Lesson 1: Preparing the System for Data Migration

This lesson describes the basic steps that you need to perform before you start to migrate data to Acumatica ERP

and the minimal system configuration that you need to implement before migrating any data. Also, you will learn about the basic flow of the data migration and the financial data that you should prepare for data migration.

Data Migration Process: General Information

Data migration is a crucial process that is performed before the company goes live on a new ERP platform. The process involves moving data from the old system to the new one while ensuring data integrity and minimizing disruptions.

Learning Objectives

In this lesson, you will learn how to do the following:

Plan the needed steps of data migration based on your organization’s business requirements
Create a company in Acumatica ERP that is ready for the migration of financial data from the legacy system
Prepare the import scenarios and the data to be uploaded

Applicable Scenario

You are planning to migrate data from a legacy system before you start to use Acumatica ERP as an ERP system. You want to prepare carefully for this process to keep the history of company operations that preceded the transition to new system and to ensure the continuity of business processes.

Configuration of the Basic System

Prior to data migration, you need to plan and configure the company’s structure and perform the basic configuration in Acumatica ERP based on the business requirements of the company. To do this, you perform the following general steps:

You prepare the instance, enable the features, and activate the license, as described in Preparing an Instance for Implementation.
You configure the company’s structure in the system, as described in Preparing a Company for Implementation.

You configure the basic financial settings in the system, as described in Implementing Basic Financials.

              The complete set of configuration tasks depends on the company's business processes. For
              more information about configuring other system areas, see Acumatica ERP Implementation
              Guide.

Data Preparation and Migration Stages

Once the tenant is ready, you perform data migration in the following general steps:

You assess the legacy ERP system and identify data to be migrated.
You extract data from the legacy ERP system, taking into account data integrity, quality, and compatibility with the new system. This process involves identifying and cleansing duplicate, outdated, or irrelevant data. You ensure that all existing information is accurate and up-to-date. Also, you remove incorrect, redundant, Lesson 1: Preparing the System for Data Migration | 8
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   or out-of-date data (such as discontinued vendors, contacts that are no longer with the company, and
   discontinued products).
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You transform and map the extracted data to fit the structure and format of the new ERP system (that is, prepare the data providers that will be used with the import scenarios).
You prepare import scenarios and test them with sample data to ensure that all needed information is included and mapped correctly.
You transfer the data to the new system.
You cross-check the uploaded data to ensure completeness, correctness, and integrity. This involves running test scenarios, reconciling data, and resolving any discrepancies or errors to ensure that legacy data has been moved and is accessible. For recommendation on data verification, see Data Migration Process: Recommendations for Data Verification.
Once the data migration is complete and the data is verified for consistency, the system is ready to use.

Preparation of Import Scenarios

To speed up data migration, you use import scenarios to import business accounts and financial data other than trial balances. An import scenario is a set of instructions for the system that specifies the actions to be executed for each record of the imported data as if the data is being entered manually on the specified form. To import data by using an import scenario, you do the following:

You convert the data in the external format to data in the format of Acumatica ERP. For this purpose, on the Data Providers (SM206015) form, you create a data provider. The data provider defines the data source type (Excel), the name of the spreadsheet that should be used for the data import, the list of the columns on the spreadsheet, and the data type of each column.
On the Import Scenarios (SM206025) form, you prepare the import scenario that uses the data provider. An import scenario defines the mapping of the source columns to the destination fields of the entry in the system. The Mapping tab of the Import Scenarios form holds the list of steps of the scenario that imports the records into the system as if each record is being manually entered through the corresponding data entry form. Acumatica ERP provides a set of predefined import scenarios that you can use to migrate financial data, adapting them for your needs. For more information, see Predefined Import Scenarios for Migrating Financial Data.
On the Import by Scenario (SM206036) form, you prepare and import the data. For each imported record, the system executes the mapping steps one aer another in the order in which they are listed in the executed import scenario on the Import Scenarios form.

Data Migration Process: Migration of Financial Data

This topic describes the general process of migrating data from a legacy system to Acumatica ERP.

          The complete list of data to be imported depends on company's business processes.

