Brian Browning | Senior Director of Client Services Jason Arden | Director of Partner Engineering

Content Migration:Do we HAVE to?

Brian Browning | Senior Director of Client ServicesJason Arden | Director of Partner Engineering

Agenda

• Why Do we Migrate Content?– Defining Content– Kinds of Content Migration Projects

• Approaches to Content Migration– Manual Model– Automated Model– Hybrid Model– Developing a Content Inventory– Implementation

• Demonstration of Automated Content Migration Model

• Questions / Answers

Let’s Start by Defining “Content”

• Content typically consists of:– Text found on web pages– Images embedded in the web pages– Files and multimedia items

• PDF, Excel, Word, Powerpoint files• Media files (AVI, MOV, FLV, etc.)

• Content also refers to meta data associated with items defined above

• Additional Content Items Can Include:– User generated content

• Blogs, Wikis, Comments, Ratings, etc.

– Syndicated Content• RSS Feeds from other sources, data feeds integrated into a site, etc• Remember to consider the ownership of the content being considered for

migration

• Goal is to move existing content from one (or more) site(s) into Ektron’s CMS400.NET Platform

Why Do We Migrate Content?

• Ektron-based Web Site Redesign Project– An existing Ektron-based site is redesigned

• Information Architecture Updates• User Interface Updates• New Content• New Functionality

– Tend to be easier than other kinds of Migration Projects• Content is already in Ektron’s Database• Migration effort is more of a re-mapping exercise

– However, CSS and related styles may still require updates

• Non-Ektron-based Web Site Redesign Project– A existing site is redesigned

• IA, UX Updates• New Content• New Functionality

– Not as Easy as Ektron-based Content Migration• Depends on how the Current web site is Architected• At the least, CSS and related styles will require updating

Why Do We Migrate Content?

• Consolidation of Multiple Web Sites into a Single Instance– Need to migrate from multiple web sites into one or more

consolidated web sites• Kodak.com is a great example of a Site Consolidation Project• 37 International Sites done on multiple platforms needing to be

consolidated onto one Ektron-based Platform

– Complicated at the Information Architecture, User Experience and Technical Functionality Levels• Information Architecture must accommodate the consolidated

content model• User Interface must be updated to address consolidated content

– Goal: Standardization and Sharing• Functionality should be standardized so that it is shared throughout

the site• Attention should be focused on the opportunity to share content

across sections of the site wherever possible

“Ektronization” Migration Projects

• Migration Away from an Existing CMS Tool or Platform– “Ektronization”: All Information Architecture, User Interface

and Technical Functionality is to be re-created exactly as-is within the Ektron CMS400.NET Platform

– Heavily dependent upon Accurate understanding of existing site functionality, content and organization• Many organizations do not have appropriate documentation about

sites to be Ektronized• “Baseline” documentation may need to be created throughout the

Discovery process to define what is to be migrated

– Common pitfall• Allowing the Ektronization effort to become a Redesign or

Enhancement Project• Maintain the scope and identify items for enhancement or redesign

to be addressed in follow-up phases• Requires Strong Project Management and Stakeholder Buy-In

Content Migration Models

• Three Core Migration Models:– Manual

• Teams of people are employed to copy and paste content, imagery, files and assets into the Ektron CMS

– Automated• Custom code is developed that will extract content from the current data

repository and then loaded into the appropriate locations within Ektron

– Hybrid• A combination of Manual and Automated approaches• Most appropriate when only parts of the source content are stored in a

structured manner

• Before Proceeding with Migration Effort, a Migration Approach must be defined– Define where content is physically stored– Define the structure of the content to be migrated

• Stored in a Database?• Content is separated from Presentation Layer?• Level of Consistent Structure to Source Content?

Developing a Content Inventory

• Goal: Need to create a comprehensive URL-based listing of content that currently exists

• How to create this inventory?– File System Counts

• Useful for high-level inventorying• Doesn’t address database-based content sources• Doesn’t account for duplicates and out-of-date content

items

– Automated Spidering Tools• Value: Captures only that content that is publically

available• Sometimes has issues with dynamic web sites• Xenu Link Sleuth is recommended


• Once the current content inventory has been created, the next step is to:– Identify who “owns” the content items– If content owners have changed over time, determine who

owns the content going forward– If no content authors can be identified, remove the content

• Next, identify which content items should be moved over to the new website

• Leverage internal business stakeholders / content authors to make these decisions– Get the business owners and their supporting content

authors involved early in the process– Content owner buy-in is critical to successfully delivering the

migration project


• Many times, the amount of content to be migrated can be reduced by between 50% and 70% of the current content inventory!

