If we look at the Liferay positioning and adaptation over the years, while Liferay might not be a popular choice as CMS and portal solution, the platform has been popular amongst large enterprises that observe large traffic with global operations.
Liferay’s enterprise edition has been an optimal choice for enterprises who wish to employ:
- Efficient document management
- Create personalized experiences for large audiences
- Create visible and traceable workflows
- Automate workflows
- Ensure complete content visibility and interoperability
- Dynamic and role-based content search and access
And other such benefits that the platform provides to its enterprise clients with low-code and no-code architecture ensure accelerated go-to-market and absolute experience personalization for both the customers as well as the portal administrators and users.
Understanding the fundamentals of Platform Migration in enterprises:
When an enterprise with global operations, audience, and presence entails the journey of platform migration, there are a lot of considerations during the decision-making. With large enterprises and global operations, we also observe larger data sets, varied users, defined roles, and hierarchies.
This means that migration enablers must ensure seamless data and document migration as well as create role-based access and permissions, personalized search functionalities and incorporate the latest market requirements for their enterprise clients.
Thus, when we talk about migration from any platform like WordPress or SharePoint to the Liferay Enterprise portal, certain criteria and checklists need to be ticked to ensure seamless migration and onboarding.
As a trusted Liferay Service Partner and our years of experience as a Liferay Migration Enabler for enterprises, our Migration Experts at AIMDek have created an ideal approach that we employ while embarking on the Liferay Migration journey.
While we understand each journey is different and that it requires a personalized approach, below are some of our checkboxes and comprehensive service offerings that we offer to enterprises as their Liferay Migration Partner.
AIMDek’s Approach to Liferay Enterprise Portal Migration:
Understanding Source System Data:
Before starting any migration process, our Liferay Migration experts perform a comprehensive analysis of the data structures, relationships, and permissions in the source such as WordPress and SharePoint.
Collaborative Engagement:
To ensure that the migration is not just technically successful but also aligned to business needs and goals, our migration team actively engages with stakeholders, and they extensively document the findings from system administrators and subject matter experts.
While discussing migration we not only understand the technical requirements but also set the success criteria based on the business outcomes that our enterprise client expects post-migration.
Mapping of Objects, Fields, and Permissions:
We analyze the source system data structures, entity relationships, and field mappings and create a blueprint to replicate that on Liferay. Based on the analysis, we create a mapping strategy that aligns with the business requirements and ensure optimum data accuracy.
We also perform data transformations and validations during the mapping process for optimum data integrity and compatibility between the source systems and Liferay.
Reusing OOTB Modules:
To ensure that the migration timeline is accelerated and that the customer can take a cost-efficient migration approach, for each case our approach is to look for available out-of-the-box (OOTB) modules in Liferay.
Customization Options:
While OOTB ensures cost and technical efficiency, we never compromise on the expected business outcomes. Thus, to achieve optimum business success post-migration we consider customizing the OOTB modules or developing custom mapping features if specific requirements cannot be met through existing functionality.
User Experience Design:
While designing we ensure that we provide a user-friendly and intuitive experience for the administrators and end-users involved in the data migration. During UX design we consider 2 possibilities; the first is where we consider the old workflows that the system users have been habituated to and try to replicate the same on Liferay for seamless transitioning and effective change management.
On the other hand, while designing the customer-facing portals, we ensure that we incorporate functions and workflow in a manner that aligns with the current market trends and customer expectations.
Leveraging Liferay APIs:
Liferay is a preferred Enterprise portal due to its programming ability and utilities. AIMDek utilizes Liferay’s APIs to programmatically import the exported data into the platform, ensuring accuracy and data integrity.
Also, since we deal with large data sets, we try and automate the entire data migration journey with custom utilities to avoid human errors and to ensure accelerated and accurate data migration. Lastly, we also perform necessary data transformations and mapping to align the exported data with Liferay’s data structure during the import process.
Validation and Error Handling:
To ensure that migration is completed as per the pre-set expectations, we implement robust validation mechanisms and error-handling procedures to ensure migration success. Our QA experts create a unique combination of automation scripts and manual functional testing to ensure that we provide an error-free and proficient Liferay Enterprise portal to our customers.
Post-migration training and documentation:
As the last stage of our migration process, we deploy qualified support staff for enterprises and help them train the Liferay users. For the administrators, we also provide detailed handover documentation which comprises functional, workflow, and technical specifications of their new and improved Liferay portal.
Creating the right technical and business balance:
A successful Liferay migration for enterprises is not just about technicalities for AIMDek. As Liferay Migration Partner, we ensure that we deliver the expected business outcomes, create optimum Liferay adaptability, and provide professional and support services that lead to effective change management.