Ayrshire Chamber

Project Info -

This project involved the complex migration of historical data from an outdated CRM system into a modern, user-friendly WordPress application, transforming how our client accesses and manages customer information. The client's CRM was a 50-year-old system running on an SQL database, which contained vast amounts of legacy data, much of which was unstructured and required meticulous handling to ensure accuracy and relevance in the new application. Devvista was responsible for extracting, transforming, and integrating this data into a custom-built WordPress platform, enabling a seamless transition from the legacy system to a state-of-the-art, easily manageable web application. Data Scraping and Extraction Process Given the age of the CRM, accessing and retrieving data presented unique challenges. The data was stored in an SQL database that contained records accumulated over decades, including customer profiles, transaction histories, and notes from past interactions. Our team meticulously extracted this data, taking care to maintain data integrity and ensuring no loss or corruption during the extraction process. We faced inconsistencies, obsolete entries, and formatting challenges that are typical in legacy systems. To handle these issues, we developed a series of scripts to filter and clean the data, retaining only relevant information that would add value to the new WordPress application. This data preparation step was essential to guarantee that the transition to a modern interface would enhance user experience without the clutter of outdated information. Data Transformation and Manipulation Once extracted, the data required transformation to align with the structure and format of the new WordPress database. Given the differences in data schema between the old CRM and WordPress, our team implemented custom algorithms to convert the legacy data into a format compatible with WordPress’s database structure. This included mapping customer records, standardizing field names, and ensuring that relational data, such as transaction histories and customer interactions, was correctly linked. The transformation process also involved reformatting data entries to comply with modern data standards. For example, outdated date formats, address fields, and phone number structures were standardized, making the data more usable and accessible within the WordPress environment. This transformation ensured that data would not only fit within the new system but would be easily searchable, sortable, and ready for use in modern data analytics and reporting. Custom Coding for Data Integration With the data now compatible, we proceeded to integrate it into the new WordPress application. Given the complexity and volume of data, simple import methods were insufficient. Instead, our developers created custom code to ensure efficient and reliable data importation. This custom solution was essential to handle the volume of records without overwhelming the system, allowing data to load dynamically while maintaining site performance. WordPress Web Application Development The final phase of the project was developing a fully functional, user-friendly WordPress web application that would allow the client to access and manage their data effortlessly. We designed the WordPress interface with a focus on usability and ease of navigation, ensuring that employees unfamiliar with WordPress could quickly learn and interact with the platform.