The most effective migrations to ArchivEra start with a clear understanding of your current system, data, users, and access goals. From there, the work becomes much easier to scope, validate, and manage. This guide walks through the four main steps involved in a migration, the questions to answer before you start, and how Lucidea supports you throughout the process.
Still deciding whether it’s time to move on from your current system? Start with When Is It Time to Migrate From a Legacy Archival CMS?
How Do You Migrate From a Legacy Archival CMS to ArchivEra?
Successful migration to a new archival CMS isn’t a single event. It involves a series of planning and validation steps that reduce risk before you go live.
Most migrations to ArchivEra follow four steps: reviewing your data, mapping it to fields in ArchivEra, importing your data, and completing the configuration. A dedicated Lucidea project manager guides you at every stage of the process.
Step 1: Review Your Data
Typically, archives staff handle this step internally. Reviewing your data doesn’t need to be a complex or formal audit. You just need to answer a basic question: “What do we have, and where does it live?”
Start with your data export: Does it contain the data you want to bring over? Is there anything to remove or anything missing? As you look through the systems, files, exports, and databases that hold collection information, keep an eye out for:
- Active, duplicated, outdated, or incomplete records
- Records that should not be migrated
- Accession records, location data, and access restrictions that must carry over
- Collections that need special handling
- Digital assets stored with records or managed separately
- File formats that need attention
- Legacy fields that should be retained, revised, or retired
This is also the time to look at your metadata. How does your archives describe its collections today, and where is the room for improvement? Consider:
- Inconsistent field usage
- Which metadata fields are required
- Naming conventions and controlled values
- How closely description follows DACS, RAD, ISAD(G), or your local practice
- Which metadata supports internal management versus public discovery
This is often where a migration becomes an opportunity to improve data quality, not just move records. Keep a complete copy of your original export, too, so you have a record of what you started with.
Step 2: Map Your Data to ArchivEra
Next, Lucidea’s team takes your exported data and maps where each piece will go in ArchivEra. A map is a set of instructions for the import: for each column in your export, it names the ArchivEra field where that data belongs. For example, if your export is a spreadsheet, the map might say to put column A in the Title field of the collections template and column B in the Creator field.
In ArchivEra, records are organized by template, such as accessions, collections, and rare books, so the team creates a separate map for each template your data uses. If your data needs a field that a template doesn’t have yet, the Lucidea team adds that field to the template for you.
Step 3: Import and Review the Results
Once mapping is complete, Lucidea’s team imports your data into ArchivEra. Then you review the results together to confirm that:
- Records imported completely (verify record counts)
- Fields mapped correctly and metadata is accurate
- Digital assets and links transferred as expected
This step turns a technical import into data your team can rely on.
Step 4: Complete Your Configuration
This step covers everything in the project other than importing data. Configuration addresses the question of how the new system should work for your archives in everyday use.
This could include planning for:
- Required fields and data entry practices
- How screens look in the system
- User roles, permissions, and security
- Workflows for accessioning, description, requests, and updates
- Search and discovery priorities
- Your portal and access settings
- Reports
- Integrations or API connections
- Staff training
Training is part of the configuration stage, not something added at the end. It helps staff align on data entry, search practices, permissions, and ongoing maintenance, and because it happens after import, your team learns ArchivEra with your own records.
Before you go live, confirm that permissions work correctly, staff can search, filter, edit, and retrieve records efficiently, and the public portal reflects your access goals.
What Questions Should Archivists Answer Before Migration?
Before beginning a migration project, align on these core areas: your current system, the condition of your data, users, permissions, public access goals, and the time your team can give to the project. You don’t need to wait for a final purchase decision to begin answering some of these questions—and addressing them early can reduce surprises later on and lead to more productive implementation conversations with Lucidea’s team.
What system are we working from?
- What is worth preserving from how we work today?
- What issues create the most friction for staff or researchers?
- Are there known limits that the new system needs to resolve?
- Does the system make it difficult to export our data in a usable condition?
What condition is our data in?
- Can we export all of the data we want to bring over?
- How consistent and complete is the metadata today?
- Where are the most important duplicates, gaps, or obsolete fields?
- Do digital assets and descriptive records align cleanly?
Who needs access?
- How many people need to enter data, and how many need administrative access?
- Do others need read-only, search-only, or specialized access?
- Will usage expand across locations, departments, or partner organizations?
What are our permissions requirements?
- What material needs restricted access?
- Do different groups need different views of the data?
- Are some records or fields more sensitive than others?
- Are audit trails or governance requirements important?
What are our public access goals?
- Is the archives planning to improve discoverability for researchers or the public?
- Does it need a more intuitive digital portal?
- Should some material stay internal while other content is openly searchable?
- How important are full-text search, browsing tools, or featured collections?
How much time can our team give to the project?
- Who will review the data export and the imported results? How much time can they realistically set aside each week for this work?
- Who will make decisions and sign off on configuration?
- Is there a hard deadline attached to the migration, such as a grant requirement?
