P2P

51 I L T A N E T . O R G T his article picks up from Part I and delves into the actual data migration stage itself and important considerations such as tracking, quality control (checklists), who is responsible for what, how to motivate the team, user training, and lessons learned. Communication is key during the migration stage as there are many people doing the work and many people who need to rely upon the work product. Migration Tracking Database You tracked workspaces during the pre-migration stage to determine which databases could be archived, and now you need to continue to do so during the migration itself. While Excel spreadsheets are great for listing information, they are not good when it comes to collaboration and sharing information. Consider creating a database to be used to track the status of database migration. What information will the individuals working on the project need to access? It can be faster to have everyone input information in one location as opposed to using multiple spreadsheets. Your stakeholders will also want to know what the status of their databases are, and it can be helpful for everyone to be able to access this information and report within seconds. You will also need to prioritize the databases you migrate. For databases marked as Archive, you can export same at any time to load files as there will not be any issues with accessing them. This also applies to those marked as Limbo. However, you will need to coordinate the migration of active databases with your users according to their schedules to cause the least amount of disruption and stress for them. Quality Control (Checklists) Checklists are invaluable during a migration project where the pace is fast, and the work is monotonous so it can be easy to forget steps. It is helpful to have a pre-migration and post-migration checklist. You may need to fine-tune your checklists in the early stages of the migration as you may come across some things you forgot to include. Be sure those doing the work communicate any issues they come across as others may also experience same. It is best to sort out issues earlier rather than later. Pre-migration Checklist Having someone conduct a pre-migration check enables the process to go faster when migrating the data as the person doing the migration does not need to go back to the old database to check same. They simply look at the checklist. Things to track in the pre-migration checklist will depend on what you need to migrate/create, but can include: • security settings and user access, • number and type of records (images, native files, text files), • whether hyperlinks exist, to what and their number, • the existence, type, and number of tags/issue codes, • production particulars and where same are stored, • the existence of redactions and whether redactions have been burned in, • the number of notes associated with images, • saved searches and whether these need to be replicated in the new platform, and • if there are fields particular to a database that need to be displayed for the lawyers. Consult with the lawyers to ascertain whether specific information needs to be replicated. E.g., saved searches. Do not assume though, be sure to ask your users as they may not require specific types of information which will save time and effort during the migration.

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