Shipment of raw material must be carefully planned to arrive at the required time and place. The process needs to be monitored throughout, and the products checked for quality at the end of the production line. The same elements need be present for data conversion to deliver the correct product, on time, and at the agreed cost. The conversion vendor's performance is as dependent on the client's actions as it is on its own capabilities. Conversion vendor costs are directly related to the establishment of a smooth, continuous flow of work through the various stages of their operation, and elimination of quality problems or causes of non-conformance.
Conversion is very labor intensive and is customized for each project.
People are trained to the requirements of the specification and usually stay with the project throughout its term. Consequently, the costs are relatively fixed for these vendors, regardless of the rate of production. There are several functions that are required for the effective management of the conversion process. It is the pacing factor in the system implementation with other elements such as training, internal public relations, and hardware and software installations geared to the delivery of the data base product. Size and schedule may dictate the use of more than one conversion vendor, but the functions will be the same for all.