At Boxbase we believe that the daily task of managing a box can be optimised and made more efficient. But we also understand that switching to another platform can be a lot of work. Therefore we are providing data migration services, so we can guarantee you a smoother and more effortless start at Boxbase.

Our migration services are designed to work on all our testing environments to ensure that everything executes as planned.

In this article we will take you through our migration process: What is needed & how does it work?

The migration process

Step 01: Clarification & Status Quo

The first step is rather simple. We get in touch, we check your status quo and explain how we work and what the process looks like. Not all data from your current system is probably necessary or essential for you, therefore we will define which dataset will be transferred to Boxbase.

Depending on your current system we may already have a working solution. Otherwise our migration workflow is flexible. We can adapt and extend to connect to what you already have.

Systems we already cover:

• PushPress
• Zenplanner
• Wodify
• Box-Planner

If your system is not on the list just get in touch and we'll create a working solution.

Step 02: Data preparation

Next, we will prepare the data which should be migrated to Boxbase. Depending on your system's capabilities, we will export the necessary data or you can provide us with a data export.

Usually, we start with a small subset of your data for a proof of concept and later on we work with the full dataset.

During this step we execute the following actions:

• Data quality check: is the data consistent? is there data missing?
• Data requirements: Boxbase requires certain data (e.g. name + email for users/members). During this step we check if all mandatory data is provided.
• Data mapping: Some values have to be mapped to Boxbase (e.g. value A in your current system represents value X in Boxbase). That mapping is used during the import process to transform the data to the correct target format.

Once completed, the next step is the automated import process.

Step 03: Data evaluation

Importing the data from the prepared dataset to Boxbase is the core part of the entire process. Luckily, this step is fully automated. We designed an import process which is fail-safe and can be undone if we notice anything out of the ordinary. It can be re-run at any point. The process itself usually takes only a couple of seconds, depending on the size of the dataset.

During the migration we collect any erroneous data which had problems to be transferred. This data is checked afterwards. Depending on what the issue was we can re-run the migration process with just the reported data. Optionally, we can backfill the data manually into Boxbase.

Additionally, we are able to run the data migration against our test environments. We do have one which is only accessible to our development team where the process is tested & validated first. After that, we run the migration against the staging environment in which the box owners (you) have access to.

Step 04: Validation

The validation step is for both parties to check if everything has been migrated correctly.

Additionally, you are able to review all migrated data in your Boxbase account and check if the data has been transferred as expected.

Step 05: The Migration

So far so good. You may ask at which point are we migrating your data?

After we verified the whole process is working we will agree on a date on which we will run the whole process on the live environment.

After the migration process is complete, Boxbase will automatically inform all your members about their new account. During the first login we ensure that the members are creating their account password and that all their essential profile data is set.

Costs?

None. It's our service for your trust.

We are happy to provide this service for free. We want to be a long term partner and solution for your business, thus, we don't see any value in getting paid for doing that work. We rather have your trust and work together as a team with you.

Post-Migration Tips

Even though we are very confident that our fail-safe migration process does the job correctly, we recommend to not "close" your old system's account immediately.

For unforseen scenarios having access to your data on your old system can be important, thus, keeping access to that data for some amount of time is recommended.

At the end of the day this is a safety & risk-minimizing recommendation.

Some last thoughts

We understand that switching platforms can be stressful. Our goal is to take as much as possible from your plate. We are confident in our migration process and we continuously improve it. By having the option of using subsets of data and our testing environments, we can verify the entire process and gain your trust. We are prepared when the day comes.

The most important thing is, that we take the lead on the whole migration process. No rush & no stress on your end. Ultimately, a smooth transition is key, not only for us, not only for you, but also for your members.

Let's get in touch!

[email protected]