Validation is where migration occurs and where its effectiveness can be assessed.

Cutover can often be perceived as the end point. Data have been transferred, systems have been installed and everything needs to be shipped off.

But cutover only tells you about how the migration went; it doesn’t tell you whether or not it succeeded.

I have witnessed projects that seemed flawless at cutover, only to unravel during validation – data transferred but incomplete, permissions that appeared correct but weren’t, applications that seemed to work pre-migration but didn’t actually act the same postmigration, among other issues that didn’t become evident until someone purposefully examined them for discrepancies. None of that shows until someone checks for it proactively.

Validation involves performing actual checks of data integrity, access and permissions alignment, and watching applications under real use – not simply verifying they launched.

Execution often gets the limelight, while validation determines whether what was created can actually run its course.

#Migration #DataValidation #IT