If you’re moving to a different CMS, or upgrading an older version of your CMS to the latest version, that typically involves the process of “migration.” Someone needs to move all that existing content off one server and database to a different setup, and it’s a technical process that is sometimes tedious and very detail driven.
When we’re working through a site redesign, that’s one of the first questions we’ll ask–what needs to be migrated. And it’s not just web pages. The biggest portion of a lot of migrations is around documents and other media. It’s pretty common for a large organization like a state agency to have thousands of PDFs to migrate.
So the first step is to figure out how much content and media needs to be moved. A redesign is an excellent time to evaluate your content too. Instead of just dumping a bunch of dated or ineffective content from one server to another, now is the time to review the analytics, cut down on stale content, and refresh your pages. That’s a step we can help with.
It’s not a required step to migration, but it’s recommended for so many reasons, including time saved on the migration itself. Fewer files, less time needed for the move.
As far as the nuts and bolts of migration, there are a few main steps to consider. #1 is the process of auditing and weeding out the old stuff. #2 is figuring out what can be automatically moved from the old system to the new one via code. That involves a lot of mapping one field to another, along with testing and verifying, and finding its place in the new design and new CMS. Ideally we can cover everything thru automated migrations.
There is a possibility of manual migration, however. That’s #3. It’s when you need to either cut-and-paste content from one site to another, or retype it as you go. That’s not the best use of anyone’s time. But it is sometimes the better option if you only have a little content to move. There’s no point in someone working up an automated script for a few events, for example. Or sometimes it’s the only way because your old site has the content all mixed together with layout on the page. It’s hard to map “blobs” of content to specific fields in a well architected CMS.
If you’re not sure what level of effort is needed, talk to us. We can take a look at what you're working with and give you an idea of the work involved.
