Scenario 1
Vamosa, the content management migration arm of T-Systems, was recently approached by a potential customer who was evaluating ways to move their existing content. We were asked to deliver a short demo showing data content being migrated into Office 365, with no indication of which source.
We chose to use Jive since the content types are a good fit for mapping to SharePoint, but any available source system could have been used. Some sample content was created across various content types, such as a Jive group, blog posts and files, as well as links within content.
Solution
A simple demonstration process was prepared in just over a week using the Vamosa Migration Architect software. The intention was to show the main points of a typical content management migration process, moving web and intranet content while maintaining quality using our default mapping of content types, including social and collaboration migrations. This demo was well received when it was delivered with lots of good questions asked and answered.
One of the main points discussed was that our default “out of the box” mappings might not necessarily be what some customers eventually decide to go with for production migrations. The process can be tailored to provide bespoke mappings, and custom transformations can be applied to transform and enhance content during its transition into Office 365. This is the one of the strengths of our process as opposed to a simple “lift and shift” migration. While the typical steps in a migration are often similar, it’s the business requirements and source content that make each customer’s migration unique.
Scenario 2
In talking to the customer, we discovered that their source system was IBM Connections. Content existed in Connections Cloud as well as in an on-premise 5.0 environment. One of the main questions was whether Vamosa Migration Architect could be used to move content out of Connections as well as Jive.
Our process and technology are platform agnostic, so this was not a challenge. Vamosa use custom connectors to interface with any source or target system via the available Application Programming Interface (API). This provides another strength, as all content flows via the API which is the recommended interface of any vendor. We can normally develop a new connector in a short space of time for different systems if one is not available, but in this case, a connector to capture content from Connections was already available – for on-premise and for Cloud. These connectors have been used extensively in dozens of migrations to move content between Connections on-premise and Cloud – and even back again!
Solution 2
A follow up demonstration was requested to show content being moved from Connections Cloud, again into Office 365. We were able to prepare this very quickly, as much of the process from the first demo could be re-used, and we could simply switch out components specific to the source i.e. the source connector and transformation engine.
In addition to Connections community files, which were migrated into a Document Library of a SharePoint Site (created during the migration), Connections personal files were also migrated into the OneDrive application of Office 365. Additional examples of how content quality is maintained was shown – for instance, migration of extended character set content.
One valuable point covered was the ability to maintain historical metadata relevant to the content, which can be important for regulations and auditing. This includes the capability of retaining the original authors and timestamps. Often these considerations only become apparent during more detailed workshops, but it’s useful for the customer to introduce these topics and begin discussing them as early as possible during a demonstration.
Result
The customer was again delighted and very impressed by the capabilities T-System Vamosa have, to help them maintain their content with a successful migration to allow them to start using Office 365. Again, this displayed our flexibility and understanding of a customer challenge and showed how we can help migrate social and collaboration content.
We are well placed to support migrations from multiple sources into Office 365 and SharePoint. We’re always happy to speak to customers and deliver demonstrations of our capabilities, and can usually tailor them to specified systems to show specific points of interest.
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A division of T-Systems, Vamosa Technologies specializes 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.
