Planning a Document Migration

This article helps you plan a document migration from another document management system or network based file-share into a business application or a document management application (e.g. Microsoft SharePoint, Documentum or DocuNECT). Technology plays a big part in any migration, however, migrating large volumes of documents and data requires a process to insure the integrity of data. It is recommended to develop a procedure that can help guide you through the migration. In putting together this procedure you should consider the following points:

1. Establish the Chain of CustodyIn migrating files from one location to another it is important to manage the "chain of custody" to understand what happens to the documents at every stage of the process.
2. Identify the Document Set. Identify the documents you wish to migrate, including the number and location of the documents before they are migrated. Portford has developed an application to help you inventory documents stored on a local or network based file-share to assist with this process. This application can be downloaded free from CNET Downloads.
3. Determine the Migration Rules. Once you have identified the set of documents you wish to import then the migration rules need to be determined. All business and document management systems have a structured way to store different document types, attributes (data about documents), security and location of documents. The rules define what information needs to be updated and how it is assigned. Portford's DocuNECT solution can be used to extract this information from the content of the documents, or an external database to help automate this stage. There may be some situations where this information cannot automatically be assigned, especially when migrating from a network based file-share. DocuNECT's web based indexing module can be used to index and confirm information before it is distributed to the business and/or document management system. As part of the "chain of custody" the original document path, file name, and a document signature (such as an MD5 hash) should be stored.
4. Validating the Migration. Once the migration is complete, it needs to be validated. This can be as simple as counting the source and target documents, however, it is recommended to also confirm that the migration rules were applied correctly. A sampling algorithm can determine the appropriate sample set of documents to check out of the total. The sample should be applied to each unique set of data, such as different document types or applications.

Portford Solutions has significant experience in migrating large amounts of documents and data to third party business and document management systems. In addition to DocuNECT, our migration technology platform, we have also developed a robust migration approach as part of our Idea to Implement (i2i) delivery methodology.