a data migration system and method are disclosed for migrating data from a source server to a target server . the system includes an index containing a plurality of data migration operations in a normalized data model , each data migration operation being stored in association with an attribute , and a data mover communicably connected to the index . the data mover is adapted to move data from the source server to the target server in accordance with the data migration operations contained in the index . the data mover has an attribute corresponding to the associated attribute of at least one data migration operation contained in the index , the attribute indicating the type of data migration operations that can be performed by the data mover .