billmax documentation   BillMax Billing Solutions
  877.245.5629
  sales@billmax.com
 
Chapter 1. Overview
Prev  Migrating Data into BillMax  Next

Chapter 1. Overview

Migrating data from one billing system to another can be one the most time consuming, expensive and frustrating tasks when implementing a new billing system. This section is intended to discuss migration of account related data from an existing billing system into a BillMax instance.

There are several concepts involved in understanding data migration issues:

Database schema

The tables and fields in a database, and how the fields between tables relate to one another.

Database/Application opaqueness

The degree to which you can access a billing database/application directly or indirectly in order to extract data out of the database.

  • A highly opaque database/application is very difficult to extract data and data migration may have to be done with a data entry clerk copying data off a screen and keying it into the BillMax data entry forms.

  • A medium opaque database/application is one in which you do not have direct access to the database, but the application can generate the data necessary in the form of reports which may be massaged into a form suitable for input into BillMax.

  • A non-opaque database/application is one in which direct access to the database is allowed. Automating pulling data from the old billing database/application and populating BillMax is feasible. In addition, consistency checks can be automatically performed to make sure the data in the old database/application agrees with what has been migrated to BillMax.

Billing/Authentication links

The piece or pieces of data in the authentication systems that provide a mapping to data in the billing system. If no mapping exists and you want BillMax to eventually drive your provisioning, then the mapping will have to be made manually.

Rules of Thumb

  1. The more opaque the database/application, the more expensive the data migration will be.

  2. The more data to be migrated, the greater the need for automation.

  3. The greater need for automation, the more costly the data migration will be.

  4. The less known about the data, the more costly the data migration will be.

  5. Poorly ordered data will cause the data migration to be more costly.

  6. A successful data migration is one in which the BillMax purchaser is involved. Handing off data migration to consultants and having them make business decisions without input from the BillMax purchaser is a recipe for failure. The BillMax purchaser needs to make the business decisions and have the consultants execute those decisions.

Prev  Up  Next
Migrating Data into BillMax  Home  Chapter 2. Migrating Financial Data
Document Revision A for BillMax 2.2.0   -   Copyright © 1997-2006 The iSpark Group, Inc.

All rights reserved. No part of this documentation may be reproduced or transmitted in any fashion without written permission by The iSpark Group, Inc. This documentation is for the sole use of licensees of the BillMax billing software created by The iSpark Group, Inc. Making the documentation available to a non-licensee of BillMax without written permission of The iSpark Group, Inc. is a violation of the use of this documentation.

While precautions have been taken in the preparation of this documentation, The iSpark Group, Inc. assumes neither liability nor responsibility for errors or omissions, or for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein.

All terms mentioned that are known to be trademarks have been appropriately capitalized. Use of the a trademark does not affect the validity of any trademark or service mark.

Links to third-party Web sites are provided for convenience. The iSpark Group, Inc. is not responsible for any content contained in the third-party Web sites.

Comments about this documentation may be sent to doc@billmax.com