These questions keep the migration grounded in practical outcomes rather than abstract system comparisons.
How ArchivEra Supports a Managed Transition
ArchivEra is built to help archives move to a more centralized, flexible, and well-supported environment. The software is one component, but implementation, configuration, validation, and training also contribute to the project’s success and how closely the new system fits the archives’ needs.
A Dedicated Project Manager
Every migration starts with a kickoff meeting, where you and your Lucidea project manager agree on a realistic project plan. From there, your project manager meets with you every week or two and walks you through each step of that plan, from a blank database to a live system your team uses for everything. Lucidea’s project managers bring 10+ years of experience, so they know what to expect at every stage.
Highly Configurable Setup
ArchivEra is a configurable collections management system that helps archives organize, share, and track items more efficiently, with support for hierarchical description, metadata, multimedia content, and archival standards, such as EAD3, DACS, RAD, ISAD(G), and Dublin Core. Practical configuration options include:
- Flexible hierarchy tools
- CSV import
- Conversion tools for common sources such as FileMaker Pro, Access, Excel, PastPerfect, and SharePoint
- Bulk search and replace
- Configurable screens and workflows with no limits on fields or record types
- Roles and permissions management, including Single Sign-On (SSO) via SAML 2.0
- Reporting and usage metrics
- API capabilities for connected environments
Because ArchivEra is configurable, organizations can adapt the software to their workflows instead of redesigning every process around the software.
Ongoing In-House Support
ArchivEra is a fully supported platform, backed by Lucidea’s in-house Client Services team and 24/7 technical support. Lucidea’s implementation specialists help plan the migration and guide each stage of the project, so archives aren’t left to manage change alone as staff members settle into the new CMS.
What Can Migration to ArchivEra Look Like in Practice?
The outcome of a migration depends on what an archives is moving from and what it needs the new system to accomplish. Lucidea’s ArchivEra success stories illustrate several different modernization scenarios:
- The Catholic Diocese of Arlington uses ArchivEra to manage sensitive diocesan materials while balancing restricted access with researcher connectivity.
- The Daughters of Charity Provincial Archives brought together collections from multiple provinces, databases, and descriptive practices in one searchable system.
- The two-person archives team at the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston demonstrates how a small team can manage and configure the system without relying on dedicated technical staff for day-to-day administration.
These examples also show why migration planning should begin with outcomes rather than technology alone. The goal is not simply to move records—it is to create a system that better supports your collections, staff, researchers, and future work.
Frequently Asked Questions About Migrating to ArchivEra
Does ArchivEra support migration from another system?
Yes. Lucidea’s team migrates data into ArchivEra from other archives platforms, spreadsheets, and disconnected databases as part of implementation. Because the work starts from your exported data, what matters most is what’s in your export, not which system it came from. Conversion tools and CSV import help streamline the process.
Who does the work in a migration to ArchivEra?
The work is shared. Your team reviews your data before migration and provides feedback on the results after the import is complete. Lucidea’s team maps and imports the data and works with you to configure the system to fit exactly what you need. You’ll have a dedicated project manager supporting you throughout the experience.
How long does a migration to ArchivEra usually take?
Most migrations take about four to six months, though some finish in as little as four weeks and others can take longer. The biggest variables are the project scope, how quickly the data can be exported, and how much time your team can dedicate to collaborative work, including reviews and feedback.
We understand that your staff still have to prioritize their day-to-day work, so migration moves at a pace that suits your team, within a timeframe that works for everyone. At the kickoff meeting, you and your Lucidea project manager agree on a realistic project plan, including any hard deadlines, to set clear expectations from the start.
What are the biggest challenges when migrating archival data?
Data quality is one of the most common migration challenges. Incomplete or inconsistent metadata can increase migration time and require additional cleanup, which is why reviewing your collections data comes first.
Staff availability is another challenge for many archives undergoing CMS migration: most archives fit migration work around their regularly scheduled projects and tasks, so planning time for reviews and feedback keeps the project moving.
Do archives need to clean all of their data before migrating?
No, but a migration project is often the best time to identify duplicates, outdated fields, and inconsistent metadata practices.
Can existing metadata be migrated into ArchivEra?
Yes, in most cases. Lucidea’s team maps the data in your export to appropriate fields in ArchivEra, adds new fields to a template as needed, and imports and reviews the results with you before your new system goes live.
Can ArchivEra support both internal management and public access goals?
Yes. ArchivEra supports both internal collections management and public-facing discovery through a digital portal, while letting archives manage roles, permissions, and access boundaries.
What if the archives has a small team?
Small teams still need structure, visibility, and sustainable workflows. Migration planning becomes even more important when staff capacity is limited because the implementation approach needs to be practical, well-supported, and manageable after go-live. Your project plan is built around the time your team actually has.
Let’s Talk About Making Your Move
Ready to start planning your move to ArchivEra? Talk with Lucidea about your current system, the condition of your data, and a timeline that works for your team.
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