migrationintegrationsdata

Migration Playbook: Moving Nominations and Voter Data When You Switch Platforms

UUnknown

2026-02-14

11 min read

Technical playbook to export nominations, map schemas, transition SSO and cut downtime—minimize privacy risk during vendor changes.

Hook: Why migrations fail — and how to make yours different

If your awards or nominations program is stuck on a platform that makes exports painful, voter engagement low, or audit trails unreliable, a vendor change can feel risky. The real risks aren’t just technical: slow migrations cost participation, create privacy exposure, and shed stakeholder trust. This playbook gives a stepwise, technical and operational plan—covering data export, schema mapping, SSO transition, and stakeholder communications—to minimize downtime and privacy risk when you switch platforms in 2026.

Executive summary: The migration in one page

Audit current data, exports and access (inventory all nomination + voter datasets).
Define the target schema and mapping rules (fields, IDs, votes, history, audit logs).
Extract data securely (full + incremental exports, CDC if available).
Transform and validate in staging (dedupe, hash PII, reconcile counts).
Transition identity: SCIM provisioning + SSO cutover (staged SAML/OIDC swap).
Switch with minimal downtime (dual-write or read-only freeze window + verification).
Communicate clearly to nominees, voters and stakeholders; preserve auditability.

Pre-migration audit: What you must verify first

Before exporting anything, run a short, focused audit. This reduces surprises and clarifies privacy obligations.

Data inventory: nominations, voters, ballots, judge scores, comments, attachments, audit logs, timestamps.
PII mapping: which fields contain personal data (name, email, phone, employer), sensitive fields (race, disability, etc.).
Access audit: who has export rights? Get a list of admin users and API keys.
Retention & consent: what consents exist for communications and retention? Are deletion requests pending?
Integration touchpoints: webhooks, CRM syncs, analytics, SSO (SAML/OIDC), SCIM.

Step 1 — Exporting nominations & voter data (technical)

The quality of your export determines how clean the import will be. Treat exports as a product: version them, sign them, and validate them.

Best practices for export formats

Prefer structured formats: CSV for tabular data, JSON for nested objects (attachments, votes) and NDJSON for line-delimited streaming.
Include a manifest file (JSON) that lists file checksums (SHA256), record counts and export timestamps.
Export audit logs separately—include event type, user id, ip, timestamp, and action.

Export strategy

Full export — snapshot of everything (for archival and initial import).
Incremental exports — export changed records since timestamp T using API pagination or CDC endpoints.
Attachments — export via secure signed URLs or SFTP in batches, maintaining filenames and metadata.

Practical export checklist

Request or generate API tokens scoped to read-only export operations.
Run exports in a staging window to avoid race conditions with active nominations.
Compress and encrypt export packages (AES-256) and publish checksums — follow encryption and key rotation guidance from modern security playbooks (clinic cybersecurity techniques are a useful reference for encryption at-rest policies).
Log export actions and retain export manifests for auditability.

Step 2 — Schema mapping and data transformation

A successful import depends on a robust schema mapping. Map every source field to a target field and define transformation rules for types, enums and relationships.

Core mapping rules

Define identity mapping: choose a canonical user identifier (email vs externalId vs GUID). If emails can change, use stable GUIDs when possible.
Votes and ballots: preserve vote timestamp, anonymize if necessary, and map vote status (cast, revoked, pending).
Audit trail: map events with original timestamps and actor IDs; store original platform event IDs for traceability.
Attachments: map file pointers and rehydrate them into the new storage with metadata (uploader, upload timestamp, MIME type).

Sample mapping template (conceptual)

Source field          -> Target field         | Transformation
---------------------   ---------------------   -----------------------------
nominee_id             -> nominee.externalId   | keep as-is (UUID)
nominee_name           -> nominee.name         | trim, normalize whitespace
nominator_email        -> nomination.submitter | hash(email) + store email_hash
nomination_text        -> nomination.content    | sanitize HTML, strip scripts
vote_id                -> vote.id              | keep as-is
voter_email            -> user.email            | canonicalize (lowercase)
vote_timestamp         -> vote.created_at      | ISO8601
audit_event_id         -> audit.source_id      | keep original for traceability

Identity resolution and deduplication

Run deterministic matching on email + normalized name; flag ambiguous matches for human review.
Create a mapping table: source_user_id -> target_user_id to maintain continuity.
Record merge actions in a migration log so you can reverse or re-evaluate merges.

