Our company is moving to a new ERP, but the old system has no API and the database is proprietary. Could we use RPA bots to "scrape" data from the old UI and enter it into the new system as a temporary migration bridge? Is this a reliable long-term solution?
3 answers
RPA is an excellent "Tactical" solution for data migration when APIs are unavailable. It is often much cheaper and faster than writing custom ETL scripts for a one-time move. However, I would caution against viewing it as a long-term bridge. UI-based migration is slower than back-end migration and is prone to errors if the legacy system lags or crashes. If you go this route, build in extensive data validation checks. The bot should verify that the record created in the new ERP exactly matches the source record before moving to the next item.
What is the volume of records you are looking to migrate? If it’s in the millions, RPA might be too slow. Bots usually operate at the speed of the application's user interface, which can be a major bottleneck.
Yes, you can absolutely build data cleansing logic into the bot. Use RegEx (Regular Expressions) within your RPA tool to standardize the data before it hits the new system.
Using RegEx is a great tip, Dorothy. It’s a lifesaver for fixing formatting issues in legacy data that doesn't follow modern standards.
We have about 50,000 complex customer records. Since it's not millions, I think we can run 5 bots in parallel to finish it over a weekend. My worry is the "dirty data" in the old system—can the bot be programmed to clean addresses or format phone numbers during the migration?