Things to Keep In Mind before Data Conversion

If you are planning to purchase new software now or sometime in the near future, you may be concerned about or interested in moving data from your current system into your new system. Most problems associated with data conversion can be avoided with informed and pre-conversion planning.

It can be a real time-saver to convert your current data, so here are few things you must consider that may help you avoid pitfalls that are common to data conversions.

Here are 5 Basic Things to Keep In Mind Before Data Conversion:

1) Find The Current Data Format and The Format It Be Exported to For conversion

Export the data in the current software system to a Microsoft Excel or CSV format so that the converted data is shown on a report in a comprehensible format. It is the easiest way to do a data conversion.

2) Identify The Data That Needs To Be Converted

You can choose the data you want to convert from your current software system to the new system. The Owners, Wells, and Division of Interests – these are the things that must be converted as they are the core of the system.

The amount of historical data to be converted depends on various factors. You should know about the condition of your historical data. Is your historic data clean? Or should you clean it up before the data conversion? You must also decide if you want to include sold or inactive wells.

3) Data That Can Be Actually Be Converted

Once you have found out what data you want to convert, you need to identify what kind of data is feasible for conversion and who can efficiently do the data conversion. The data conversion has to be done painstakingly so that all the related data are stored in one place as the data accounting; joint interest billing system and profit distribution is interlinked with each other in a complex manner.

Data that can be converted include a list and the information of wells, the list of owners, their addresses, royalty and working and the division of interests. Based on the format from which the data is being converted, you can sometimes convert the historical information.

4) Conversion Time

Data should be converted in a reasonably quick manner. This way, you won’t face any downtime for your data processing. You shouldn’t need to change the current system while the data is being converted to the new system; else any new transactions will have to be entered into the new system after the data is fully converted.

5) Things To Do After a Data Conversion

Once your data gets converted, it’s always good to compare reports in both the software to make sure balances match and also to ensure that the division of interests is accurate.

Data Converting to a new software system is easy and quick if you follow proper steps to ensure your data is converted correctly. This way, you will be able to work with your new software system without having to turn back to the old one.