A leading insurance institution decided to abandon its outdated DMS, with its affiliate also managing documents in the same system. Together, the two organizations faced a migration of approximately 300 million files – significantly more than what we typically see in migrations. Furthermore, the project had a fixed deadline – it had to be completed by the end of the year, when the licenses for the original DMS expired. Any delay would mean millions of crowns in additional costs.
During the analysis, it turned out that the data for each migrated document came from 7 different source systems. This complexity posed a number of challenges that had to be overcome.
Main challenges and solutions
1. API limitations of the original DMS
The old DMS had an integration interface built on outdated technology that proved inefficient for exporting large amounts of data. Therefore, we partially bypassed the API and retrieved some data directly from the database.
2. Continuous evolution of the assignment
The requirements evolved during implementation – new source systems were added, metadata mapping was modified, and new extreme situations had to be taken into account. We adapted by dynamically modifying the migration sets, even removing some documents in the target DMS and restarting the migration process.
3. Transforming TIFF files to PDF
Many of the documents were saved as TIFF files, which had to be merged into one document and then converted to PDF. The problem was that it was impossible to distinguish in the source application whether the files were single-page or multi-page files. We solved this by directly checking the exported files before transformation.
4. Migration of annotations
In addition to documents, annotations that users had added to the TIFF files had to be transferred. Since the customer did not know how many different types of annotations were in the system, we had to continuously add support for new types. Moreover, the annotations were stored in three different formats, which required different processing methods.
5. Load on the target DMS when uploading documents
The migration created a heavy load on the target DMS. Even while processing just six parallel threads, the slowdown was noticeable and the system would become almost non-functional for ordinary users. We addressed this critical issue in collaboration with the customer – on our side we removed redundant features and controls when uploading documents, while the customer increased database limits and removed outdated triggers.
6. Strict deadline
Due to the unexpected extension of the analysis and implementation phase, only four months were left for the migration itself, including the Christmas holidays. The project was supervised by the management of all the companies involved. To ensure transparency and efficient governance, we deployed semi-automated reporting that provided the current migration status and an estimate of the time remaining several times a day.
Outcome
Despite many obstacles and complications, we managed to successfully complete the migration on time. Thanks to a flexible approach, close cooperation with the client, and optimization of the process, we avoided multiple license renewal costs and the customer received a modern DMS system that meets its current needs.
Migrating 300 million documents under a strict deadline? Done!
About the company
The company is primarily engaged in insurance and investment management. It offers its services in 10 different countries, with a significant presence in Europe and Japan.