• Why? Current content could be:– Stale or outdated– Duplicative– No longer relevant


• Here’s an example of a content reduction strategy in action:– The City of Fort Worth, Texas did a large content migration

project to replace an old site that had developed over the years– The initial count was for more than 30,000 items of content to

be migrated– After analyzing the content inventory and working with the

content owners, the final migration effort was reduced to only 3,500 content items

• Doesn’t this hurt the site’s experience?– No, reducing content to only display the most up-to-date

content actually improves the user’s experience– Providing more targeted, relevant content enriches the

experience and reduces problems caused by outdated content items


• Don’t forget about New Content!– With many web site redesigns, net new content will be

created– A separate plan should be developed to address net new

content– Net new content should be authored either directly in the

Ektron CMS or in Word documents to make content loading easier

– Like migrated content, net new content must be factored into the information architecture of the new web site

– Remember to consider “alternative” forms of content:• Video and streaming media• Interactive media, like Flash and Silverlight content


• The results of the content inventory, content reduction and definition of new content tasks results in the final content migration map– Content Migration Map is the key to conducting the migration

effort– It becomes the project plan and measuring stick to judge the

completeness of the migration project

• The content migration map must be compared to the new site's information architecture – Typically takes the form of a sitemap– Align content which will be migrated to the appropriate

destination points– Make sure that your sitemap is comprehensive enough to

address the migration• Many sitemaps are only high-level and cover the first 3 tiers of content


• Concurrent to the content inventorying process:– Technical evaluation must be conducted to

identify the format of content to be migrated– For example, when migrating content from a

site that is already powered by a CMS, it may be found that content can be migrated directly from a CMS database

– In other cases, source content may be found in purely static HTML files, with little or no consistent structure.


• Based on the results the technical evaluation, service teams should decide:–Whether to leverage automated content

migration through the Ektron API– Should use manual labor to manually

migrate static HTML pages– Leverage a hybrid approach that

combines automated and manual migration strategies


• For manual approaches to content migration:– It is important that a designated content

migration project manager is appointed to oversee all manual efforts

– The content migration project manager is responsible for:• Allocating specific URLs to be migrated• Overseeing the quality assurance of the migrated

content • Providing website content authors with updated status

reports regarding when content is ready for testing.


• Where can I get resources for manual content migrations?– Ektron Professional Services provides both

manual and automated content migration services

– Ektron Partners offer both manual and automated services, as well

• Other options include:– Internal staff– Interns and junior staff– Temporary workers / Staffing agencies


• How do I judge how many people will be needed to do a content migration?– Content Inventories for manual migration can classify

content as complex, medium or easy• Complex – 10+ Links, 10+ images, or Complex HTML like

custom tables and Javascript embedded• Medium – 5 – 10 links, 5 – 10 images• Easy – 3 links, 3 images, no complicated HTML formatting

– Rough formulas:• Complex – 0.5 - 1 page per hour• Medium – 3 - 5 pages per hour• Easy – 6 – 8 pages per hour

– Timeline for migration is the other factor that will drive the number of resources needed


• Quality assurance is especially important when considering manual content migration strategies

• Once the migration team has converted content, it is important for the web content author to:– Review the migrated content in the context of the redesigned

website to ensure that the migration was successful.

• Testers should evaluate:– Style (CSS and general layout)– Functionality– Accuracy when compared to source content

• It is not uncommon to conduct multiple rounds of QA testing when employing manual content migration strategies.


• What do we do if Content Owners don’t sign-off on a timely basis?– This is a common issue– Underscores the need to have Content

Owners involved early in the process– Set timelines for Approval

• If Content Owners don’t approve within a specific period of time, that content is considered to be accepted

• Negotiate these timelines up-front in the Discovery process


• What about content becoming outdated while we migrate to the new site?– Another common problem– To address:

• Identify the areas of the site that will change frequently

• Prioritize those content areas to be done last• Implement a short-term content freeze • Consider dual content loading for a short period

of time, as well


• For automated approaches:– Critically important to ensure that the source content

is structured consistently. • With more variation in the source content, additional

exceptions must be built into the migration utility.

– For all intents and purposes, automated content migration is really at ETL (Extract, Transform, Load) project, so the best practices of ETO projects also apply here. • The goal with any automated content migration approach is

to minimize the number of exceptions that have to be accounted for.

• Some customers find success by first scrubbing the source content before conducting the migration.


• Leveraging the Ektron API, a custom utility should be developed that will:– Extract content from the source database– Transform it to match what Ektron expects– Load content sequentially into the

appropriate folder structure within the Ektron work area. • This is typically accomplished using a

combination of SQL and .NET code.• Jason will be showing how to accomplish this at

the end of the presentation


• Quality assurance is a paramount concern when considering automated content migration approaches– Similar to manual approaches, web content authors

should be actively involved in reviewing the migrated content and identifying issues

– It should be reported back to the services team to be resolved quickly

– The same rules apply to content approval, quality and timeliness in automated approaches as manual approaches

– Expect some level of QA fixes even in automated approaches

Leveraging the Ektron API to automate content migration

Automated Content Migration Walkthrough

Additional Resources

• Xenu Link Sleuth- http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

• Ektron Content Migration Webinar (Includes Coverage of Ektron API): http://www.ektron.com/web-content-management-solutions.aspx?id=7436

http://home.snafu.de/tilman/xenulink.html

http://www.ektron.com/web-content-management-solutions.aspx?id=7436

http://www.ektron.com/web-content-management-solutions.aspx?id=7436

Question / Answer Session

Thanks for attending today!

For more information, please contact:

Brian BrowningSenior Director of Client [email protected]

Jason ArdenDirector of Partner [email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



Documents

Brian Browning | Senior Director of Client Services Jason Arden | Director of Partner Engineering