Extracting Data from Legacy Systems

 
 
 

Most existing management systems in the market have export capabilities for extracting meta data, file references, file history, and other data in a neutral format, such as XML. Once the data is extracted to an XML file, the data generally needs to be formatted and additional information added so that the Vault Data Transfer Utility can consume the data.

The Vault Data Transfer Utility will handle the creation of:

Security

Extract Users and Groups information from legacy systems, including user-specific information like user names and assigned roles, groups and Vaults.

Behaviors Definition

You can optionally create and map:

You can also create and include lifecycle definitions, including name and description, state, security (ACL), comments, and revision schemes in the XML file.

Identifiers in the XML File

The Identifier Id is a property that needs to be unique across the XML file to identify file iterations and folders. The Id is stored within the Vault during the import to support delta migration. This means that when the utility encounters pre-existing files, it matches up the existing vaulted iterations to the ones in the package file. This matching is performed based on the file checksum and the create date (check-in) of the iteration. If the iterations match, the Vault Data Transfer Utility uses the existing iteration in creating associations. Additionally, if no additional iterations have been added to the vaulted file (i.e., the user has not checked-out or edited the file in the vault), the utility updates the existing file with new iterations from the package.

Folder and Subfolders

You can extract folders and subfolders, including folder attributes such as Name, assigned category, user-defined properties, and date created. Optionally, you can also link other folders or files to the extracted folder using the Links Target Id attribute.

Files, History, Associations, and Linked Folders

File Information

Similar to folders, files specific information like file name, classification, assigned category, and security (ACL) can be added to the XML file.

File History

In addition to general file information, you can import file history as well, including revisions (e.g., A, B, C...) and versions (or iterations) of each revision.

For each iteration, you can add additional information, such as the user who created the file, the creation date, the assigned lifecycle and user-defined properties.