Using Best Practices

Print and follow the pre-migration checklist. See the checklist for more information.

Important:

• Document cannot run on a domain controller, a CITRIX^® farm, or a terminal services environment. Successful migration depends on Document not residing on the above mentioned environments.
• If you currently have more than one CCH ProSystem fx Document account, you must use separate workstations to migrate each account. The Data Migration Utility must have a clean install for each migration.

Auto Updates. We strongly recommend that Windows^® automatic updates be deactivated while running Document migration. Some updates could potentially pause or stop the migration, causing exceptions to occur.

Indexing and Virus Scan. Indexing and virus scan software should be deactivated prior to running the Data Migration Utility.

Important: In order for your migration to be successful, you must run the Data Analysis Tool. The following issues could result if the Data Analysis Tool has not been run prior to migration:

• You could end up with duplicate data.
• You could end up with data that did not migrate.
• You could end up with data that is incompatible between CCH ProSystem fx products.

Run the Data Analysis Tool. Use the Data Analysis Tool to prepare your databases and check to see if your client and staff data is ready to be migrated to the new ProSystem fx Suite. It will also help you identify duplicate client and staff data in a database, between multiple databases for the same product, and between different products.

• Review your database for consistency, duplicates, and missing information.
• Make any necessary changes to your database prior to beginning the migration.
• All staff in the new ProSystem fx Suite are required to have an email address. Use the Data Analysis Tool to ensure that all existing foundation staff have a unique email address in a valid format.

Click here to download and install the Data Analysis Tool. Select Data Migration Utility from the products category and then click Data Analysis Tool. Log in using your CCH ProSystem fx login credentials.

Note: It is extremely important to use the Data Analysis Tool if your firm is migrating multiple products or databases into the new ProSystem fx Suite.

Clean your files. Review your current client files and purge any unwanted files or files you no longer need. These include expired files and deleted files in the recycle bin.

• Restore any files you have in the recycle bin you feel you might require in the new ProSystem fx Suite.
• Check in all files that have been checked out.
• Approve all files that are pending approval for a portal.
• Unused routing slips will not be migrated.

Important: Check Document Drive and Routing Queue to verify all files scanned have been routed to Document and all Tax returns have been sent to Document.

Run diagnostics. On the Data Migration Utility Welcome window, click Migration diagnostics to run the diagnostic report on your database. This will check for any duplicate data that you may have entered in the new ProSystem fx Suite or migrated for another product or database. This will allow you to correct any possible issues prior to migration.

Determine staff ID naming. Determine your the new ProSystem fx Suite staff user ID naming convention. The recommended naming conventions for the new ProSystem fx Suite are as follows:

• Firstname.Lastname
• Lastname.Firstname
• Firstinitial.Lastname
• Lastname.Firstinitial
• Email address

Review your clients as staff. Create a naming convention for current Document clients that will be migrated as staff. In the current Document application, many clients were created that are actually staff so files could be stored for them. Therefore, many clients are misidentified in the database. During migration, you can convert those clients to staff, and it is important that the naming convention for those clients be correct.

Review your files. Review your current client files and purge any unwanted files or files you no longer need. This will save time during the migration and free up storage space.

Migrating entities. We recommend that you migrate no more than 1000 clients at a time. If you have more than 10000, we suggest you migrate in batches.

Important: CCH ProSystem fx Document managed storage area must have a minimum of 15 GB of free space to migrate files.

Migrating files. We recommend that you migrate no more than 10 GB of files at any one time. If there are more than 10 GB of files to migrate, we suggest you migrate your files in batches.

Note: It is very important that once you start your file migration that no one be allowed to work in the new ProSystem fx Suite. Any changes made to the metadata in the new database will cause the files to err during the migration. Only allow users to work in the new application once all files have been successfully migrated.