How to Complete ERP Migration Like a Pro
ERP migration is the process of transitioning from one system to another. ERP conversion is when you upgrade your existing ERP to a new version or patch.
Migrating from one ERP to another is tricky business. For a smooth migration process (and to make sure all your data stays in place), outline your requirements in well in advance, identify all available data, create contingency plans, and conduct a thorough system analysis.
Keep a running checklist of everything you need to do while you complete the migration process. This will help you avoid common pitfalls, such as data quality issues, low user adoption, and inadequate testing.
At the start of my career, there was one lesson I learned quickly: data integrity is everything. And with the wrong ERP migration process, it can compromise audits, misinform decision-making, and erode trust in your financial reports.
Migrating from one ERP system to another is a complex and delicate process, especially from a financial leadership perspective. One small misstep can turn into a series of costly disruptions, pulling your focus away from strategic planning and toward operational triage.
As a digital software expert, I know how easily (and quickly) ERP migration can go wrong. I’ve also witnessed how a well-planned migration can expedite your business—and your profits. That’s why I wrote this guide: to help CFOs like you navigate ERP migration with foresight, control, and confidence.
So whether you’re upgrading from an old ERP or adopting one for the first time, you’re in the right place. Let’s get into it.
What Is ERP Migration?
ERP migration means moving your business data, systems, and workflows from one ERP system to another. It also covers merging tools or shifting processes from external systems into a new ERP.
Migrating to an ERP typically involves:
- Extracting data from your old system
- Transforming the data to fit the format and structure of the new ERP
- Loading the data into the new ERP software
And despite how it sounds, ERP migration goes beyond transferring data. It also requires reconfiguring workflows, retraining users, and integrating with other tools. You may even need to rethink how departments collaborate.
ERP Migration vs ERP Conversion
While they may sound relatively similar, ERP migration and ERP conversion are two different concepts that shouldn’t be used interchangerably. ERP migration is the general term for any transition to a new ERP. This could be moving from a legacy solution, combining several tools into one, or changing to a new vendor.
On the other hand, ERP conversion is the process of upgrading your ERP system to a new version or patch (i.e. SAP ECC to S/4 HANA). Here’s a short breakdown to help you determine if you need to migrate or convert your ERP:
| ERP Migration | ERP Conversion | |
| Scope | Moving to an entirely new system | Upgrading within the same system |
| Purpose | To improve efficiency, adopt new technology, or scale with business growth | To take advantage of new features, offerings, or improvements |
| Timeframe | Up to 1-2 years | Approx 3-12 months |
| Data Integration | More extensive data conversion and migration | Minimal data conversion and migration |
| Costs | Higher due to higher scope | Lower due to smaller scope |
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LiveFlow
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Float Financial
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Vena
Visit WebsiteThis is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.5
The Characters in ERP Migration
Just like with any other software change, ERP migration is not a solo effort—several stakeholders must collaborate for it to work. Some of these players include:
- CFOs and Finance Leaders: Oversee costs, ensure financial compliance, and support ERP reporting.
- IT Teams: Handle ERP implementation and system configuration. They’re also responsible for data mapping, extraction, transformation, loading, and testing.
- ERP Vendors or Consultants: Provide software know-how and user support. More often than not, they also lead migration efforts.
- ERP Project Managers: Coordinate communication, define timelines, and track progress.
- Department Leads or Managers: Represent each team’s unique needs and validate data. They also support testing and training initiatives.
- End Users: Help test workflows and provide usability feedback.
Together, each of these stakeholders help ensure that the ERP migration process is completed accurately and efficiently, while adhering to business goals and requirements.
When ERP Migration is Necessary (or Inevitable)
Sometimes, ERP migration becomes inevitable. At the executive and technical levels, you might consider swapping systems when you need to:
- Replace outdated, obsolete, redundant, or legacy systems (ERP or not)
- Consolidate siloed systems
- Improve data accuracy and eliminate inaccuracies or redundancies across teams
- Scale business operations in a way existing systems can’t
- Move to a more compliant setup
- Access better reporting features
Software isn’t meant to be static—it should grow and evolve as your business does. When it becomes complacent, it’s often time for a change. Here are a few instances I’ve noted where ERP migration might be necessary:
| Scenario | Why ERP Migration is Necessary |
| Existing systems (ERP or not) are outdated, obsolete, redundant, or legacy | Older systems often lack support, pose security risks, and can't meet modern business needs. |
| Teams use different tools, and their data is siloed | Disconnected tools slow collaboration, create confusion, and lead to double work. |
| Business data is inaccurate, inconsistent, or redundant across teams | Poor data quality causes bad decisions and wastes time on manual cleanups. |
| Current systems can’t scale with business growth | As a business grows, limited systems slow things down. Cracks start to show, and teams rely on clumsy workarounds to keep things moving. |
| Compliance or audit requirements have changed | Outdated systems may not meet new regulatory standards, putting you at risk of non-compliance or failed audits. |
| There’s a need for better reporting and insights | Performance tracking and strategic planning are harder without advanced reporting tools. |
6 Steps for a Successful ERP Migration
Moving your operations to a modern ERP system isn’t an easy task. From approvals to planning and testing, it’s a dedicated process that requires a lot of steps. To help you ensure minimal disruptions and get the most out of your ERP migration, I created this 6-step guide.
