Ready, Set, Migrate!

A Guide for a Successful Transition to the Document Management System

Migrating your electronic records to a Document Management System (DMS), such as DocFinity, is a great step toward better file organization and improved security and access. As with any project, preparation is essential for a seamless transition.

This guide aims to provide a clearer understanding of what this process entails, but its primary purpose is to help your unit lay the foundation for a successful migration.

Think of your DMS project as building the "CORE" foundation of your department’s records strategy, with “S” ensuring it stays strong over time.

	Clarify your goals and identify stakeholders
	Organize and assess your records
	Reconcile naming conventions and metadata
	Establish access controls and start migration
	Sustain the system with training and long-term planning

 

Step 1. Clarify your goals and identify stakeholders

Before diving headfirst into migration, it’s crucial to set clear objectives, have a well-defined project scope, and identify your stakeholders.

Clarifying your goals gives you a better idea of how much time, work and cost may be involved. Stakeholders help ensure that the migration project is relevant, feasible and supported.

Questions to ask yourself

• What problems are you trying to solve?

Think about any current challenges your unit has when it comes to records management.

Examples

• A large volume of disorganized records
• Poor or no access control
• Difficulty applying legally required retention periods
• Safekeeping of long-term or vital records
• Storage space constraints
   
• Who are your stakeholders?

Anyone within your unit who creates, stores, retrieves and manages a document is a stakeholder. Stakeholders provide expertise and context to shape your migration project. They can point out any potential hurdles and limitations. Involving them increases the likelihood of broader support and, thus, a smoother transition.

They usually span across multiple roles since a project like this touches both technology and daily operations.
 

Types of Stakeholders

• Leadership
  Senior or executive leadership approve funding and staffing. Their buy-in is essential to ensure the migration meets your unit's operational needs and priorities.
• Records Managers
  Your unit should have a Records Authority and Records Coordinator designated to administer your unit's record-related responsibilities. They are responsible for ensuring due process when it comes to records storage and destruction.
• IT / System Administrators
  Your local IT group handles your unit’s system integration, user permissions through UW groups, and your unit's technical infrastructure. They are a valuable resource when working with the EDM team on executing the actual migration of documents and their metadata.
• End Users
  These are the individuals in your unit who will be actively using the system to store, search and retrieve documents. These individuals can be faculty, researchers and administrative support staff. Since end users tend to be heavy system users, consider involving them sooner rather than later as their feedback can be crucial.

Tip: Feeling a bit lost? Start by looking for your unit using our University Department Search. Using this search, you can find your unit’s Record Group Number, departmental schedule and scanning policy (if applicable). If you can’t find your unit on the list, or if you struggle to identify your unit’s Records Managers, contact our office at recmgt@uw.edu.

 

• What are your goals?

List two to three goals you are trying to accomplish through migrating your files to the document management system.

Examples

• Improve searchability
• Better security and long-term access
• Establishing a centralized system for office records
• Safe management for documents on destruction holds
• Switching to a budget-friendly records repository with a built-in disposition feature

Step 2. Organize and assess your records

This step may be the heaviest lift depending on how big your project is and how organized your unit's records are.

Tip: Having clear objectives, engaging your unit's stakeholders, and verifying your departmental schedule is up-to-date will make this step more manageable.

Take inventory of your records

• Record Type and Title
  The inventory should capture the type or purpose of the record (e.g. packing slip, memo, meeting minutes, etc.).
  The title is the exact name your unit uses to describe the record (e.g. Meeting Minutes)
• Location
  Most units have multiple storage locations for their records. Typical storage locations are shared drives, SharePoint, database, filing cabinets, etc.
• Format (paper, PDF, Word, etc.)
  The format of the record may dictate extra steps you may have to consider. For example, physical records need to be scanned first.
• Retention Requirements
  Knowing the retention requirements for your unit's records can potentially save you a lot of time, because you can...
• • Dispose any records that are past retention
    Unless the record in question is on a destruction hold, obsolete records should not be migrated to the document management system.
• • Skip transitory records and any records with very short-term retention periods
    Avoid cluttering the system with drafts, duplicates, or your co-worker's Peach Cobbler recipe.
• Key Metadata

Good metadata is vital to finding your records quickly and meeting compliance requirements.
Metadata is "data about data". In other words, it's any information that describes your record so you can find and manage it later. Your inventory should capture that key information about the records.

Tip: A good rule of thumb is that it should take you under 30 seconds to find your file in the system. If you need inspiration, look at our best practices for structuring electronic files to better envision an intuitive system.

Converting Paper Records

If you find that your unit still has a lot of paper records, keep in mind that scanning records is time- and labor-intensive. Consider a phase-based project approach by tackling electronic records first.

