Mistakes to Avoid During Data Conversion

Data is playing a crucial role in today’s digitally advanced business world. In daily business operations, it is common to transfer and convert data from one form to another due to the changing dynamics of global businesses. In the process of data conversion, it is common to make some mistakes that can potentially affect your business in a negative way. While you are converting data from physical documents into digital files, it can cause errors and may have potential errors that need to be corrected. Errors during the data conversion process can be avoided if it is verified and validated before using it for any business operation.

Let us see a list of common mistakes made during the data conversion process, and you can take precautionary steps beforehand to avoid those mistakes.

Lack of a Clear Strategy

One of the common mistakes occurring during your data conversion task is the unclear goal of data usage. If the purpose of data is not clear, it can lead to an unorganized data conversion process that includes unnecessary data points or information clusters. If the focus is clear with the use of converted data, it becomes easy to make a clear decision on what time of data is required and how it needs to be converted. 

• It is important to perform data audits before and after the conversion process.

• You need to create a detailed roadmap for converting data and choose the best tool to begin the data conversion task.

• You can define roles and responsibilities among your core team to convert the data and perform quality checks so that communication is clear during the process.

• After completing the data conversion process, it is important to cross-check and validate the data in the final form.

Ignoring Data Quality Issues

Data is worthless without quality, as it holds high value in business operations. If you wish to perform data conversion from one format to another but do not focus on the quality of data, then the end result is of no use. If your data contains duplicate values or is missing some part of the information, or the data is in different formats, it can interrupt your operational decisions, or you may take a longer time to correct it manually after the conversion process.

• It is important to clear up your unnecessary data values before the conversion process.

• You can define the format or template in which you need your data to be converted.

• Data deduplication processes or tools to validate and verify data after the conversion is completed can result in the best quality outputs.

• Define quality standards for your data so that you can meet your business standards.

Insufficient Testing

Testing of data is defined as checking the data before using it in business operations. Your clients or customers need clear and concise information about your products and services. If the data is not tested, you can lose a lot of time and effort of the team to redo the process.

It is important to test the data conversion results by performing the conversion for a small quantity of data. If you want to avoid data integrity issues and other errors, it is important to perform regular quality checks.

• You can use previous test cases, different data volumes, and sample conversion results for testing comparison.

• Test your data often and perform testing on regular intervals to keep a check on the converted data quality.

• If you are going to convert the data in large volumes, it is better to take expert guidance or assistance before starting the process.

Not Backing Up Data

It’s quite disappointing to see huge mistakes occurring during the data conversion process that cannot be corrected. But the more surprising fact is that often the data is not backed up by the companies before the conversion process. It is one of the greatest and most common mistakes made during the conversion process. As the data is lost or cannot be recovered if anything goes wrong during the process. Your business can lose the trust of customers, clients, and stakeholders, along with financial loss and reputational damage. 

• Always create full backups of the data you are putting in the conversion process.

• It is better to cross-verify if the data backup is completed and the data can be restored efficiently.

• Data should be easily accessible in case of urgent needs.

Poor Communication Between Teams

The data conversion process usually involves more than one team in your organization. Thus, you need to focus on establishing clear and transparent communication channels as well. Poor communication can lead to incorrect or incomplete information that can lead to delays in the conversion process or may cause various types of errors. If you are facing technical issues during the process, it needs to be communicated well.

• It is important to do regular meetings with all the stakeholders and other team members to maintain transparency in passing the information or updates.

• You need to define clear roles and responsibilities to team members involved in the data conversion process.

• If you are outsourcing data conversion services, you need to have clear communication with the team performing your data conversion tasks.

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