If you’re looking for the TDLR version, skip to the interactive checklist.
1. Outline Your Requirements
Every successful ERP migration begins with business needs. Are you seeking better supply chain visibility and real-time analytics? Or is your focus on improved customer relationship management (CRM) and regulatory compliance?
Before beginning, make sure you clearly define your ERP migration requirements. Start by interviewing department heads to understand their existing data, processes, and pain points. The more context you have, the better, especially if you’re not directly involved in their day-to-day operations.
From there, take note of industry-specific regulations that your ERP must align with. Do you need better reporting features, stronger security, or support for global operations?
Once you know your business needs, you can then document the datasets you’ll be migrating, where they currently live, and your plan to clean them. During this step, also make sure to outline system speed, uptime, and reporting goals to track performance effectively.
Lastly, don’t forget to list all the tools your ERP needs to integrate with (e.g., CRMs or payroll software). Forgetting a crucial piece of software can be more costly than you think!
2. Choose Your Vendor
Your ERP provider can make or mar the data migration process, so don’t take this step lightly. Choose the right ERP vendor with these 10 key selection criteria:
| Criteria | What To Look For |
| Business Needs and Functionality | Ensure the ERP fixes the issues that triggered the migration. Does it include all the functions you need to successfully run and grow your business? |
| Budget and Resources | Know and plan for the full migration cost, from the system to the people running it. |
| Internal Support | Get the backing of company execs and employees to limit resistance post-implementation. |
| Software Integration | Check that the system will integrate easily with your current tools. |
| Cost Efficiency | Weigh the total cost of ownership (TCO) against potential ROI to ensure your ERP pays off long-term. |
| Reputation and Support | Look for a vendor with a proven track record and strong migration support, during and after. |
| Implementation Time and Complexity | Find out how long migration will take and how complex it’ll be. Cloud ERPs or hybrid systems are more modern and flexible than their on-premise alternatives. |
| Onboarding | Choose a vendor that offers in-depth training resources and ongoing support to ease your team’s transition. |
| Customization, Maintenance, and Security | Confirm that the ERP is easy to customize and secure enough to protect your business data. |
| Scalability | Go for an ERP solution that can grow with your business without breaking or slowing down. |
Before making your final decision, check out case studies and speak directly with past clients. It’s also a plus if the vendor provides a sandbox environment to test core features risk-free.
If you’re unsure of where to start your search, consider checking out our list of the best ERP software alternatives:
3. Build Your Strategy
Now it’s time to strategize. A strong ERP migration project plan outlines exactly how you’ll move from your current system to the new one. It limits risk, aligns stakeholders, and improves your chances of success.
Start by defining the scope, budget, and timeline of your migration. Then, break your data migration strategy into the following phases:
This strategy may change as your ERP migration process progresses and you communicate with more stakeholders and team members. Consider using project management tools to help increase collaboration and visibility as strategies or need requirements change so everyone can remain up to date.
4. Loop In Your Team
Truly transformative ERP migrations depend on team members. People need to know what’s happening and feel like you consider them during decision-making.
Some questions you may need to answer include:
- When does the migration begin?
- How and when will training start?
- Who should report issues during testing?
- What’s the go-live date?
- Will I lose access to past reports?
- Will this change how we send and get approvals?
Address these questions and others by creating an organized communication plan. Next, identify who needs what kind of training and set up feedback channels. This way, you can keep everyone up to date, train them effectively, and flag any issues before going live.
5. Execute the ERP Migration
The ERP migration execution is where you turn your project plan into action, from kickoff to testing and go-live. It involves the following steps:
6. Manage Your ERP (And Your Team)
Go-live doesn’t mean go home. Post-migration and implementation, you must monitor the ERP’s performance, collect feedback, and provide ongoing user support.
To get the most out of your migration, make sure you complete the following:
- Manage Reporting: Set up reporting dashboards to track system uptime, error logs, and speed.
