Moving Data? Pick the Right Tool for the Job

In this article we take a look at the many ways users and administrators can move data (documents, metadata, hierarchical structures) into, out of and within Content Server. The most popular tools that Syntergy provides are for large loads of documents and metadata, exporting content while maintaining the hierarchical structure, replicating data between sites and easily adding documents and metadata from the desktop. These tools are fast, cost effective and reliable. To get the most value from Content Server it is important for organizations to understand their data moving needs and how these tools can be used to meet them.

Here are our top five tools to move Content Server data:

1. The Data Manager (Importing and Exporting):

   The Bulk Loader was one of the first modules ever developed for Content Server. In use for over 15 years, it was recently combined with Bulk Exporter to become the very popular Data Manager. Data Manager is number one on our list of content moving tools because it loads information quickly, accurately and inexpensively as well as providing the capability to extract Content Server content and metadata to hierarchical or flat directory structures.

   Data Manager loads documents, URLs, attributes and meta data along with users from all types of applications, storage areas and legacy systems. It loads items such as scanned images, database reports, legacy data and bulk conversions from file servers. Text files can be used to specify Content Server category attributes or basic document system attributes such as owner, creator, location, and version information. This flexible feature set makes it easy to meet your organization's unique needs. It can be used to loads Users and Groups as well.

   Data Manager also extracts documents and metadata including:

   1. Standard Metadata, e.g. owner, document name, description, etc.
   2. Permissions
   3. Category and Attributes
   4. Classifications
   5. Records Management
   In addition to providing a simple tool to modify an existing taxonomy, the export and import capabilities provide a versatile toolset to apply a taxonomy to content that does not have one, including applying classifications and records Management policies.
2. Director:

   Syntergy Director for End Users was designed and developed from the ground up to ease the burden of managing content and metadata. Director is a desktop application that allows users to connect to one or more Content Server instances to perform operations such as export, import, copy and move of documents between Local or Network file systems and Content Server.

3. Replicator:

   Syntergy's Replicator provides a full multi-directional replication capability. Content Server objects are replicated to one or more participating systems. Any modifications to any of those replicas will be reflected back to every other replica as well as the original object. All sites in production are updated automatically using a proprietary technology that enables transmission of data over low bandwidth networks. Replicator reflects the way people work, the way organizations function, and the way they allocate infrastructure resources in the most intelligent and cost effective manner. Groups within organizations have different needs for content and Replicator provides greater performance by storing documents locally for those who need them.

4. Sharelink:

   Sharelink provides an accurate step by step process to migrate Content Server ECM and eDocs data to SharePoint. Some of the major benefits of Sharelink are:

   1. There is no need for custom Content Server programming
   2. There is no need to develop .NET applications for SharePoint
   3. The is no need to write bulk loading capabilities for SharePoint
   4. Migration of data is simplified because the tool does the work
   5. Lower risk in using proven technologies because the tool handles issues that often come up during the migration process
   Sharelink works in combination with Sharelink Analyzer (provides information about the Livelink environment that is used to scope a migration by identifying key areas that may require manual intervention); Sharelink Exporter (extracts data from Livelink to the file system with all of the metadata information); Connect for Sharelink (a windows application that can be run on the user's desktop or SharePoint web front end server that provides a graphical user interface to map folders to document libraries, or to specific sites); Connect Bulk Loader Extensions (a SharePoint solution that will import all data and set the appropriate metadata values and it supports adding users/groups to sites, creating content types and columns, creating list columns, etc.).
5. Content Mover:

   Content Mover provides cross platform migration of content allowing selected folders to move from one Content Server instance to other Content Server instances. Moving documents and the important information associated with the document is complex and can be problematic. Content Mover assists with gathering the required associated data to be moved. Content Mover can be used to restore lost data to production. After restoring your production data to a development server use the Content Mover to restore documents and other objects along with their metadata.

There are a number of good options to get information into and out of Content Server. Every organization has a need to move their data at some point. If you are interested in any of the above products email info@syntergy.com or call Syntergy Sales at (561) 483-2020.