Step 3 — Secure data transfer & privacy controls

Data moves are where privacy risk materializes. In 2026 regulators and customers expect encryption, provenance and the ability to audit transfers.

Secure transfer patterns

Use SFTP or HTTPS with client certs for large exports; signed AWS S3 presigned URLs are acceptable for object storage transfers.
Encrypt payloads at rest (AES-256) and in transit (TLS 1.3). Rotate keys before and after migration.
Use ephemeral credentials; destroy export tokens after transfer and record the revocation.

PII minimization & pseudonymization

Hash or pseudonymize emails and phone numbers when the target system can operate using hashed identifiers (store original only if required for communications and with consent).
Redact fields not needed in the new platform (e.g., internal notes, HR-sensitive categories) and maintain a secure archive if retention is required by policy.
Honor deletion/erasure requests: reconcile pending requests before export, and mark exported rows with an erasure flag.

Regulatory context (2025–2026)

Recent enforcement actions through late 2025 increased scrutiny on cross-border transfers and data minimization. Treat each export as a data processing activity and record legal basis/consent. If you transfer EU data, document safeguards (SCCs or equivalent) and log transfer metadata.

Step 4 — SSO transition and identity handling

Identity is the riskiest part of a migration—get it right and users barely notice. Botched SSO flips are the leading cause of downtime and account lockouts.

Plan a staged SSO cutover

Inventory IdPs: list all identity providers (SAML, OIDC, Azure AD, Okta, Google Workspace) that authenticate users today.
Implement SCIM: use SCIM for user provisioning and deprovisioning. Ensure group membership and roles reconcile.
Dual-auth period: enable both old and new SSO in parallel for a limited time. Support account linking for users with accounts on both sides.
Certificate & metadata exchange: exchange SAML metadata in a secure channel and verify signing certificates ahead of cutover.
Fallback & emergency access: maintain a small set of emergency admin logins outside SSO for rollback (store credentials securely in a vault).

Technical details — SAML vs OIDC

SAML: confirm assertion consumer service (ACS) URLs, audience, NameID format, and attribute mappings.
OIDC: test ID token claims (email, sub, preferred_username) and ensure proper nonce handling for replay protection.
Consider offering passwordless (FIDO2/passkeys) as an alternative in 2026—many vendors now support FIDO for stronger, phishing-resistant auth.

User ID mapping pitfalls

Do not assume email is immutable—use stable GUIDs where available.
When mapping by email, canonicalize case, strip aliasing (Gmail + tags) and verify delivery before final cutover.
Log every account link/unlink with reasons to aid post-migration support.

Step 5 — Integrations, APIs and webhooks

Your awards program likely interacts with a CRM, email provider, analytics and reporting systems. Preserve these integrations with a thoughtful plan.

API migration tactics

Identify all outbound integrations and subscribe endpoints; establish new webhooks on the target platform in staging.
Respect rate limits—throttle imports and use exponential back-off retry logic for idempotent API calls.
Use change data capture (CDC) or incremental APIs to keep target systems in sync during the cutover window — API-first and edge migration patterns are described in Edge Migrations in 2026.

Backfill & reconciliation

Backfill CRM keys (contactId -> userId) and reconcile counts after import. Automate reconciliation reports that compare source vs target counts, sums and last modified timestamps.
For analytics (participation rates, conversion), preserve event IDs so metrics remain consistent across systems.

Step 6 — Downtime minimization strategies

The goal is to keep nominations and voting live while you migrate. Choose a strategy that fits your risk appetite and technical constraints.

Common cutover approaches

Dual-write: For a short period, write new submissions to both systems (source as canonical until cutover). Reconcile duplicates with dedupe rules. For real-world considerations on migrating active user content, see guides like Migrating Photo Backups When Platforms Change Direction.
Read-only freeze: Announce a brief read-only window for nominations/voting during a low-traffic time (e.g., late night). Use incremental syncs to catch up.
Blue-green switch: Deploy the new platform in parallel and switch traffic via load balancer/DNS after smoke tests.
Canary users: Migrate a small cohort (judges, staff) first to validate workflows and SSO before full rollout.

Mitigate race conditions

Sequence IDs should be preserved or remapped with source IDs appended to ensure uniqueness.
Use event ordering via timestamps and server-side sequence numbers to avoid out-of-order votes or nominations.

Operational communications plan

Technical success without clear communications leads to confusion. Your comms plan should be specific, timed and include fallback instructions.

Stakeholders to notify

Internal: product, ops, support, legal, marketing, nominations team, stakeholder sponsors.
External: nominees, nominators, voters, judges, partners (sponsors), analytics/CRM contacts.