- Encourage Questions: Host office hours with open Q&A sessions where users can flag issues and get help.
- Open Feedback Loops: Create a dedicated feedback email or form for users to log bugs and friction points.
- Write Everything Down: Note all comments and feedback in a central document to track user sentiment and plan system tweaks.
- Continuously Train: Run refresher or follow-up training sessions to clarify common confusions and cover edge cases.
- Review Regularly: Review data flows, backups, and integrations regularly to maintain system health.
ERP Migration: Timeline and Costs
ERP migration timelines and costs can vary depending on your current setup, team expertise, data integrity, and the new system’s complexity.
The average SMB or startup can expect their ERP migration to take 3-9 months. But for larger enterprises, these processes are generally 12+ months.
❓Why do large enterprise migrations take longer?
Most large-scale ERP migrations take longer due to their data volume, tiered user permissions, and more integration dependencies. Additional factors may include company approvals and waiting times for information gathering.
In terms of costs, ERP migration for SMBs can cost anywhere from $10,000 to $150,000. For larger businesses and corporations, costs start at around $200,000 and can go well beyond $1 million.
Keep in mind that these cost estimates include upfront ERP licensing fees and integration expenses. They also cover data migration tools, human capital, training, documentation, and ongoing support.
However, there are several other factors that can impact ERP migration costs, including:
- Data volume and complexity
- Legacy system limitations
- Number of users
- Customization needs
- Integration scope
ERP Migration Checklist
ERP migration can be a challenging process, and if not done correctly, can disrupt your entire business. That's why I put together this interactive checklist to help you make sure you got everything you need to kick off a successful migration.
-
LiveFlow
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Float Financial
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Vena
Visit WebsiteThis is an aggregated rating for this tool including ratings from Crozdesk users and ratings from other sites.4.5
Common ERP Migration Challenges
Nothing in life is simple and straightforward. Problems are bound to happen, regardless of how thorough you are with your planning. Here are three of the biggest ERP migration challenges you might face, and how to solve them.
1. Data Quality Issues
Issues like outdated records and inconsistent formatting can cause downstream errors in the new ERP. And until it’s time to migrate, you may underestimate how messy your business’s historical data really is.
Say your vendor master list contains different spellings or old addresses for the same supplier. These inconsistencies end up as duplicate entries in your ERP database.
Solution:
Make sure to clean and standardize your master data pre-migration. Merge duplicates, update obsolete records, and use uniform formatting across fields.
2. Inadequate Testing
Rushing through or skipping testing means you can’t verify if the new ERP works as planned. Post-rollout, you may find that invoices don’t sync well in your finance ERP because of incorrect field mapping. You could also discover duplicate employee records due to mismatched ID fields.
Solution:
A simple test beforehand can catch such issues earlier .Unsure what type of tests to do? Check out the different types of ERP tests and when to use them.
3. Low User Adoption
No matter how perfect an ERP system is, it will fail if employees don’t use it. And change resistance happens for many reasons, from inadequate training to clunky software and poor migration communication. For example, sales teams may keep using spreadsheets for deal management if they didn’t get proper onboarding.
Solution:
Drive user adoption and retention with proper training, intuitive user interfaces, and a structured communication plan.
Best Practices for ERP Migration
ERP migration best practices are a dime a dozen, but these are my 9 top tips to help ease the process:
- Start Testing Early: This way, you can find and fix issues quickly.
- Continuously Test During Migration: Validate data and system functionality at each migration phase, not just at the end.
- Automate Data Cleaning: Simplify and speed up data cleaning with Python, statistical analysis software, or vendor-provided tools.
- Assign a Dedicated Migration Team: Define who’s responsible for data governance, workflows, and testing so everything runs smoothly.
- Document Your Field Mappings: Don’t rely on memory. Keep a detailed record of every old-to-new data field transformation.
- Communicate Consistently With Users: Send regular updates, invite feedback, and explain how the migration affects daily operations.
- Run Pilot Programs: For example, let a single department try out the new ERP before full rollout.
- Track and Resolve Post-launch Bugs Fast: Set up triage channels to collect, prioritize, and fix issues quickly.
- Create a Rollback Strategy: Prepare a contingency plan in case you need to pause or reverse go-live for any reason.
ERP Migration: The Pulse of Every Implementation
A smooth ERP migration sets the tone for everything that follows, from user adoption to long-term ROI. Beyond transferring data, it’s about moving your business forward with intention.
So audit your current systems, involve your team, and prioritize clean data. Also, test like your business depends on it—because it does.
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