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The Gift of Avoiding a Core Conversion Nightmare
Core conversions don’t fail because the technology is bad. They fail because nobody thinks about data early enough.
Everyone focuses on the features, the new UI, the timelines, the vendors — and the data gets treated like an afterthought until the eleventh hour. And that’s when the panic starts.
If you don’t map, validate, and reconcile early, you’re basically speed-running a meltdown: mismatched fields, missing records, loan products that don’t translate, balances that don’t reconcile, dashboards that can’t be trusted.
Sound familiar? It doesn’t have to be. Let’s break down the seven data mistakes that blow up core conversions — and how to prevent every single one.
1. Waiting Too Long to Start Data Mapping
Mapping is not a clerical exercise — it’s the foundation of your entire conversion.
If you wait until the end to start mapping:
- fields won’t match
- product types won’t align
- statuses won’t translate
- exceptions won’t be caught
3. Assuming Product Codes Will Magically Line Up
They won’t. Every core structures its products differently:
- account families
- loan class hierarchies
- status codes
- rate structures
If you skip product mapping or rush it, your lending and operations teams will be fixing fallout for months.
A core conversion doesn’t just impact the core. It impacts:
- online banking
- lending platforms
- card systems
- collections
- fraud tools
- reporting
- data warehouse
- dashboards
- third-party integrations
If your mapping and validation don’t account for downstream systems, you’ll break processes that were never supposed to change.
5. Not Having Strong Data Validation Rules
“Looks good” is not a validation strategy. You need:
- record counts
- balance checks
- product-level reconciliation
- status verification
- exception reporting
- variance thresholds
Without hard validation rules, you’re gambling with operational continuity.
6. Forgetting to Assign Data Owners for the Conversion
If everyone owns the data, no one owns the data — especially during a conversion.
You need clear owners for:
- product mapping
- field mapping
- data rules
- reconciliation
- downstream system updates
- exception handling
When ownership is vague, mistakes multiply.
7. Not Rehearsing the Conversion Before It Happens
Dry runs aren’t optional. They are the only way to uncover:
- hidden dependencies
- legacy quirks
- mismatched values
- broken integrations
- downstream failures
If your first full test is your “go-live,” you’re in trouble.
The Simple Truth
Core conversions fail because of data.
Not the vendor.
Not the software.
Not the timeline.
When the data isn’t mapped, validated, cleaned, owned, or tested — everything downstream becomes fragile. But when you treat data as the backbone of the conversion?
- mapping becomes clear
- validation becomes routine
- reconciliation becomes predictable
- downstream systems stay stable
- your teams sleep at night
And your go-live becomes boring — the highest compliment a conversion can ever receive.
The Data Nerds’ Day 5 Gift:
A conversion playbook that stops surprises before they start.
Because no credit union should be losing sleep over missed fields, mismatched balances, or last-minute data chaos.
Planning a core conversion?
Lodestar helps teams build the mapping, validation, reconciliation, and governance needed to ensure your conversion goes live smoothly — without the panic.