Data Migration Validation Plan and Checklist

Blank template

1. Scope and inventory
2. Source and target
3. Data mapping and transformation
4. Cleansing rules and approvals
5. Migration tools and environments
6. Reconciliation and sampling
7. Exceptions and deviations
8. Attachments, metadata, and relationships
9. Audit trail and electronic signatures
10. Retention, access, and retrieval
11. Cutover, rollback, and source freeze
12. Migration summary and approval

Completed fictional example

Fictional teaching example: This is not an executed or approved validation record.

Scope and inventory

Fictional ten-year eQMS CAPA population

Source and target

Legacy eQMS to cloud eQMS

Data mapping and transformation

Immutable record, attachment, user, and relationship IDs mapped

Cleansing rules and approvals

No content cleansing; obsolete usernames mapped through approved identity table

Migration tools and environments

Controlled extraction and loading scripts in qualified migration environment

Reconciliation and sampling

Counts and totals plus full critical relationship check and risk-based retrieval sample

Exceptions and deviations

Duplicate attachment filenames initially mislinked; key strategy corrected

Attachments, metadata, and relationships

CAPA, attachments, approvals, and linked changes retained

Audit trail and electronic signatures

Signer, time, meaning, revision, and audit history preserved

Retention, access, and retrieval

Authorized and inspection roles retrieve representative records

Cutover, rollback, and source freeze

Approved freeze and reconciliation before target use; source retained until approval

Migration summary and approval

Approved only after full affected-population relationship rerun