Migrating Data To Sharepoint Lists (moss 2007 / Wss 3.0)

By Author: Riya Arora
Total Articles: 16
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We will discuss below some of the common list management issues in SharePoint both during migration as well as management of content post migration.

1. Import list data and maintain or change folder structure when migrating data from various non-SharePoint sources or legacy applications to MOSS 2007 / WSS 3.0
As stated in the previous blog article related to document migration to SharePoint, most companies will want to retain the same structures for folders and contents to maintain operational consistency as well as business continuity. It will be easier to maintain the same folder structure in the newly setup SharePoint list without changing the user experience in handling folders and related information/content. It makes the navigation intuitive, eases migration process, minimizes user training and improves operational efficiency. In a few business situations, it will be a lot better to place the contents in a new structure to improve efficiency or due to changes in the business. In both cases, it is important to identify a solution that can organize content depending on the business or functional or end-user ...
... requirements.

2. Import information from other systems that are in different formats to specific SharePoint 2007 list types such as tasks, contacts, issue tracking, wiki pages etc.

In some cases, it will be easy to map existing content to the default list types provided by SharePoint 2007, such as project tasks, announcements, contacts, pictures, discussions etc. In the case of proprietary formats or contents residing in legacy applications or relatively unknown CMS, content migration could pose a problem when trying to map the existing assets to the correct SharePoint list type as we need to. In such cases, it is important to store the content in a neutral format with the ability to cleanse the information before migrating them to SharePoint and map the information to respective list types meaningfully.

3. Selectively update metadata fields with values that have changed over a period of time or update missing fields that got missed out during the normal upload process.

When the SharePoint system is in full use, it is likely that the users may miss out some critical piece of information/data when updating/uploading information in SharePoint or the business needs may have changed over time, thereby forcing the content owner to fill in the missing information or fields in SharePoint.

4. Import metadata values and file attachments to SharePoint 2007 lists

Existing contents in non-SharePoint sources could be residing in various formats and file locations. When consolidating all the existing information assets, it will be vital to pull them from various data sources and associate all documents from different file server/network share locations. It is also important to import metadata and file attachments from several sources and append them to existing default/custom lists in SharePoint.

5. Selective migration of information based on user-defined conditions that can facilitate repetitive import of information from a single source file or multiple source files.

In a few instances, it may vital to append metadata records as different versions in the SharePoint list to track version history (along with file attachments) or may be required to replace the old metadata records with new ones and retain the latest values, depending on certain pre-defined conditions. The metadata records may be available in a single source metadata file or multiple metadata files when they exported from the non-SharePoint source.

When migrating data from non-SharePoint sources/legacy applications, it is important to design, organize and manage your list items and properties carefully so that there is minimal rework on your lists and properties without having to redesign the whole content framework.

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