Template: Short pre-cutover notification

Subject: Platform update — short read-only window for nominations

We’re moving our nominations system to a faster, more secure platform on [DATE/TIME]. To ensure a smooth transfer, nominations will be in read-only mode from [START] to [END]. You can still review submissions; new nominations will reopen when the migration completes. If you have urgent submissions, contact [support].

Support readiness

Prepare canned answers for common issues: login errors, missing nominations, duplicate records. Consider AI summarization to speed support agent workflows and surface likely fixes.
Staff a dedicated migration channel for 48–72 hours post-cutover.
Provide a self-serve migration FAQ and a form to report data anomalies.

Testing, validation and audit trails

Validation must be repeatable and auditable. Automate reconciliation and keep human validation for edge cases.

Key validation steps

Record counts: match total nominations, voters, votes and attachments between source and target.
Checksum validation: validate file checksums and manifest signatures.
Sample verification: manually verify a statistically significant sample of nominations and votes (including timestamps, attachments, and audit events).
Role & permission checks: confirm judges and admins have proper access and roles mapped correctly.

Maintain an immutable migration log

Store a signed, read-only migration log that records every export, transformation batch, import call, SSO metadata change, and communication sent. This log is invaluable for audits and for resolving disputes about vote integrity — see operational evidence capture playbooks for patterns and retention guidance (Operational Playbook: Evidence Capture).

Fallbacks, rollback and post-migration tasks

Define rollback criteria before you switch: if core counts mismatch by more than X% or if SSO authentication fails for >Y% of users, initiate rollback.

Plan rollback steps: re-enable old system writes and revert DNS/traffic routing.
Keep both systems in read-only mode during the decision window to avoid divergent histories.
After successful migration, decommission exports and rotate secrets, but archive source data securely for retention compliance.

Case study (anonymized)

A mid-sized non-profit moved its annual nominations and judging to a vendor in Q4 2025. They followed a two-week dual-write period, used SCIM for user provisioning, and rotated certificates twice during the SSO cutover. Results: a successful cutover with a 90-minute read-only window, zero lost votes, and a 40% drop in support tickets in the first week. Key success factors: staged SSO testing and a pre-built mapping table for 15k nominees.

Sample 30–90 day migration timeline

Days 0–7: Audit, stakeholder alignment, export scope and legal sign-off.
Days 8–21: Build mapping rules, implement test exports and transformations in staging.
Days 22–30: Run full export, validate manifests, and prepare SSO/SCIM configs in staging.
Days 31–45: Dual-write or backfill periods; run integration tests with CRM/webhooks.
Days 46–60: Final cutover (blue-green or read-only window), smoke tests, and support ramp-up.
Days 61–90: Post-migration reconciliation, analytics reconfiguration, and knowledge transfer.

Advanced strategies & 2026 trends

In 2026, expect migrations to increasingly rely on API-first vendors, stricter privacy controls, and identity standards that prioritize passkeys and decentralized identifiers. Recent account takeover waves (reported across platforms in early 2026) make strong identity verification and continuous monitoring table stakes. Design migrations for observability: system telemetry, SSO audit logs, and data lineage help security teams detect anomalies fast.

API-first architectures: reduce manual exports using standardized endpoints and CDC streams for near-real-time synchronization.
Zero Trust identity: require device posture checks for admin actions during migration windows and integrate continuous hardening (see Automating Virtual Patching patterns for CI/CD and ops).
Data portability: demand export and import contracts in procurement to avoid vendor lock-in.

Actionable takeaways

Start with an inventory: you can’t migrate what you can’t list.
Preserve identity: adopt GUIDs and mapping tables to prevent orphaned accounts.
Use staged SSO with SCIM and a dual-write window to minimize downtime.
Secure exports with encryption, ephemeral credentials and signed manifests.
Automate reconciliation and keep an immutable migration log for audit and trust.

"A migration is as much an operational program as it is a technical project. Treat it like a product: plan, test, communicate, measure and iterate."

Next steps (call to action)

Ready to plan your migration? Use this playbook as a template: run the pre-migration audit, produce your mapping table, and schedule a staged SSO test. If you want hands-on help, book a migration planning workshop or request our migration checklist and templates tailored to your current platform. Secure your nominations, preserve voter trust, and move with confidence.

Unknown

Contributor

Senior editor and content strategist. Writing about technology, design, and the future of digital media. Follow along for deep dives into the industry's moving parts.