CRM Data Migration: Technical Implementation Guide

Migrate CRM data successfully with comprehensive planning, cleansing, transformation, and validation protocols.

Migration Planning

Timeline: 3-12 months for enterprise migrations Phases: Discovery, Cleansing, Mapping, Testing, Execution, Validation Team: Project Manager, CRM Admin, Data Analyst, Developer, Business Analyst, End Users

Pre-Migration Assessment

Data Inventory:

• Primary CRM system records
• Spreadsheets and Access databases
• Email contacts and marketing platforms
• Support ticketing historical data
• Legacy systems being retired

Success Criteria:

• Zero data loss for critical records
• Data accuracy targets above 99%
• Defined downtime tolerance windows
• User acceptance signoff requirements
• Documented rollback procedures

Data Quality Audit

Common Issues (typical percentages):

• Duplicates in 10-30% of records
• Missing data in 15-40% of fields
• Format inconsistencies in addresses/phones
• Orphaned records with broken relationships
• Inactive data older than retention policies
• Invalid picklist values and deprecated options

Deduplication Strategy:

• Identify duplicates using fuzzy matching algorithms
• Merge using newest or most complete record
• Manual review for high-value accounts
• Automated processing for high-volume low-value records

Tools: Salesforce Duplicate Management, Cloudingo, RingLead, DemandTools, DupeCatcher

Data Cleansing

Standardization:

• Addresses via USPS validation
• Phone numbers to E.164 format
• Country codes to ISO standards
• Email verification services
• Append missing data from ZoomInfo, Clearbit

Archiving Strategy:

• Records inactive over 3 years move to archive
• Historical deleted records to separate archive table
• Large attachments to document storage (S3, Box)

Object and Field Mapping

Create comprehensive mapping spreadsheet:

• Source object to target object
• Source field to target field with data types
• Transformation rules documented
• Validation requirements specified
• Special handling notes included

Common Transformations:

• Picklist value mappings between systems
• Date/time format conversions and timezone adjustments
• Calculated field recreation in target system
• Relationship preservation via external IDs
• Multi-select to tags or junction objects

Migration Tools

Salesforce Options:

• Data Loader (free, bulk API, 5M records)
• Workbench (web-based, SOQL, REST API)
• Jitterbit (enterprise ETL, $5K+)
• MuleSoft (complex workflows, $20K+)

Cross-Platform:

• Talend Open Studio (free ETL)
• Pentaho Data Integration (visual mapping)
• Custom Python scripts with simple-salesforce library

Approach Selection:

• Under 10K records: Manual CSV export/import
• 10K to 1M records: ETL tools (Jitterbit, MuleSoft)
• Complex transformations: Custom scripts
• Ongoing sync: Enterprise integration platform

Migration Execution

Sandbox Migration

Steps:

1. Setup target sandbox environment
2. Run migration scripts on 10% data subset
3. Validate record counts and field accuracy
4. Test business processes and workflow triggers
5. Measure performance metrics
6. Document issues and iterate fixes

Success Criteria: 99%+ records migrated, all relationships intact, workflows functional

User Acceptance Testing

Participants: Power users per department, managers, admin team

Test Scenarios:

• Search and locate existing customers
• View complete interaction history
• Create new opportunities through full lifecycle
• Run critical reports (pipeline, forecasting)
• Test integrations (email, calling, data loaders)
• Execute day-in-the-life workflows

Feedback Loop: Daily standups, issue tracking, prioritized fixes (P0 blockers, P1 critical, P2 nice-to-have)

Production Migration

Pre-Migration Checklist:

• Executive signoff on go/no-go decision
• All P0/P1 issues resolved
• Full backup of source system completed
• Source system frozen to read-only mode
• Rollback plan documented and rehearsed
• War room staffed and communication sent
• Monitoring dashboards prepared

Typical Schedule:

• Friday 6 PM: Set source to read-only, begin data load
• Saturday 6 AM: Data load complete, begin validation
• Saturday 12 PM: Validation complete, UAT spot-checks
• Saturday 6 PM: Final signoff, enable target system
• Sunday: Monitoring and hot fix support
• Monday 6 AM: Users begin login, support war room active

Post-Migration Validation

Immediate Checks:

• Record count comparison to source
• Orphaned records verification (should be zero)
• Required field validation
• Relationship integrity checks
• Data format validation

Ongoing Monitoring (Week 1-4):

• Login rates (target 90% within 48 hours)
• Support ticket volume (expect 2-3x spike initially)
• Data quality reports daily
• Integration health checks
• Performance metrics monitoring

Rollback Planning

Scenario 1: Critical Defects (Day 1)

• Trigger: Over 10% data loss, broken integrations
• Action: Revert DNS, restore source to read-write
• Timeline: 2-4 hours execution
• Communication: Immediate email to all users

Scenario 2: Performance Issues (Week 1)

• Trigger: Page loads over 10 seconds, report timeouts
• Action: Database optimization, selective rollback
• Timeline: Iterative fixes over 1-2 weeks

Scenario 3: Adoption Failure (Month 1)

• Trigger: Under 50% login rate, persistent high support volume
• Action: Extended training, feature simplification, executive re-engagement

Common Pitfalls

Underestimating Cleansing: Dedicated 6-12 week cleansing phase BEFORE migration prevents errors

Insufficient Testing: Multiple sandbox iterations and 2-week UAT minimum required

Big Bang Approach: High risk; use phased migration (accounts, then contacts, then opportunities)

No Rollback Plan: Maintain source system read-only for 30 days minimum

Ignoring Integrations: Include email sync, calling, reporting systems in inventory and testing

Post-Migration Optimization

Month 1: Stabilization with daily metrics, support ticket trending, quick wins

Month 2-3: Feature adoption analytics, advanced training, continuous improvement

Month 4-6: Performance tuning, data enrichment automation, archived old data cleanup

Budget Planning

Small Migration (10K records): $25,000 total

• Planning $5K, Cleansing $10K, ETL $5K, Testing $5K

Medium Migration (100K records): $120,000 total

• Planning $15K, Cleansing $40K, ETL $20K, Development $30K, Testing $15K

Enterprise Migration (1M+ records): $650,000 total

• Planning $50K, Cleansing $150K, ETL $100K, Development $200K, Testing $50K, Consulting $100K

Best Practices

1. Invest 70% time in planning, 20% execution, 10% cleanup
2. Data cleansing upfront prevents migration issues
3. Test exhaustively in sandbox environments
4. Never skip User Acceptance Testing phase
5. Always maintain documented rollback plan
6. Include integrations in scope from day one
7. Communicate frequently and transparently
8. Train extensively before go-live
9. Monitor closely for first 30 days
10. Document lessons learned for future migrations

Bottom Line

Successful CRM migrations require meticulous planning, extensive data cleansing, comprehensive testing, and strong change management. Timeline reality is 3-12 months for enterprise migrations. Rushing causes costly errors and user frustration. Invest upfront in quality over speed.