Content migration has become a vital part of any website redesign project or the digital transformation journey, in itself. Right strategy and planning is the key to making this journey successful.
Let us try to understand the basic high-level thought process that we should follow for content migration when we are migrating to AEM or redesigning the existing AEM implementation.
Process
In the content migration process in AEM, four key steps must be followed, each with its own defined process:
Content Evaluation
This step is the foundation for the entire AEM content migration process. Here, we:
- Define the content
- Identify the types of content
- Find the current source and state of the content
Once you define and identify the types of content, perform a content evaluation, both with respect to quantity and quality. After this, you can filter all the outdated content from the evaluation metrics and finalize the content to be migrated.
Content Mapping
Once you finalize the list of content that needs to be migrated, start the mapping between the old and the current JCR properties in the AEM. During this process, identify all the attributes from the old system that needs to be migrated and all the corresponding attributes in the AEM JCR, which needs to be populated. It can effectively be 1:1 or 1:m mapping.
Content Migration
Now that you know which content and mapping need to be migrated, focus on designing the right solution to implement it. Based on various factors, like volume, content cleansing, structure, technical feasibility and time vs cost, we can choose from one of the below methods:
Manual Migration
- When there is few pages/content to be migrated
- Lot of content cleaning is needed
- Content in the old system is not structured and compatible with the new system
- Labor intensive and time-consuming
Automation Migration
- Old system has a structured content
- There is a large number of pages/content to be migrated
- Not much content cleaning is required
- Technical feasibility has to be done before finalizing
Hybrid Migration
- There is a large number of pages/content to be migrated
- There is structured and unstructured content in the old system
- Less content needs to be cleaned
Content Verification
The final step of the process would be to verify the content in AEM, which is migrated and ensure it is migrated to the right location. You also need to verify that the migrated content in AEM and the newly authored content, coexist without any issues.
Key things to consider
Once you have a clear grasp on the whole process, it is very important to consider these key points to implement the whole process successfully:
- Identifying the right team
- Choosing the right tools
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