Small Business Data Migration Reconciliation Checklist

Migration reconciliation is the evidence that important source records arrived in the new system with the expected identity, fields, relationships, status, access, and history. A successful import message does not prove that staff can trust the result.

Define what must match

List record counts, stable identifiers, required fields, relationships, statuses, dates, totals, attachments, permissions, and historical events that matter to the business. Separate exact matches from values that are intentionally transformed.

Build representative comparison sets

Compare normal, large, incomplete, duplicate, inactive, recently changed, linked, and difficult records. Include records from every department or process that depends on the migrated data.

Reconcile counts and identity

Check source-to-destination counts by record type, status, owner, and period. Verify identifiers and relationships so a correct total does not hide merged customers, orphaned transactions, or records assigned to the wrong account.

The content migration guide and implementation plan cover preparation and ownership.

Compare fields and transformations

Use a mapping that shows source field, destination field, transformation, default, allowed value, owner, and exception. Review dates, time zones, names, phone numbers, currency, status, notes, and attachments for the meaning they carry in daily work.

Record exceptions visibly

Keep a queue of missing, rejected, duplicate, ambiguous, and intentionally excluded records. Give each exception a reason, owner, decision, action, and resolution evidence instead of silently editing the destination until counts look right.

Check permissions and reporting

Test representative users and reports after migration. Confirm that staff see the right records, restricted information remains restricted, dashboards use the correct fields, and exports do not change meaning unexpectedly.

Obtain business signoff

Have process owners review evidence and unresolved exceptions against agreed acceptance criteria. Document what is accepted, what will be corrected later, who owns the corrections, and whether a rollback or source archive is required.