At this point, you've instrumented your event collection with Hightouch Events, validated data quality, and unified your new data with historical data. The final step of migration is updating your downstream applications and destinations to ensure your entire data ecosystem is aligned with your new event tracking infrastructure.
It is possible to run this step in parallel with earlier validation to shorten the migration, but you may need to repeat some steps depending on any changes made during validation or unioning with historical data.
Event streaming destinations differ in process. Since streaming events bypass the warehouse and go straight to their destinations, to avoid sending large volumes of duplicate events to your streaming destinations you won't want to have events streaming from your old tool and Hightouch Events at the same time. Instead you'll set up and turn on your Hightouch streaming destination and turn off your prior tool's streaming destination at the same time.
Re-check your inventory of downstream applications
In your planning, you likely created an initial list of applications consuming event data. Take this opportunity to review and update that list in light of the migration so far.
Make sure your list includes any systems, tools, and processes that consume your event data, including:
- Analytics platforms (for example, Google Analytics, Amplitude)
- Marketing and advertising tools (for example, Facebook Ads, Google Ads)
- Customer engagement platforms (for example, Braze, Customer.io)
- Business intelligence tools (for example, Tableau, Looker)
- Custom internal dashboards and applications
Rank your downstream systems based on their criticality to your business operations to plan a phased approach to the updates if necessary.
Update data sources
For each downstream system:
- Identify current data source: Determine how the system is currently receiving event data (for example, reverse ETL, streaming, or direct SDKs).
- Update configurations or set up new syncs: Depending on the downstream tool, you might:
- Create new or update existing Hightouch syncs
- Set up or modify streaming destinations in Hightouch
- Modify configurations in the downstream tool to point to the unified events data.
- Verify data flow: Confirm that events are flowing correctly into the updated system.
Adapt to schema changes
If your migration to Hightouch Events involved changes to your event schema:
- Document changes: Create a clear mapping between your old and new event schemas.
- Update data models: Modify any data models or transformations in your downstream systems to align with the new schema.
- Revise queries: Update SQL queries, API calls, or other data retrieval methods to reflect the new event structure.
Validate metrics and reports
For each updated system:
- Reconcile key metrics: Compare critical metrics between the old and new data sources to ensure consistency.
- Update dashboards: Revise any dashboards or standard reports to use the new data source and schema.
- Cross-check historical data: Verify that historical data is accurately represented in updated reports.
Handle data discrepancies
If you encounter differences between your old and new systems:
- Investigate root causes: Determine if differences are due to improved data collection, schema changes, or potential issues.
- Document explanations: For any persistent differences, document the reasons and communicate these to stakeholders.
- Adjust baselines: If necessary, establish new baselines for key metrics based on the new data from Hightouch Events.
Manage the transition period
If you're executing your migration in a linear fashion, you'll carry out this work as a whole after validating and confirming your new event data and cutting off your prior event collection tool.
However, if you're gradually shifting traffic over to Hightouch Events, you might decide to start transitioning downstream applications to use the new data at the same time and run in parallel with your prior tool and historical. If you do so, have a clear date planned for switching all downstream applications over to Hightouch events data and communicate changes to stakeholders as you transition.
Enabling users across your organization
As users across your organization interact with the new event data, gather feedback and refine your event collection and data activation setup to enable users to leverage your event data effectively.
By methodically updating your downstream applications and destinations, you ensure that the benefits of migrating to Hightouch Events propagate throughout your entire data ecosystem.
Turning off your previous provider
Once you're confident in your Hightouch Events setup, you can begin sunsetting your previous provider. We recommend the process below.
- Gradual cutover: Incrementally increase the proportion of traffic sent only to Hightouch Events.
- Monitor closely: Watch for any unexpected changes in data patterns or downstream system behavior.
- Final switch: When ready, update your tracking code to send events only to Hightouch Events. With a wrapper function, this is as easy as a one line removal.
- Decommission old system: Follow your previous provider's instructions for account closure and data handling.
This final step completes your migration journey, setting you up for improved data quality, more efficient analytics, and better-informed decision-making across your organization.
Remember, this is not just a one-time process. Regularly review and optimize your event data flow to continually derive maximum value from your Hightouch Events implementation.