Since DocFinity is an enterprise-wide document management system, your unit won't need to create or update a departmental scanning policy. Keep in mind, however, that any scanned records must meet these scanning requirements before you destroy the paper record.

For high-volume scanning, we recommend contacting Creative Communications to take advantage of their low-cost scan center.

Step 3. Reconcile naming conventions and metadata

When migrating records into the DMS, your existing record names (and categories) will need to match the system's required metadata fields and not just the way your office labels them now. Consistency is key for the system to work in your unit's favor.

In DocFinity, the four standard metadata fields are Category, Document Type, Record Category, and Record Type.

• Category (broadest category)
  
  • Your office's name, e.g. "IT HR"
• Document Type (more tailored category)
  
  • The function of the records, e.g. "Personnel Records"
• Record Category (optional broad grouping)
  
  • Example: "Appointment" or "Compensation"
• Record Type (most detailed category and linked to the document's record series)
  
  • Example: "CV/Bibliography" or "Appointment Letter"

Think of these fields like the way your local grocery store is organized:

Category	Store Section ("Produce")
Document Type	Aisle (“Fruit”)
Record Category	Shelf (“Apples”)
Record Type	Specific Item (“Cosmic Crisp Apple”)

If you’re getting stuck on how to structure or name your records, we highly recommend you read through our recommendations on file/folder naming conventions.

Step 4. Establish access controls

Access controls protect sensitive information, mitigate risk, and keep your DMS organized. Setting them up before migration helps prevent problems later.

Define Roles and Permissions

Decide who should have access to each type of record and at what level (read, write, edit). Common roles

• Records Managers
  Your Records Authority and Records Coordinator require advanced access to approve dispositions and place destruction holds.
• End Users
  End Users typically have access to the records they create or need to manage.

UW groups

DocFinity access is managed through UW Groups. Work with your IT or system administrator to

• Create and name groups logically
• Create a specific and separate group for your Records Managers

Map Stakeholders to Access Needs

Create a stakeholder access map showing:

• Who approves new access requests
• Who needs access to which records
• Contacts for urgent requests or permission changes

Plan for Changes in Access

You should also think ahead about how you will handle new hires (onboarding), any role changes within your unit, and departures (offboarding).

Step 5. Start migration

At this point you’re probably eager to migrate all your records, but first it’s best to run a small-scale test in DocFinity’s production (or “live”) environment. This test migration is a great way to evaluate your configuration choices and ensure everything is working as expected before moving everything over.

The Test Migration

Select a representative sample of records that is typical for your unit. During this test migration, confirm that:

• Metadata appears correctly
• The Search function returns expected results
• Categorization makes sense to everyone in your unit
• Access controls are correct and working as intended

The EDM team will work with you throughout this process to answer questions, troubleshoot and assist in making your unit comfortable with the system.

Migration of Remaining Records

After a successful test migration, your unit can begin migrating the rest of your records. For large migrations, we recommend breaking the process into manageable phases to reduce errors and allow for gradual adjustment.

Examples:

• By format (e.g. electronic records first, then paper records)
• By year (e.g. current year first, then older records
• By document type (e.g. personnel records, then student records)
• By group or sub-unit (e.g. Dean’s Office, then Academic Services)

Step 6. Sustain the system

If you’ve made it this far, it’s time to pop the sparkling apple cider with your team… just before you break the news to them that migration was only the beginning.

Training

The EDM and Records Management teams will provide initial training to your unit’s Records Authority (and Records Coordinator, if applicable). These roles should, in turn, help train end users and keep everyone aligned on best practices.

With the help of your stakeholders, consider setting up an internal, unit-specific DMS page that includes:

• Step-by-step instructions and quick tips
• Links to official training materials
• A comprehensive list of your unit’s record types stored in the DMS and their corresponding records series
• Contact information for help or escalation

Maintenance

Regular maintenance prevents small issues from growing into bigger ones. These tasks should become part of your unit’s business processes and should be documented.

• Quarterly
  
  • Conduct quality control by spot-checking recent uploads for correct metadata
• Annually
  
  • Audit all content for compliance
  • Review access permissions
  • Review any legal holds
• Ongoing
  
  • Update internal guides when processes change
  • Include DMS training in new staff onboarding

Step 7. Finally... Celebrate your success

Migration is a huge milestone worth celebrating. You’ve improved your unit’s ability to store, retrieve, protect, and manage records. That’s no small feat.

Bring out the sparkling apple cider you promised in Step 6. This time, everyone gets to drink it without a “but wait, there’s more!” speech.

At this point, it’s a good idea to set a 6 to 12-month follow-up to gather feedback. The EDM and Records Management services team will support you throughout the migration and beyond.

If you’re interested in taking your unit on this migratory adventure, you can fill out an interest form. Feel free to contact our office at recmgt@uw.edu for any questions, more information or other inquiries.