We are denormalizing into a field past migration; while usually I freak out writing directly to the field tables in this case it's justified because it's a custom module (never do this in contrib) and also because we are well aware of what does no
If you are reading this thinking you are going to get some helpful Drupal development or site building tips...sorry! As a marketing person who runs a hardcore Drupal development shop, I often relate more to our clients than our developers.