Question about Database Migration

[sincla...@gmail.com]

Hello All....

I have one very important question before I consider ICA AtoM.  Our archive currently uses Inmagic Textworks for our archival software.  Is there a function with ICA AtoM to migrate the existing database without me having to redo every single record?

Thanks

[Dan Gillean]

Hi Richard,

There is not, unfortunately, a magic button or command that will automatically convert your DBTextworks database into something that can be imported directly into AtoM. Generally, when we at Artefactual do migrations, we try to make use of existing export functionality in the old system, make sure that all the old data maps to a known standard supported in AtoM, and then import into AtoM either via EAD XML, or CSV. Since I don't believe that Textworks has an EAD export, CSV might be your best bet. If there is no CSV export functionality in DBTextworks, it becomes more difficult - you might require a developer who can create a transformation script to get your records into an AtoM-compatible import format - we tend to do this with CSV imports. If you do have a CSV export module, then part of the work might be to run an export in your current system, then clean up the data in the export, and add the appropriate AtoM column headers from our CSV import templates.

The most important thing is to make decisions in your legacy system about how to deal with non-standards-based data - custom fields that do not map to ISAD, or RAD if you are in Canada. Data cleanup helps as well, to ensure consistency - if you have subject access points in your system, did they use a controlled vocubulary, or might there be many near-matches (e.g. spelling differences like behavior vs behaviour; analyse vs analyze, etc) that you can clean up in advance? AtoM also maintains every name associated with a description as a separate authority record for re-use - if you have included a biographical or administrative history, you'll need a creator name to associate it with, or else you will end up with an untitled authority record in AtoM after migrating. More on this behavior in AtoM and why:

• https://www.accesstomemory.org/docs/2.2/user-manual/add-edit-content/authority-records/#atom-authority-records-biographical-histories-and-name-access-points
• https://www.accesstomemory.org/docs/2.2/user-manual/import-export/csv-import/#csv-actors-import

We have extensive documentation on CSV import here:

• https://www.accesstomemory.org/docs/2.2/user-manual/import-export/csv-import/#csv-import

All of our CSV import templates can be found on our wiki, here:

• https://wiki.accesstomemory.org/Resources/CSV_templates

Artefactual has performed many client migrations over the years, including from Textworks-based databases. If you are interested in potentially contracting us to assist with your migration project, please fee free to contact me off-list.

Regards,

Dan Gillean, MAS, MLIS
AtoM Product Manager / Systems Analyst,
Artefactual Systems, Inc.
604-527-2056

@accesstomemory

--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "ICA-AtoM Users" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to ica-atom-user...@googlegroups.com.
To post to this group, send email to ica-ato...@googlegroups.com.
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/ica-atom-users.
To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/ica-atom-users/24abca21-80a3-4f26-9f3f-6d588c2af7aa%40googlegroups.com.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.