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What is data conversion?
Data conversion is simply the process of moving data from
one place to another. Whether you are trying to convert data from an
old application into your new Access application, or trying to
export your Access data into other applications, data conversions
can be a real challenge (read "pain in the butt"!).
Theoretically, data conversion is simply matching data
fields from one system to the data fields in another system. In
practice, however, it is far more complicated. I've identified some
of the more common issues:
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"Field Splitting" involves splitting data that is stored
in 1 field in the old application into 2 or more fields in the new
application. For example, a single name field (with format of
"LastName, FirstName") might have to be split into 2 name fields
("FirstName" and "LastName"). |
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"Field Combining" involves combining 2 or more fields into
one, which seems easy enough but can be tricky. For example,
combining an Address1 and an Address2 into a single Address field
must solve the sticky problem of inserting a carriage return between
the lines, but ONLY if there is data in the Address2
field! |
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"Data Cleanup" involves correcting those problems make
data conversion difficult or impossible. Often due to poor data
entry validations, these might involve invalid dates or invalid
numeric data. |
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"Field Standardization" involves converting variations of
field values into a single, acceptable field value. For example, the
list below shows a variety of spellings for just one city that I
encountered when converting a customer database (not including the
misspellings!):
St. Petersburg Beach
St. Petersburg Bch
St. Pete Beach
St. Pete Bch
St
Pete Beach
St Pete Bch
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What will it cost?
Because of the unexpected problems that can arise, data
conversions are almost always billed on actual time. I seldom will
provide a fixed-price quote for conversion work. I will provide an
estimate of the expected time it will take, and can also provide a
"not too exceed" figure. Plus, I will keep you informed as I go
along if the conversion doesn't go as well as we expected, so you
can decide whether or not to continue. Sometimes we find that some
data is just too difficult (or expensive) to convert, and we will
only convert what we can within
budget. |
