Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles

Objective

The RI DMV was undertaking a data modernization project to update legacy systems and adopt a single customer, single record, single database approach to data management. The updated system would also prepare the agency to comply with REAL ID regulation, “a mandate on Federal agencies, restricting the circumstances under which they may accept state-issued driver’s licenses and identification cards for official purposes.”

As part of the modernization, they needed to migrate credential records (licenses, IDs, etc.) and vehicle records (plates, titles, etc.) from 40 legacy databases. They also needed to improve the data quality and validate more than 30 years of free form legacy data. In addition to complying with regulation, the modernization would help to enhance RI DMV’s online capabilities and improve their service offerings.

Solution

RI DMV was seeking a partner to help accelerate their data migration. While they had worked with a system integrator and had a team of SQL developers working through themigration, they were interested in finding a way to speed up the process and automate the migration. They sought an alternative approach to validate the business rules the existing team had developed, as well as verifying the accuracy of the data they planned to migrate.

RI DMV decided to look into what tools and vendors might help them to validate their business rules in a more efficient manner to help meet their intended delivery date and constraints. That’s where Experian came in. According to Walter Craddock, Administrator of the RI DMV, “One of the most important things for me as the Administrator of the DMV was the responsiveness of Experian when we started to work with them.” Recognizing the team’s willingness to “roll up their sleeves” to quickly address and overcome obstacles, Craddock felt confident that Experian would prove to be a valuable partner in their data conversion project.

Results

With Experian’s help, RI DMV was able to significantly accelerate the rate of their migration to deliver the conversion project within about six months. Experian’s data quality management tool and team of experts also helped RI DMV to achieve a higher degree of confidence in the accuracy of the data being migrated. Prior to engaging Experian in the data conversion process, RI DMV estimated that it might have taken up to two years using a traditional approach to work through the data and prepare for the migration. With the re-imagined approach, RI DMV successfully achieved a 100 percent cut over for their migration.

Experian’s data quality management solution helps to rework the traditional data migration, accelerating and streamlining the process. Rather than waiting until the user acceptance testing (UAT) phase to uncover potential issues that lead to failure, the tool enabled RI DMV to prototype all mapping specifications at the outset, avoiding rework later. Experian’s team of consultants helped RI DMV leverage the data quality management tool to its fullest capacity, performing a series of mock conversions in an iterative process that helped to remove the guesswork prior to the UAT phase.

By adopting a methodology that engages stakeholders from across the business from the start, RI DMV could also be confident that the thresholds and business rules they set for their data would enhance the usability of the information once transferred. RI DMV had already prepared data for the migration with the system integrator. By pairing Experian’s capabilities with traditional SQL coding, they validated the data rules through an automated process prior to cutting the data over, saving RI DMV time and money.

Conclusion

Walter Craddock, Administrator of the RI DMV, summed up the results of the project, saying “We were successful with our launch, and Experian—in no small part—was essential to that success.” Working together, RI DMV achieved a successful data migration in a significantly reduced timeline.

The benefits from the partnership included:

• 100% of data cut over
• Met the go-live date
• Accelerated migration to a 6-month timeline
• Reduced estimated delivery timeline by more than half
• Increased confidence in the accuracy of the information
• Validated business rules
• Streamlined and automated processes

In addition to these many benefits, Experian’s data quality management tool will continue to add value for RI DMV through its profiling and monitoring capabilities. Through an easy user interface and drag-and-drop functionality, the tool empowers business users across the agency to participate in the ongoing effort to maintain high-quality data.

About the Rhode Island Registry of Motor Vehicles

Rhode Island Division of Motor Vehicles (RI DMV) serves approximately one million citizens in the State of Rhode Island, regulating and enforcing laws related to motor vehicle registration and ownership, as well as drivers’ licenses. The RI DMV is also responsible for financial information pertaining to motor vehicle ownership and operation, as well as safety concerns and other laws.