Analysis as a Service
Recently, a customer with an interest in a data migration project from SharePoint version 2010 approached us, and as is often the case, a quote was requested from our migration architects. It was agreed that after completing some analysis, we’d have a better understanding of the content and its readiness for migration, and could then provide an accurate estimate.
Using the Vamosa Migration Architect software, our consultants were able to complete the analysis in just over a week. This analysis gave us invaluable insight into the content and a clear picture of how much effort would be required for the migration project. The customer was provided with detailed observations and a migration content recommendations document.
Analysis, what was involved?
The Vamosa Migration Architect software supports an automated process, so the content was extracted from the source using our SharePoint API connectors, which enabled us to execute automated analysis tasks across the offline data. Importantly, this meant there was no impact to the end users of SharePoint,and in addition, we were able to work faster, with everything stored and executed locally.
Analysis for an accurate picture and improved content quality
Firstly, the process of analysis highlights any potential issues before a migration. In this instance, we discovered we had initially been provided with insufficient access to all of the in-scope content. Failure to identify this access restriction prior to migration would have led to a failure to migrate some of the content, impacting the end result. Our consultants have a wealth of experience in delivering projects and were able to identify these sorts of issues early, ensuring they could be resolved and that no in-scope content was left behind.
Secondly, incorrect assumptions are frequently made prior to analysis, which can result in an inaccurate estimate in relation to the volume and quality of the content. Based on previous experience of similar projects, we anticipated each SharePoint document would have more than one version. However, the analysis uncovered a lower volume of content as versioning was seldom used. Our estimate was revised and we were pleased to tell the customer that the effort involved to deliver a migration would be less than we originally expected.
Thirdly, content quality can be further improved. Using our library of predefined analysis tasks, we can gain interesting metrics to help drive the next steps i.e. content cleansing or migration design. For example:
- A review of the content modified dates allows us to highlight possible stale content, potentially indicating content that can be archived rather than migrated
- By parsing a digital fingerprint of every binary file, we are able to highlight duplication. Content cleansing can be applied to de-duplicate files during migration
- Orphaned content is highlighted, e.g.if the original author is no longer in the organisation. Migration of these items cannot maintain the original author, but this can be reassigned during migration
Driving decisions for the next steps
Our software allows us to perform migration analysis for any system – whether the data is located in SharePoint, Office 365, or even in a simple file system. We have the capability to provide a detailed analysis of content, no matter where it is located.
The importance of analysis for content management migration cannot be overstated. A better understanding of content and its quality will help to drive the decisions for next steps; this knowledge can lower estimates, improve decision making and provide value to the customer.
Read on more from our Analysis resources
Take the next step!
Click here to find out more about Vamosa Cloud Migrations
A division of T-Systems, Vamosa Technologies specialises in content migration to cloud, on-premises and hybrid cloud systems. With two decades of customer migrations, Vamosa Technologies has experience with a comprehensive range of leading enterprise content management systems. To learn more about services from Vamosa Technologies, please read our case studies and whitepapers or contact us.
