Insights

Simplify and streamline data migration with metadata-driven data interface (MDDI) from UST

Peter Charness, Ricardo Jimenez, Sreejith Periyadath

THE CHALLENGES OF MASSIVE SYSTEM MIGRATIONS/REPLACEMENTS TO MAINTAIN CONNECTED DATA FLOWS

Managing data during a major technology transformation can be a complex process. The same is true for systems integration projects, mergers and acquisition (M&A) integrations, and divestitures. Maintaining systems connections is also challenging for IT teams to manage, because the data flows on a daily basis aren’t seamlessly integrated when companies use disparate systems. Regardless of your specific situation, there are common challenges with database migrations, from maintaining data in a hybrid state between two systems to ensuring data integrity during the data transfer process. Then, of course, there are the many details that arise as you plan for systems/database migrations, such as sequencing and routing, multiple data sources and targets, differing data formats, transfer frequencies, and the sizes of datasets. On top of all these complexities, there’s the overarching issue of security—to ensure data is protected at rest and in transit and that data-handling processes comply with any and all appropriate regulatory policies, like PII and HIPAA.

TWO OPTIONS FOR DATA TRANSFERS, BUT ONLY ONE LOWER RISK CHOICE

Once you’ve considered the challenges of complex system/database migration and you’re thinking about your approach to this complex project, you’ve essentially got two choices:

• A big bang approach—where you move an entire dataset from an old network of systems to a new target environment all at once and at a single point in time.
• A hybrid solution—in which you run your different systems in parallel while progressively migrating systems and consumers in managed batches.

Although a big bang approach may seem like the preferred method—because you’re “one and done” as they say—it’s not usually the ideal choice. That’s because it can be very risky. And for most companies, disrupting or losing a large swath of historic data could be catastrophic. According to a recent article in enterprisetimes.co.uk, “83% of data migrations either fail outright or exceed their allotted budgets and implementation schedules.” With a statistical failure rate that daunting, it begs the question, “Why would you go with the very risky big bang approach?”

Therefore, a hybrid migration solution makes much more sense, because you can do systems, consumers and data migrations in phases. This approach allows you to optimize your processes to manage unexpected issues. You can also align the phases of your migration with your overall project timeline or agile development rollouts.

A NOVEL APPROACH TO SIMPLIFY DATA MIGRATIONS

Even with the less risky hybrid approach to database migrations, the complexities still exist. So, then the question becomes, “Is there a better way to manage complex systems and data migrations?” The answer is yes, thanks to a new solution from UST called Metadata Driven Data Interface (MDDI). It’s a cloud-based, reusable, scalable, low-code platform to streamline data transfers between heterogeneous current and target data sources. The flexible MDDI solution allows you to customize and configure systems/data migration projects with features like:

• Pre-built, reusable components to quickly create new data migration channels.
• Built-in functionality to accommodate various data sizes, frequencies, and operational sequences.
• Data conversion tools to transform source data to meet the requirements of target data repositories.
• Validation features to prevent data duplication or loss.
• Alerts for monitoring, failover, and retries.

The flexible, customizable nature of the MDDI data migration service means it can simplify your migration and hybrid state efforts to reduce the typical risks associated with complex large scale migration projects. You can easily set up incremental, consistent data transfer channels in a cost-effective, scalable, secure environment. If there are issues or unexpected challenges, you can just as easily roll-back the data transfer.

MDDI CUSTOMER SUCCESS—MULTIPLE BUSINESS SPIN-OFFS OF A LARGE MULTI-NATIONAL CORPORATION WITH MORE THAN 8,000 DATA TRANSFERS

UST helped a multinational corporation spin-off its business units into four separate entities in a 3-year, $100 million effort. Each of the four divestitures involved several data warehouses, approximately 1,200 applications, and more than 2,000 real-time and batch data transfers. UST’s MDDI platform contributed to the success of the project because it streamlined and accelerated the complex database migration from a variety of sources and targets, including Mainframe, SQL, Oracle, and Hadoop, while the pre-existing and the new business entities are operated concurrently.

UST AND MDDI CAN SIMPLIFY YOUR COMPLEX DATA MIGRATIONS

No matter how many complex migration projects your IT team has completed, they are always complex, risky endeavors. However, with MDDI, you can orchestrate and accelerate data transfers with UST’s configurable, reusable, low-code platform. UST can deploy or enable your team to install and configure MDDI in your environment. Then, if you need occasional consulting expertise or you’re interested in a full-service engagement, UST’s data experts are here to help you gain the most value from the MDDI platform.