Content migrations involve moving content from one publishing platform to another and consist of four phases: inventory, mapping, transfer, and QA. The inventory phase involves cataloging all content, determining what can be removed, and how content is grouped. Mapping determines how content will be structured on the new platform. Transfer is the actual movement of content, which can be done manually or automatically. QA testing ensures content was migrated correctly and checks for errors introduced during the transfer process. Thorough planning and documentation is key to a successful content migration.

1. The Truth About
Content Migrations
Deane Barker
Blend Interactive

2. They’re painful.
[The End]

3. Definition:
The one-time movement of
content from one publishing
platform to a different publishing
platform.

4. The Four Phases
1. Inventory
2. Mapping
3. Transfer
4. QA

5. Phase #1: Inventory
" What content is moving?
" What content can we get rid of?
" How can it be grouped?
" What content requires special handling?
" What content requires changes?
" How volatile is the content?

6. Don’t move bad content.
This is the time for
spring-cleaning.

7. Start your inventory as early as
possible.
Before you start development.
Even before you pick a new
platform.

8. Be prepared for this process to
get highly politicized.

9. Keep your inventory systematic
and organized.
Have a central point of focus and
record-keeping.

11. Inventory Outputs
" List of content that will migrate divided into
logical groups
" List of content that will require special
handling
" List of content that will require changes
along with scope

12. Phase #2: Mapping
" How is content going to “fit” and work in the
new platform?
" What changes will be required to rich text
content?
" How is the overall structure of the content
going to transfer?

15. Content has different levels of
“geography”
Some content is very specifically
placed, while other content is
automatically organized.

16. Home
Products About
Product Product
History
A B

17. Press
Release

18. Highly-geographical content is
much harder to migrate.
You have to migrate both the
content and the placement.

19. Stub Mapping
Home
Products About
Product A Product B History
Existing Home New
Products About
Product A Product B History

20. Mapping Outputs
" An understanding of where all content is
going in the new platform and why
" Page stub structure

21. Phase 3: Transfer
" How are the actual bytes moving from one
system to another?

22. Migrating out of a CMS is a lot
easier than the alternative.
CMS enforces at least some
consistency.

23. Are you going to extract from the
repository level or the
publication level?

24. Repository vs. Publication
Extraction
HTML
Repository
Processing

25. How will URLs change on the new
platform?
How interlinked is your content?
How are you going to keep all
those links valid?

26. What is the actual mechanism of
movement?
Copy-and-paste?
Automated?

27. When Copy-and-Paste Works
" When you don’t have a lot of content
" When you have access to cheap labor
" When your content is highly geographic
" When you have enough resources for
sufficient QA

28. When Automated Migration Works
" When you have large volumes of content
" When your content is not highly-geographic
" When you have sufficient technology and/or
development resources

29. You don’t have to use the same
method for your entire project.

30. The Dreaded Content Freeze
" Once you start migrating from A to B,
content changes on A need to stop
" Length of the freeze window depends on the
volatility of the content

31. Automated Migration Tools
" Great answer to the Transfer phase
" Less of an answer to everything else
" They still have to be configured and tested

32. Transfer Output
" Content ready for QA
" Outputs from this phase will likely be
segmented

33. Phase 4: QA
" How much content is going to be reviewed
for compliance?
" All of it?
" A representative sample?
" Who has the authority to clear individual
content, and the site as a whole, for release?

34. Types of QA
" Technical QA
" Did this content transfer well?
" Does it look broken?
" Does it comply with the style guide?
" Editorial QA
" Is this content valid and correct?
" Where any errors introduced during transfer?

35. Ideally, track the QA process
inside the CMS itself.

38. During QA, reporting is key.
You should have access to a daily
number showing the percentage
of content cleared.

39. The Four Phases
1. Inventory
2. Mapping
3. Transfer
4. QA

40. " http://migrationhandbook.com

41. " WEB
http://gadgetopia.com
" TWITTER
@gadgetopia
" EMAIL
deane@blendinteractive.com