MAPICS to SyteLine Migration Planning Guide
MAPICS, originally an IBM AS/400-based ERP, served mid-market manufacturers well for decades. But the platform's aging architecture, limited web capabilities, and shrinking support ecosystem make migration inevitable. Infor SyteLine (CloudSuite Industrial) is one of the most common target systems for MAPICS shops, particularly in discrete and repetitive manufacturing. The transition from green-screen RPG to a modern .NET platform is significant but manageable with proper planning.
MAPICS Migration Challenges
The biggest hurdle in MAPICS migrations is not the data—it is the decades of institutional knowledge embedded in RPG customizations and CL programs. Many MAPICS sites have hundreds of custom reports, modified screens, and automated workflows that were never documented. The AS/400 DB2 data structures do not map cleanly to SyteLine's SQL Server schema without significant transformation.
- RPG/CL custom programs averaging 200-500 per site with minimal documentation
- AS/400 DB2 to SQL Server data type mismatches requiring manual mapping review
- MAPICS part numbering conventions often incompatible with SyteLine item schemas
- Subsystem integrations (EDI, barcoding) require complete replacement on the new stack
Data Migration Strategy
Successful MAPICS to SyteLine migrations follow a phased data approach: master data first (items, customers, vendors, BOMs), then open transactions (orders, POs), and finally historical data. The critical decision is how much history to migrate versus archive. Most organizations find that 2-3 years of transactional history satisfies audit requirements while keeping the migration manageable.
- Master data cleansing typically reduces item count by 20-30% through duplicate elimination
- Open order migration requires careful cutover timing to avoid duplicate shipments
- GL history migration to SyteLine financials needs account structure redesign
- Custom MAPICS fields require UDFs or extended schemas in SyteLine configuration
AI-Assisted Migration from MAPICS
Netray's migration agents parse MAPICS data dictionaries and RPG source code to automatically generate data mapping documents, identify undocumented business rules, and create SyteLine configuration specifications. The agents reduce the discovery phase from months to weeks and catch mapping errors that manual analysis consistently misses.
Start your MAPICS to SyteLine migration assessment—our AI agents map your data in days, not months.
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