Migration of Financial Data

To import the data completely and accurately and to minimize import errors, you import documents and balances by performing the following general steps in the listed order:

You import the following master records:

Customers Lesson 1: Preparing the System for Data Migration | 9
Vendors
Non-stock items

You import financial documents. For each type of document, you use the same import scenario to import both closed documents and documents with an open balance. To import accounts receivable or accounts payable documents to Acumatica ERP, you need to activate migration mode in the accounts receivable subledger and accounts payable subledger, respectively. The documents that are created when migration mode is activated do not update the general ledger.
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           If you do not want to import particular documents of a vendor or customer, you can import
           just the balance as a document with one line that specifies the balance of the vendor or
           customer. For the training purposes of this course, you will import particular accounts payable
           and accounts receivable documents for multiple financial periods.
```

You upload and release the trial balances for the needed financial periods. When this process is complete, you make sure that the final trial balance in Acumatica ERP matches the trial balance in the legacy system.

           Though you can import historical GL transactions instead of importing trial balances, the
           import of trial balances is the preferable way of migrating financial data. Importing the trial
           balances helps to limit the number of historical transactions in the database.

You perform the reconciliation of account balances for the accounts receivable and accounts payable subledger.
You import outstanding checks and deposits in progress and then reconcile the cash account balance.

The following diagram illustrates the basic workflow for migrating financial data for a company with one branch. Lesson 1: Preparing the System for Data Migration | 10 Lesson 1: Preparing the System for Data Migration | 11

Data Migration Process: To Prepare the System for Migrating Financial Data

The following activity will walk you through the preparation of the system for the migration of financial data.

Story

Suppose that you are an implementation consultant of the SweetLife Fruits & Jams company, and you will be
performing data migration from the legacy system to Acumatica ERP. In the system, you have configured the
tenant, activated the license, and performed the basic financial configuration. Now you need to make sure the
system is ready for data migration.
Before you start importing data into the system, you need to perform the following operations:

Making sure the financial periods are ready to data migration
Verifying that the cash account is configured for reconciliation
Activating predefined import scenarios
Uploading and activating an additional import scenario that will be used for migrating non-stock items

Configuration Overview

In the U100 Basic Company dataset, the following tasks have been performed for the purposes of this activity:

On the Enable/Disable Features (CS100000) form, the minimum set of financial features has been enabled.
On the Companies (CS101500) form, the SweetLife company without branches has been configured by performing the steps described in Company Without Branches: To Configure a Company Without Branches.
On the Chart of Accounts (GL202500) form, the company's chart of accounts has been created.
On multiple forms, the required financial configuration has been performed, as described in the Implementing Basic Financials chapter of the Implementation Guide, including the creation of cash accounts, credit terms, and payment methods.

Process Overview

On the Manage Financial Periods (GL503000) form, you will ensure that the financial periods to which the historical
data will be uploaded have been generated and are open. On the Cash Accounts (CA202000) form, you will verify
that the 10200WH cash account is configured for reconciliation. On the Import Scenarios (SM206025) form, you will
activate the predefined import scenarios that will be used for data migration. You will also upload and activate an
additional import scenario for importing non-stock items.

System Preparation

To prepare to perform the instructions of this activity, do the following:

Launch the Acumatica ERP website with the U100 Basic Company dataset preloaded.
Sign in to the system by using the gibbs username and the 123 password.
Download the DMImportNonStockItems.xml file, which was provided with the course.

Step 1: Verifying the Financial Periods To ensure that all needed financial periods are ready to import the data, do the following:

Open the Master Financial Calendar (GL201000) form. Lesson 1: Preparing the System for Data Migration | 12
In the Financial Year box in the Summary area, select 2024. Review the periods in the table and make sure that the following periods have been generated and now have the Open status:

The periods from 01-2024 to 11-2024, which are the periods to which the data will be migrated
The 12-2024 financial period, which is the first period in which the company will start operating in Acumatica ERP

Step 2: Reviewing the Cash Account Settings To be able to reconcile the balance of the 10200WH cash account aer data migration, open the 10200WH cash account on the Cash Accounts (CA202000) form. Make sure the following settings are specified:

Requires Reconciliation: Selected
Reconciliation Numbering Sequence: CARECON

Step 3: Activating Import Scenarios Before you start importing data, you need to activate the predefined import scenarios and create an additional scenario as follows:

Open the Import Scenarios (SM206025) form.
In the Summary area of the form, for each of the following predefined scenarios, select the Active check box and save your changes:

ACU Import Vendors
ACU Import Customers
ACU Import AP Bills
ACU Import AP Prepayments
ACU Import AR Invoices
ACU Import AR Payments

On the form toolbar of the Import Scenarios (SM206025) form, click Clipboard > Import from XML.
In the Upload XML File dialog box, click Choose File and select the DMImportNonStockItems.xml file, which you downloaded earlier.
In the dialog box, click Upload. The system uploads the DM Import Non-Stock Items import scenario. This scenario maps the internal fields of the Non-Stock Items (IN202000) form to the external fields that are defined in the SweetLifeNonStockItemsList.xlsx file, which has been supplied with the course.
Make sure that the Active check box is selected in the Summary area of the form for the created scenario. Lesson 2: Importing Master Records | 13