Jamestown Migrates 3.5 TB of Data, Leveraging REALTY|share for Increased Collaboration

Before deciding that Microsoft 365 was the right fit, the Jamestown team investigated another content management system as an alternative to SharePoint 2010. However, due to system differences, it would have required a complete revamp of their Document Management System (DMS) to make it work, and so it did not make it out of the design phase. Unsure what their options were, Jamestown turned to longtime partner, Arcuity, for clarity regarding their next move for this business-critical enterprise system. Recognizing that Jamestown owned the Microsoft 365 platform, Arcuity recommended that they maximize their current cloud investment and move the DMS to Microsoft 365. Jamestown agreed and the two teams began designing the updated solution, which would be named DMS365. According to Joyce, “DMS365 has been an easier design phase than the other system we investigated, partly because Arcuity knows us so well.” Joyce continued, “They know the Jamestown culture, they know the Jamestown environment, and our technology. They understand how we work because they have been with us for so long.”

Accommodating for the large volume of data to be migrated and the immovable deadline of October 2020 meant the project would require a phased approach. With guidance from the Arcuity team, the migration project was defined as two main parts:

• Phase 1—to be completed by October 2020—would follow a “lift-and-shift” tactic to migrate the full 3.5 TB of data onto the Microsoft 365 platform.
• Phase 2—to be completed after October 2020—would tackle the task of adapting from a folder structure to a meta data-centric design.
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Throughout Phase 1, Jamestown was careful to avoid any design path that was short-sighted or would limit their options later in the project, while also staying on track to meet the critical timeline. Joyce reflected on the role that Arcuity played in those decisions, “It’s a constant question and answer between the Jamestown team and the Arcuity team; ‘If we do this, is it going to delay October 2020?’ If the answer is ‘Yes, it’s going to delay’, then the question becomes ‘If we don’t do it, are we going to limit ourselves in the future?’” Joyce continued, “It’s a constant double-checking to the deadline how much design change occurs in this first phase.”

Jamestown Senior Project Manager Cindy Bordas added, “Arcuity has such attention to detail and is always on top of things. That makes it easier on us, keeps us honest, and focused. The migration path was also very well thought out the volume of data that’s getting migrated over.”