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Content migration at the relaunch of a portal
What does migration in a content management system mean? Migration is the concept planning as well as the actual implementation of entering existing contents from a portal in a content management system (CMS), which has to be newly established. A lot of portals have grown during the course of time and are now to be continued by means of content management systems in order to fulfil the increased requirements of current internet presentations. At the implementation of the CMS the migration has to be considered and planned at a very early stage in order to be able to use the content, which has accumulated over years. In the following the essential stages of a CMS implementation are shown. The actual stage of content migration is emphasized. The article "foundations for the introduction of a content management system" contains a detailed description of the stages.
Illustration 1: The process of implementation of a content management system
The working step of content migration only affects the actual implementation of entering existing contents. The planning of migration, however, takes already place during the first stages of implementation (content definition and content structuring). This article gives an overview of the implementation of content migration at a re-launch of a portal and the resulting risks. The checklist at the end of the article offers a foundation for planning the content migration. 1. Concept 1.1 Content structuring The editorial office coordinates the file structure in the CMS as well as the name convention of the documents with a migration team. Rules have to be defined and kept, which the migration team has to obey, so that the migrated data can be used by the editorial office at a later stage. The optimal file structure has to be worked out to depict the existing portal as well as possible.
Illustration 2 : File structures in CMS
Illustration 2 shows possible dimensions in the file structure of a CMS. Conceivable dimensions are content element, publication date and subject. The structure in which the migrated contents are filed will usually be a combination of the different dimensions. A soccer report, which was published in calendar week 3, can be filed, for example, under the path "soccer/CW3/article". In this, the first directory "soccer" is a subject category, the second directory "CW3" is a categorization according to the publication date and the directory "article", in which the report is finally filed, is a subdivision according to content modules. Other content modules could, for example, be pictures, videos, short reports etc. In order to facilitate a highest possible smooth and efficient migration the diversity of different dimensions of content modules and layout has to be reduced to a manageable size at an existing portal (for example, standardization of text contributions with regard to structure and layout). This is one important task, which has to be carried out in the stages "content definition" and "content structuring". At the migration itself it has to be guaranteed that the defined structure is kept. 1.2 Content administration URLs: If on the portal, which has to be converted, not only own content but also content of the partners is portrayed, this has to be considered for the re-launch. Not only the content partners but also the own portal have to convert the links to the new URLs. Statistics: If no direct possibility for recording the page impressions is facilitated through the CMS, the corresponding statistics department has to be integrated in the content migration. It has to be determined from the beginning under which directories or under which URL the contents are portrayed after the re-launch. Only by this a right recording of the page impressions without interruptions can be safeguarded. Connection third systems: With the re-launch of a portal all wanted functions, which were already on the old portal, have to be available. In this, the interfaces have to be identified and the takeover has to be planned. As an example an application for the implementation of user votes (voting engine) is mentioned. 1.3 Establishment of migration team If possible, the migration team should be composed of editors, who also maintain the portal at a later stage. If this was not possible due to a bottleneck of resources, an early education and training of the migration team would have to begin. 2. Implementation 2.1 Course
Illustration 3: Phases of content migration
Together with the editorial office the contents have to be identified, which do not change or only change a little until the launch of the CMS. These long-lasting contents are transferred into the CMS at first. Contents which frequently change (for example, current news) are first of all transferred into the CMS with regard to the structure and not with regard to the content, which means directly before the date of launch these structures are used to migrate the dynamic contents in CMS as quickly as possible. Illustration 3 depicts the described stages of implementation of the content migration. With the approaching date of launch a very close cooperation between the editorial office and the migration team becomes indispensable. In this stage all content modifications of the current portal have to be concluded, so that the user will not perceive any change at the portal conversion. After the conversion the editorial maintenance of the portal is taken over by the editorial office. Due to the high expenditure the stage of parallel maintenance should be kept as short as possible, however, it can also extend to several days, depending on the size and share of the dynamic content of the portal. 2.2 Organisation The initial task of the team leader is the analysis of the contents, which have to be entered. In this, it should be distinguished on site or category level between
The time schedule, which depends on this, reflects until which time the respective contents are to be completely transferred into the CMS by whom. Also in this case there is a target/actual comparison on the basis of this plan in order to be able to interfere in case of deviations from the plan. 2.3 Quality control Before the entered contents are inserted live, they are subjected to a quality control. This quality assurance includes the following items:
2.4 Going live Directly before the launch of the CMS the portal is maintained on both systems in a parallel way. During this stage particularly the dynamic contents are transferred into the prepared structures. Short-lasting news, which have not been entered until now due to topicality, are now migrated in the prepared CMS structure by the migration team together in coordination with the editorial office. After the launch the migration team is available for questions of the users and supports the editors in their work from the beginning. 3. Checklist The below mentioned checklist can serve as basis for content migration. This list includes essential working steps as well as factors, which are extremely important with in the context of content migration.
Result The planning and the beginning of work in the migration has to be initiated at an early stage, so that there is no postponement of the portal opening due to content migration. The key role has the coordination between the editorial office and the migration team. Agreements which have been made here have to be kept. A good information flow is essential. It has also to be considered that the migration team cannot immediately take up its work after being established, but trainings and a time of familiarization in the CMS have to be calculated. In the migration team CMS background knowledge is desirable. 03/2004, Torsten Rudolph
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