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Working with Migrations

In most cases, Document Central is set up with a new repository. If a previous version of Document Central was used with a SharePoint On-Premise, Document Central provides a migration path to the new repository, SharePoint Online. Additionally, if Document Central uses SharePoint Online as a repository, it can migrate to Azure Blob Storage.

Note

Please note that regardless of the migration type, the process can be time-consuming depending on the data volume and requires careful planning.

Working with SharePoint Migration

Sometimes a switch between SharePoint sites is necessary, like On-Premise to Online. In this case, the documents must be transferred from the old SharePoint to the new SharePoint. This can be done with the help of the SharePoint Migration in Document Central.

Szenario: The old DMS by Simova interface was used with SharePoint On-Premise. The new Document Central interface is used with SharePoint Online.

Prequirements: Before starting the migration, ensure the following requirements are met: - Ensure that the target SharePoint repository is created and fully configured in Document Central. - Ensure that the app registration is correctly configured for the target SharePoint. Document Central will then use an app user for the upload during the migration. - Ensure that the structure of SharePoint On-Premise and Online is the same. All metadata values and content types are created in the target SharePoint in exactly the same way as in the source SharePoint. - Ensure that the target SharePoint repository is the active repository in Document Central.

Steps: The migration will be done with the following steps: 1. Fill migration list 2. Setup source SharePoint 3. Specify the SharePoint source structure 4. (Optional*) Content types and metadata translation 5. Start migration 6. Synchronize document libraries

Info

  • For the migration to be successful, content types and metadata from the source SharePoint must be present in the target SharePoint. If they are not, you can map the source content types and metadata to the new target ones.

To fill the migration list, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
  2. Click on Migration in the ribbon bar and execute the action SharePoint Migration.
  3. Execute the Fill Migration List action in the ribbon bar.
  4. The migration list will be field from the configured document libraries in Document Central.

To setup the source SharePoint, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
  2. Click on Migration in the ribbon bar and execute the action SharePoint Migration.
  3. Execute the Enter Source SharePoint action in the ribbon bar.
  4. Specify the SharePoint url in the SharePoint URL field.
  5. Specify the SharePoint field for the created date in the SharePoint Field - Created (Optional) field.
  6. Specify the authentification mode in the Authentification Mode field.
  7. Specify the authentification type in the Authentification Type field.
  8. Enter the credentials in the Username and Password field.
  9. Click on OK to confirm the SharePoint source data.

To specify the SharePoint source structure, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
  2. Click on Migration in the ribbon bar and execute the action SharePoint Migration.
  3. Specify the source document libraries in the Source Library Name field.
  4. Specify the subsite in the Source Subsite field.
  5. Specify the primary field in the SharePoint Field - Source Document No. field.
  6. Activate the Delete Source checkbox if you want to delete the documents from the source SharePoint after the migration.

To translate the content types, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
  2. Click on Migration in the ribbon bar and execute the action SharePoint Migration.
  3. Execute the Content Type Migration Matrix action.
  4. Execute the Import Source Content Types action to import all the content types from the source SharePoint.
  5. Map the content types from the source SharePoint to those in the target SharePoint by specifying the target content type in the Target Content Type Name field.
  6. The content types are now mapped.

Caution

Content types present in both the source and target SharePoint will be automatically mapped. You only need to map the content types that are not present in the target SharePoint. Documents with content types that are not present in the target SharePoint cannot be migrated.

to translate the metadata, follow these steps: 1. Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center. 2. Click on Migration in the ribbon bar and execute the action SharePoint Migration. 3. Execute the Metadata Migration Matrix action. 4. Execute the Import Source Metadata action to import all the metadata from the source SharePoint. 5. Map the metadata from the source SharePoint to that in the target SharePoint by specifying the Target Metadata Name field. 6. The metadata are now mapped.

Caution

Metadata present in both the source and target SharePoint will be automatically mapped. You only need to map the metadata that are not present in the target SharePoint. Documents with metadata values not present in the target SharePoint cannot be migrated.

To start the migration, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
  2. Click on Migration in the ribbon bar and execute the action SharePoint Migration.
  3. Execute the Start Migration action in the ribbon bar.

Info

After completing all the steps, the migration will commence. It will run in the background. Please note that the duration of the migration process depends on the number and size of the documents in SharePoint. You can stop the migration by clicking on the Stop Migration action. This will stop the background session of the running migration. If you want to start the migration again, you can either start it from the beginning or from the point you stopped. If you want to start the migration from the beginning you need to reset the migration entry. You can reset a migration entry by clicking on the Reset Migration Entry action. This will only delete the status of the migration entry and the state in which it has been stopped. If you start the migration again, it will start from the beginning. If you want to start the migration for all documents from the beginning you need to press the Clear Migration Entries action. Otherwise the migration will not upload documents which have been uploaded succefully before. Error entries are still uploaded again even if it is not pressed.

To synchronize the document libraries, follow these steps:

  1. Navigate through the Document Central - Administrator role center.
  2. Click on Repository in the ribbon bar and execute the action Document Entries Synchronization.
  3. Execute the Fill Synchronisation action in the ribbon bar.
  4. Select the document libraries to be synchronized and click the the Start Synchronization action in the ribbon bar.
  5. The synchronization will run for the selected document libraries.

Important

  • To ensure successful synchronization, default mappings must be configured in the document libraries. These mappings are included in the standard setup. If a manual setup has been done, it must be considered.
  • The server instance can process up to 10 background sessions per tenant simultaneously. Any requests exceeding this limit are queued until a slot is available.
  • Only documents with the Primary Key (Include in Query) field filled in the repository will be synchronized with Document Central.

Working with Azure Blob Storage Migration

If the repository needs to be changed from SharePoint Online to Azure Blob Storage, Document Central provides a default migration process.

Szenario: The SharePoint Online repository should be changed to an Azure Blob Storage repository.

Prequirements: Before starting the migration, ensure the following requirements are met: - Ensure that the target and source repositories are created and fully configured in Document Central. - Ensure that the source SharePoint repository is the active repository in Document Central. - Ensure that the app registration is correctly configured for the source SharePoint. - Ensure that all of the content types, metadata, and document libraries are synced between Document Central and SharePoint. You can sync all data in the module setup with the Update Repository action. - Ensure that all documents are available in the SharePoint repository. If not, execute the document entry synchronization to sync the entries before migration.

Steps: To migrate from SharePoint to Azure Blob Storage, follow these steps:

  1. Start in the DMS by Simova - Administrator role.
  2. Click on Setup in the ribbon bar and execute the action Repository.
  3. Choose the Azure Blob Storage repository and execute the Set as Active Repository action. A confirmation dialog will appear to ask, if the user wants to migrate the documents.
  4. Confirm with Yes to open the migration wizard.
  5. Click on Begin to start the migration wizard.
  6. Specify the user context that will be used for the migration process in the User field. The user must be authenticated, and this user credentials will be used to fetch the documents from SharePoint.
  7. Spezify if the source data should be deleted.
  8. Ensure that the Migrated from and Migrated to are correct.
  9. Click on Finish to start the migration.

Caution

Deleting previous entries, will delete all the documents in document entries and SharePoint. The migration will be proccessed in the background. Please note that the duration of the migration process depends on how many documents are there in SharePoint and how big the documents are.