh the advantages of completing the conversion in house. Due to the efficiencies and experience that a vendor will normally bring to the table, the duration and cost of data conversion will be greatly reduced while the quality will increase. Two important documents that will aid you in selecting a vendor are an RFI (Request for Information) and an RFP (Request for Proposal). The RFI is an information gathering document that will be given to many vendors to aid in creating a short list for final evaluation. The RFP is a much more comprehensive document that will contain all the pertinent details of the project. The resulting proposals will be used to make a final vendor selection. The better this document is prepared, the easier it will be to make a selection. Take the time to research vendor references and if your budget will allow, make site visits to these organizations to inspect their work processes. It is also a good idea to invite the vendors to visit your site to inspect your records as well. There are a number of issues that will cause a project to fail. These include, but are not limited to, lack of management support, a poorly prepared FRS, insufficient planning, insufficient resources, unrealistic user expectations and poor communication. Once the project is approved the ‘project start-up’ phase will begin. A conversion team must be assembled, project milestones established and communication guidelines agreed upon. The source data will need to be identified, evaluated and reviewed. The data will then need to be assembled and the condition of the data assessed. All data must be scrubbed to ensure the vendor will have accurate, legible and consistent source data. Provide exact copies to the vendor so you are working off of the same source data. Identify your primary source of data and select secondary sources as backup. This will ensure that adequate quality control can be maintained. Creating a database to document the tracking and reporting of source data will also be helpful. Keep a project information book up to date. This will include a copy of the RFP, Conversion Contract, source data description, attribute list, meeting notes, quality control and project status reports. You should conduct a conversion kick-off meeting where the vendor will come to your site to agree upon the workflow that the project is to take. Provide a detailed agenda for each meeting, which may include, administrative procedures, organization structure, reporting and communication processes, project schedule, pilot test, deliverables and data acceptance criteria. Select a pilot area for a test prior to the conversion. The pilot should be short in duration but representative of your project. Move through this phase quickly so that the conversion can begin on schedule. The remainder of the conversion effort is managing the workflow, data and resources. Communication is truly the key to making the effort run smoothly and quickly. Even though the conversion is complete, your work is not finished. You will likely have a backlog of work to complete while your data was frozen during conversion. There may also be additional conversion taking place internally that was easier to complete on site that will still have to be finished. Conversion projects are very difficult and resource draining. Celebrate your success with your users because they will all deserve it. | ||
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