How to tackle content migration from Tridion R5.XX to 2011?

Question

I have some legacy web sites on different platforms like Tridion R5, CQ, Sitecore etc. Now I am migrating all of them into one SDL Tridion environment version 2011.

So I was wondering if I can migrate the website content which already is in Tridion R5, since that seems easier than migration from CQ or Sitecore. I want to know, what is the best way, considering I'm only using static websites.

options :

1. Content Porter

2. Manual Content Creation

3. Any migration utility (can someone propose best utility for this)

for the migration utility, is there something like a core service/API for Tridion R5.XX?

Answer 1

Migrations are always a big topic for debate, while in my humble opinion they never have to be. Please let me start of with mentioning my blogpost about content migration and migration tools: http://www.tridiondeveloper.com/how-to-say-goodbye-to-your-migration-tool

In here I explain (based on my own experience), there is no better way to migrate content than to do it manually. When you hire so called cheap labor (college students, etc.) it will cost you less and give you a higher rate of success. Plus, who wouldn't prefer a blond 21 year old sitting across from you doing all the work, over an old crappy computer which is blowing dust and burning CPU cycles?

So to answer your question directly I'll list your options in my order of preference:

1. Manual content migration (cheap and fail-safe)

2. Database migration (see my answer here)

3. Content Porter (see my answer here)

4. Custom built migration tool

In case you really want to go down the route of option #4, Then there are two options available basically, either you create a script (using VBScript TOM API) or VB6 program that exports the content on your R5 system, or you use the R5 Business Connector SOAP API for that. As for importing, you will have to create an import client using the 2011 Core Service API (as you can see you will have to do a lot of work, realistically I think its safe to say, option #1 will be cheaper).

Answer 2

No doubt, manual migration is a safer approach with high level of success rate. Apart from this you can also automate migration through some tools.Kapow and Vamosa are two of them. Generally these tools crawl the sites, analyze the content, organize it and finally import this content to the CMS. These tools have their own connector for SDL Tridion

For Vamosa see - http://www.vamosa.com/significant-growth-in-connector-capability-a185

For kapow see - http://kapowsoftware.com/solutions/content-integration/tridion.php

Kapow tool is recently used by HIS to migrate their legacy data of their several websites to SDL Tridion.

In case of automation I would like to suggest you below point -

1-Pilot some part of migration to check that it meets the expectation or not.

2- First retrieve the content from various websites and store it an intermediate database for data verification and cleansing. Thereafter import it into the SDL Tridion Content Manager.