So far in our articles on MES migration, we have learnt that the newer MES applications drive continuous improvement and provide flexibility to manufacturing operations. We have also seen that like all other projects, the migration project can be successful only if the three most important factors, the Time, the Cost and the Risk are carefully evaluated and understood.
There are majorly three approaches in which a migration project might be performed: the Big Bang, which we will explore more deeply today, the Phased Introduction and the Parallel Run.
Even after the analysis of all factors mentioned above there is no sure shot approach to the process of migration, but it would make the approach towards migration much more scientific and logic based.
The first approach towards migration is the Big Bang approach, which advocates the use of just one system at a time, i.e. the new system just replaces the old one. Basically, when the migration is made, the old system ceases to exist and all the functionality of the new system is there to be used. Data resides on the new system only after migration and the use of the old legacy MES is completely stopped.
In this approach, the pre-migration phase is extremely critical, as the new functionality desired by users and process owners needs to be tested, improved and accepted before the application actually goes live. The project team and the MES vendor need to understand the use cases, current operation and future requirements, while building the interfaces which would eventually replace the old legacy system. Once the interfaces are ready and have been tested during the migration rehearsal, the migration may be initiated.
The Big Bang migration technique requires the least amount of time when compared to other strategies. The legacy system stops completely and entire functionality of the new MES is available instantly. This allows for least downtime, however as per the risk return theory, the higher the return predicted, the greater the risk associated with it.
The higher risk in this technique exists purely due to the fact that there is no provision for any contingency. The old legacy system can’t provide any sort of back-up in case the new MES has a functionality issue or any other contingency (say the GUI in the SPC is found to be improper the charts are not as per the engineering team’s expectations or the system lacks the function to record successive iterations made in the lab for a period over 24 hours, which means the LIMS functionality is not mature enough)...
Read more about the Big Bang Strategy and other blog articles on MES migration here
There are majorly three approaches in which a migration project might be performed: the Big Bang, which we will explore more deeply today, the Phased Introduction and the Parallel Run.
Even after the analysis of all factors mentioned above there is no sure shot approach to the process of migration, but it would make the approach towards migration much more scientific and logic based.
The first approach towards migration is the Big Bang approach, which advocates the use of just one system at a time, i.e. the new system just replaces the old one. Basically, when the migration is made, the old system ceases to exist and all the functionality of the new system is there to be used. Data resides on the new system only after migration and the use of the old legacy MES is completely stopped.
In this approach, the pre-migration phase is extremely critical, as the new functionality desired by users and process owners needs to be tested, improved and accepted before the application actually goes live. The project team and the MES vendor need to understand the use cases, current operation and future requirements, while building the interfaces which would eventually replace the old legacy system. Once the interfaces are ready and have been tested during the migration rehearsal, the migration may be initiated.
The Big Bang migration technique requires the least amount of time when compared to other strategies. The legacy system stops completely and entire functionality of the new MES is available instantly. This allows for least downtime, however as per the risk return theory, the higher the return predicted, the greater the risk associated with it.
The higher risk in this technique exists purely due to the fact that there is no provision for any contingency. The old legacy system can’t provide any sort of back-up in case the new MES has a functionality issue or any other contingency (say the GUI in the SPC is found to be improper the charts are not as per the engineering team’s expectations or the system lacks the function to record successive iterations made in the lab for a period over 24 hours, which means the LIMS functionality is not mature enough)...
Read more about the Big Bang Strategy and other blog articles on MES migration here
