Re: Migrating CMS content from one server to another

At 04:37 AM 16/08/2005, Radmilo Kovinjalo wrote:

>Hi everyone,
>
>I have been working with a specific CMS system for a few years now 
>and one aspect, which hasn't seem to improve is ability to merge one 
>CMS environment into another. Specifically, what has been causing us 
>problems is the CMS content migration part. In their defence, 
>application migration is pretty straightforward with one of their 
>proprietary tools. So I was wondering how/if so, do other CMS 
>systems take care of this?

The reality is that meaningful migration of content is almost
always cut-and-paste, although automated tools can help to
some limited degree.

The real issue is that this isn't a technology problem:

* In most cases, you will be redesigning your site as part
   of the migration. This eliminates any simple one-to-one
   mapping of content.

* You will also want to review all content during the migration
   to ensure that only "good" content is transferred.

* This will involve having someone knowledgeable about the
   content to assess each and every page. A lot of content can
   probably be deleted, while other material will need to be
   rewritten or updated.

Migration of content is certainly the most painful part of
any CMS project. What you aren't looking for is an automated
way of migrating existing poor-quality content. Instead, use
this as an opportunity to review and improve the content,
thereby delivering tangible benefits to end users of the site.

In general, I'm against any form of "automated" migration
tools, as it makes it too easy to ignore the content...

(Of course, if your content is all good, then great!)

Cheers,
James

-------------------------
James Robertson
Step Two Designs Pty Ltd
Knowledge Management / Content Management / Intranets

http://www.steptwo.com.au/
[email protected]