ERP Data Migration
What Does ERP Data Migration Include?
Our ERP data migration service covers data profiling and quality assessment, migration scope and retention strategy, source-to-target mapping, trial load reconciliation, cutover planning, and post-migration data governance. We produce data quality baselines, signed-off mapping specifications, reconciliation reports, and cutover plans that implementation partners can work from. Whether you are moving off Dynamics GP, SAP ECC, small-business accounting software, or several ERPs at once, the people who own the numbers make the data decisions, before anyone fixes the go-live date.
Key Facts
Why Do ERP Data Migrations Need Business Analysis?
Data Quality Problems Surface Late
Most ERP programs treat data as a technical task for the final months. That is when duplicate customers, inactive items, vendors with three addresses, and open orders nobody owns show up in the trial load, and the go-live date starts to slip. Gartner expects more than 70% of recent ERP initiatives to fall short of their original goals by 2027. Profiling the data at the start puts a number on the cleanup before the timeline is set.
Field Mapping Is a Business Decision
Every field in the old system needs a home in the new one, and many don’t map one to one. Customer classes get merged, chart of accounts segments get redesigned, item numbers change, and units of measure get converted. Those choices change reports and tax treatment, so finance and operations owners have to make them. Business analysis puts each mapping decision in front of the person who owns the outcome and records it in a source-to-target specification.
History and Retention Rules Set the Scope
Migrating every transaction since 2009 makes the migration slower and the new system heavier. Migrating too little leaves auditors and analysts without the records they need. The CRA expects businesses to keep records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, and Quebec’s Law 25 requires a privacy impact assessment before personal information leaves the province, which can apply when a cloud ERP stores data outside Quebec. Business analysis turns those rules into a migrate-or-archive decision for each data set.
Cutover Depends on Reconciled Numbers
A migration is finished when finance signs off that trial balances, open receivables, open payables, and inventory values match the old system. That sign-off needs agreed reconciliation rules and control totals before the final load. Without them, go-live weekend turns into a debate about whose numbers are right.
Who This Is For
Business Analysis Canada’s ERP data migration practice is built for organizations in Canada and the United States that are replacing or upgrading the ERP that runs their finance and operations, whether the move is planned for next year or already behind schedule.
By Organization Type
organizations on Dynamics GP or SAP ECC with a support deadline that fixes the timeline. Business analysis turns that deadline into a realistic data plan before the implementation partner sets the cutover date.
companies running several ERPs after acquisitions, each with its own chart of accounts and its own customer and item numbering. Consolidation needs one set of master data rules before any entity moves.
controllers and finance managers asked to validate migrated balances while still closing the books every month. Business analysis takes on the mapping decisions and reconciliation design, so finance reviews and signs off on results.
teams whose systems integrator owns configuration but expects the client to deliver clean, mapped data. Business analysis fills that gap on the client side.
By Scenario
each mock migration surfaces new errors, and nobody can say how many remain. A data profiling baseline and an error log by source table show what is left and who owns each fix.
the vendor’s end of support or a contract renewal sets the date before the data plan exists. Scope decisions on history and archiving buy back the most time.
nobody has measured duplicates and missing fields across the source systems. Profiling puts numbers on the problem before anyone commits to a timeline.
the new ERP is live, but balances don’t match and users keep a side spreadsheet. Reconciliation analysis traces each difference to a mapping rule or a data issue.
Use Cases
Dynamics GP to Business Central
Microsoft ends product support for Dynamics GP on December 31, 2029. GP’s account framework and inventory setup rarely map one to one into Business Central, and years of history sit in GP tables.
BA Role: Data profiling, chart of accounts mapping, master data cleanup rules, history and archive scope, open transaction cutover, trial load reconciliation, UAT.
SAP ECC to S/4HANA
Mainstream maintenance for SAP ECC ends at the end of 2027. Moving to S/4HANA means converting customers and vendors into business partners and deciding how much history to bring across.
BA Role: Business partner mapping, finance data model decisions, data quality rules, migration object scope, reconciliation design, cutover plan, UAT.
Small-Business Accounting to a Cloud ERP
Companies outgrow QuickBooks or Sage when they add entities or inventory locations. The move to NetSuite or Business Central needs master records rebuilt to the new system’s rules.
BA Role: Chart of accounts design, master data design, opening balance strategy, data cleanup rules, import templates, reconciliation.
Multi-Entity Consolidation
Groups that grew by acquisition often run several ERPs with different charts of accounts and numbering schemes. Moving them onto one platform needs harmonized master data and intercompany rules before the first entity migrates.
