Secure data migration often depends on inconspicuous technical details. Before data from legacy systems is transferred to modern applications, databases or cloud destinations, it is therefore worth taking a close look at encodings, data types and structures. Even a quick scan of the source data can reveal mixed character encodings within individual columns – a classic stumbling block for later conversions.
Equally important is a so-called round-trip test: if a data sample is converted to the target format and then converted back again, potential problems become immediately apparent. Especially with Unicode formats such as UTF-16, surrogate pairs must also be transferred correctly, otherwise characters will be lost or arrive damaged. Checksum comparisons before and after migration offer additional security, especially for business-critical fields. Finally, not only the visible character count should be checked, but also the actual byte length, in order to reliably rule out hidden truncations.
If these checks are neglected, errors often remain undetected for a long time – until they distort analyses, render joins unusable or damage the trust of users and customers. Classic migration approaches with manual queries, patchwork scripts and separate individual solutions further increase this risk. Incorrect data types, lost constraints, or creeping data corruption are then almost inevitable.
This is exactly where IRI NextForm comes in! As a unified tool, it consistently covers coding analysis, data type conversion, and validation across files and databases. NextForm was specifically designed to migrate structured source formats and their data types – from EBCDIC to packed decimals to Unicode and big-endian formats – to modern target environments without loss. No damaged structures, no lost metadata and no unpleasant surprises after migration.
Efficiency meets experience: For more than four decades, our software solutions have been supporting companies in data management and data protection – technologically leading, reliable in productive use and applicable across all industries.
In use since 1978: Numerous well-known companies, service providers, financial institutions and state and federal authorities are among our long-standing customers.
Maximum compatibility: Our software supports both classic mainframe platforms (Fujitsu BS2000/OSD, IBM z/OS, z/VSE, z/Linux) and modern open system environments such as Linux, UNIX derivatives and Windows.