Setting up a fresh ArcHouse system with initial Stock.
The scenario
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets (LBTH) had enabled residents of local estates to elect to have their estate owned and managed by other Housing Associations. Several estates voted together to form a new Housing Association. This new Housing Association procured Orchard Information Systems' ArcHouse Housing Management System.
The objective was to take data from LBTH and load it into ArcHouse ready for a proposed transfer within 3 months. In addition to the data migration, the accommodation, hardware, and the rest of the IT infrastructure were being planned and put in place. This was in addition to the recruitment of staff and training on the new system.
The data
The data was to be provided by LBTH in several tab-separated files. These files were taken from various LBTH systems. The majority of current data came from LBTH's current iWorld system, but a lot of the property detail came from older, legacy systems. The data was provided by secure FTP to a PickSoft server. Each collection of data files was termed a 'cut' and there were 3 main 'cuts'.
PickSoft imported all the data into a translation database to allow various transformations and validation to be made. The data imported was subjected to many forms of validation to eliminate and data inconsistencies and misunderstandings.
Once the data was transformed into a usable format, the Parameter mapping began.
The implementation
After each data cut was received and processed it was loaded into the ArcHouse test system. At the same all the other systems and processes were being put into place.
Testing was carried out on the data at each stage and amendments made to ensure that the data fitted the way that the customer wanted to use the system. Any strange anomalies found in individual records were identified and either fixed in the source system or noted for later correction.
Completion
The customer was able to go live on the planned date and all the systems worked as expected. The data was proved migration process was validated by an external company and proved to be 100% correct.
Since going live, PickSoft have assisted the same customer with subsequent data transfers. PickSoft have also helped the customer in numerous other activities providing help with data extraction, housing benefit, rent increases and interfaces with other systems.