BA Role: Chart of accounts harmonization, master data standards, intercompany mapping, migration sequence by entity, consolidation reporting requirements, reconciliation.
Acquisition Integration
An acquired company has to move onto the group ERP, usually within a fixed integration window. Its customers and vendors need matching against existing group records to avoid duplicates, and its open orders need a cutover plan.
BA Role: Duplicate matching rules, master data merge decisions, open order cutover, history scope, reporting continuity, UAT.
Divestiture Carve-Out
Selling a business unit means separating its data from shared ERP tables without breaking what remains. Shared customer and vendor records need clear ownership rules, and the buyer usually needs a defined extract by a contractual date.
BA Role: Data separation rules, ownership decisions for shared records, extract specifications, transition service requirements, reconciliation, sign-off.
Master Data Cleanup
Duplicate customers, inactive items, inconsistent vendor records, and conflicting units of measure make every migration harder. Cleaning them first, with rules the business agrees to, keeps the new ERP from inheriting old problems.
BA Role: Data profiling, duplicate detection rules, survivorship rules, validation rules on key fields, data ownership model, cleanup tracking.
Historical Data Archiving
Not every transaction belongs in the new ERP. CRA retention rules and reporting needs decide what moves and what goes to a searchable archive.
BA Role: Retention requirements, history scope by data set, archive access requirements, reporting continuity, privacy review inputs, sign-off.
Open Transactions Cutover
Open purchase orders, unpaid invoices, customer deposits, and inventory on hand have to arrive in the new system at the right values on the right day. Mistakes show up as duplicate payments or stock that exists twice.
BA Role: Cutover sequence, freeze periods, opening balance rules, open item specifications, control totals, go-live checklist.
How Does an ERP Data Migration Engagement Work?
1. Profile the Data
Every engagement starts with the data. We inventory source systems, profile key tables for duplicates and gaps, and measure quality against the rules the new ERP will enforce. We interview finance and operations owners to learn which data drives reporting and compliance. The result is a data quality baseline and a migration scope everyone can see.
2. Design the Mapping
3. Test the Loads
4. Cut Over and Stabilize
What’s Included in an ERP Data Migration Engagement?
Data Profiling & Quality Assessment
Migration Scope & Retention Strategy
Source-to-Target Mapping & Transformation Rules
Trial Loads & Reconciliation
Cutover Planning & Go-Live Support
Post-Migration Data Governance
Data ownership rules and exception reports that keep master data clean after go-live, so the new ERP doesn’t inherit the old system’s problems a year later.
ERP vendors and implementation partners configure the platform and expect the client to supply clean, mapped data. Migration tools move whatever they are given. The decisions in between, what to migrate and how to prove it arrived correctly, usually land on a finance team that is still closing the books every month.
Business Analysis Canada works on the client side of that gap. We document every mapping decision and design the reconciliation that lets finance sign off on the numbers. For a US forestry company’s ERP, our analysts set validation rules on key fields and cleaned up contractor, site, and product master data as part of enhancements that cut manual work by 30%. Read the Woodlands ERP case study.
Our Advantages
What You Get
Frequently Asked Questions
Timelines vary with data quality and the number of source systems. A single-entity move with clean data might need eight to twelve weeks of migration work. A multi-entity or SAP migration can run six months or more, alongside the wider implementation. We scope realistic timelines after profiling your data.
Starting data work too late, migrating every historical record by default, leaving mapping decisions to the technical team, and skipping reconciliation until go-live weekend. Each one is avoidable with data profiling and signed-off mapping rules at the start.
Usually less than you expect. Canadian businesses must keep records for six years from the end of the last tax year they relate to, but those records can often live in a searchable archive instead of the new ERP. We decide history by data set, based on retention rules and reporting needs.
No. Your implementation partner configures the ERP and runs the technical loads. We work on your side of the table: data profiling, mapping decisions, reconciliation design, UAT, and cutover planning.
We are platform-agnostic. Our analysts work with Microsoft Dynamics 365 Business Central and Finance & Operations, Dynamics GP, SAP ECC and S/4HANA, Oracle NetSuite, Sage, and custom on-premises ERPs, depending on your migration path.
Your business owns the data, so your teams make the cleanup decisions. We define the rules and track progress by owner, so decisions get made on time and nobody fixes the same record twice.
Yes. Common starting points are failed trial loads or balances that don’t reconcile. A short assessment finds the root causes and produces a recovery plan with owners and dates.
Yes. We work with clients in Canada and the United States, delivering remotely from Canada during hours that overlap with US time zones, with travel on request. For US entities, record retention follows IRS rules instead of the CRA’s six-year requirement, and the migration scope reflects the rules that apply to each entity.
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