European Regional Development Fund

Name of the Project: “Development of Data Migration Methodology”

Project number: JPI/2.1.2.2.1/09/01/084.

Project Manager (from EDI): Dr.sc.comp. M. Broitman. Project framework 2009 – 2010.

Project Summary:

One of the most characteristic peculiarities of a modern society refers to a huge amount of information resources, developed within the last ten years. If yet in the middle of the last century the main way of information keeping referred to printed publications collected at libraries, then since the appearance of a computer and electronic data carriers the situation has changed dramatically. A huge number of databases, data keepers and electronic libraries have been created. New, separated industrial lines have appeared that provide new data carriers, storages of structured information, access devices and infrastructure (database servers, disk arrays, tape libraries, networks, etc.). The volume of stored information is growing steadily. Demand for that is also growing steadily, which in turn requires the enhancement access rate to information resources, more efficient structuring of this information. At the same time new, more efficient software and hardware (operating systems, database management systems, database servers, disk arrays etc.) are being developed.

In accordance with dialectic of the progress there inevitably arrives a moment, when outdated software and/ or hardware cannot process a continuously growing volume of information, entailing a task to turn to a new generation of software and /or hardware. Unfortunately, new means don’t always support the old data structures, coding and access methods. Therefore a data migration task appears. Generally the data migration scheme from one environment to another is typical, still, the uniqueness of portable relational database makes the corresponding task and corresponding software unique.

The aim of this project refers to the development of a new data migration (DM) methodology, including measuring means for evaluation of efficiency and quality of this process. Transportation of data (data migration) from one operational – technical environment to another occurs by means of unique software. The specific of this software is as follows: firstly, its components must work in various operational – technical environments and interact on data exchange level, secondly, the final result of the migration software is used once, therefore a special methodology and a set of special metrics are required for determination of the migration process quality, thirdly, for evaluation of data migration quality it is necessary to develop a special testing software not only for a new, but also for the source software – technical environment. A primary result of the DM process is the quality of migrated data to be attained within a planned time interval and within the expenses limits. Here the data quality is understood as the identity of source and target data, their completeness and conformity of interrelations, which provide identity of the results carrying out any of the existing data manipulation functions in the source and target operational – technical environment.