Transferring Electronic Documents and Records to SharePoint during

the Establishment of the new Environmental Protection Authority

Dr Lan Anh Tran

Senior Advisor, Information Management

Corporate Services

Environmental Protection Authority

Agenda

EPA - Who we are and what we do

Why we transferred and integrated electronic records

What we wanted to achieve

Findings

Lessons learned and conclusions

EPA: Establishment

EPA: What we do

The EPA regulates activities that

may potentially harm

the health and safety of people, or

the environment

www.epa.govt.nz

How did we start?

Notify Archives NZ

Seek external advisors and consultation

SWIM Ltd.

SIMPL

Implement records transfer project and planning

Follow up:

– Investigation and Specification

– Methods

– Records transfer

Define the outcome

Evaluate the project

Physical records

Electronic records

What we wanted to achieve

All records from different sources and locations ready in

SharePoint by 1st July 2011. All migrated records must

meet our standard criteria:

• Available

• Accessible

• Searchable

• Usable

• Flexible

• Consistent

Our records transfer complies with Public Records Act

and EPA Legislation.

Integration of Electronic Documents to SharePoint

ERMA – Environmental Risk Management Authority

ETS – Emission Trading Scheme

NSP – Nationally Significant Proposals

MED - Ministry of Economic Development

MfE - Ministry for the Environment

What is EDRMS and what is SharePoint?

What is Taxonomy in SharePoint?

A hierarchical model for presenting business functions and

activities in association with sites and document libraries

across SharePoint.

The file structure is established by collections of taxonomies

in SharePoint. Such taxonomies must be associated with

business functions and activities.

What is Metadata in SharePoint?

The tool that allows people to process, manipulate, organise, and control

documents/records within EDRMS.

Metadata defines what people can do with documents/records.

Metadata empowers people to coordinate and collaborate documents/records.

How we transferred electronic records to SharePoint

1. Identify electronic records which should be transferred to the new EPA

2. Develop taxonomy for the records being transferred to SharePoint

3. Define metadata with required elements for the records being transferred

4. Define the paths for locating records being transferred in SharePoint

(including sites, subsites, and document libraries, etc.)

5. Check to ensure taxonomy and metadata for the records being

transferred are consistent with the existing SharePoint

6. Make backup drives

7. Run a pilot migration

8. Plan for records migration(SWIM advisors, SIMPL technicians needed,

scripting skills, etc.)

9. Migrate records

10. Testing and validation

11. Release the integrated records.

Findings

Different business processes require appropriate taxonomies, metadata,

and file structure (NSP, ETS, etc.)

Be aware of unexpected issues may occur during the migration of

records. For example, missing files and metadata, or metadata may not

work, wrong taxonomy, etc.

Explore technical issues

• Records migration by scripting

• Test environment and pilot migration

Derive a sample model and method for transferring electronic records to

SharePoint.

Compare the advantages and disadvantages of scripting during the

migration of electronic files.

Model for Transferring

Electronic Documents to SharePoint

Method for Migrating Electronic Files to SharePoint

Lessons Learned and Conclusions

Explore and define business needs and requirements.

Develop an appropriate file plan prior to migrating files to SharePoint.

Build appropriate taxonomies in consistent with business functions and

activities.

Investigate and fix file names consistent with naming conventions prior to

migrating them.

Avoid migrating ZIPs. Should unzip the zip files before migrating them to

SharePoint.

Always carry out the usability test prior to releasing EDRMS to the end

users.

Be aware of unexpected outcomes of the migration and recommend

relevant solutions.

Building taxonomy and metadata must be considered as the essential

stages during the migration of electronic records.

Example - ETS Shared Drives (Before the migration)

Example – ETS File Structure in SharePoint

Required

Metadata

Testing and Validation

Create checklists for testing

Statistical testing

Usability testing