Migrating Data

I got the job of moving several thousand records from an Excel spreadsheet into Xpercom. The users had build an Excel tool to circumvent the lack of certain features Xpercom had at the time. When we migrated to a newer version of Xpercom and some of these features where made available the decision was made to get everyone singing from the same hymn sheet.

We went to Germany and met some of the key users who where to be assisting with the migration. It was these guys who had the job of making various changes to the data and to check each time we did a dummy run into one of our test databases. It took some time to write the scripts because there was 4 distinct types of spreadsheet that where used and these came from seven different cities. The hardest part was trying to to get the script to act like Xpercom and to carry out any business logic while the data was being inserted.

It appeared to be a huge task but turned out ok in the end. Luckily for me the guys in Germany where excellent and where only too happy to help. If it had not been for them I doubt it would have been as easy as it was.