Migrate large data sets (over 50 files)

The Migration Manager is an administrative tool that helps you simply and securely migrate large quantities of data to Cloud. Organizations who want to use the Migration Manager must contact Caseware Support with the following information:

  • Intended migration date(s)

  • Size of active client data

  • Size of inactive client data

  • Number of files to migrate (current and prior year)

  • Number of users

Additionally, your organization must confirm that they will not attempt to migrate files that have been associated with a different organization.

Prerequisites:

  • Your organization must be using Working Papers 2019 or later.

  • Your organization must have Working Papers with SmartSync technology. If you do not have SmartSync, see Differences between SmartSync and non-SmartSync, and contact your local distributor for more information.

  • Your organization must have a Caseware Cloud site. If you do not have a Cloud site, you can request an invite.

  • You must have an internet browser that supports TLS 1.2 or later. For more information, see Disabling access to Caseware Cloud for older and unsupported browsers.

  • You must install the Migration Manager on the computer or server containing the data to migrate.

  • An administrator must operate the Migration Manager on behalf of the organization (administrative privileges are required).

  • You must connect the Migration Manager to your Cloud site to access all migration options. On the main menu, click Log In and enter your Cloud site URL and administrator credentials. You do not need to include the web protocol (http:// or https://) in the URL.

    Note: If your organization's Cloud site is set up as part of a business unit, you must connect the Migration Manager to the URL of an individual business unit, rather than the URL of the top-level Cloud site (where staff members typically sign in). During the migration process, data will migrate to the to the individual business unit and only be accessible to the business unit's users. You can then repeat the process with the URLs of other individual business units.

Recommendations:

  • Validate the health of your files prior to migration. See Validate engagement files for more information.

  • Where possible, ensure that the engagement properties in your files contain as much information as possible to assist in the auto-map process. See Upload entities to Cloud for more information.

  • Compress all parent files prior to migration to reduce migration times. Ensure you include all subfolders during compression.

  • Back up all parent files prior to migration. The original files on your server will be migrated to Cloud.

  • Run only one instance of the Migration Manager at a time. Multiple instances will not speed up the processing time and can negatively impact Cloud performance.

  • Restart self-hosted SmartSync Servers after a migration to clear the engagement file list. If you migrate your data in stages, restart the server after each stage.

Estimate the migration time

To help you schedule your migration for minimal disruption, see the following migration time estimates. Note that these estimates were created using a controlled environment. Actual migration time may differ.

Number of files Compressed file size Contains custom metadata Upload size Time
7915 54 MB Yes 425 GB 39 Hours
1549 211 MB No 325 GB 24 Hours
1451 211 MB No 305 GB 20 Hours
3000 211 MB No 630 GB 43.5 Hours
1000 211 MB No 210 GB 13 Hours

To reduce migration time, we suggest that you complete the following actions:

  • Compress all parent files, including subfolders

  • Delete unnecessary sync copies

  • Clear synchronization information for archived files

  • Upload entities and staff in advance of the file migration

Depending on the quantity and size of the files you are migrating, you may need to complete the migration over a period of several weekends. For information on segmenting the process, see Migrate engagement files to Cloud.

Upload staff to Cloud

You can upload a list of your staff members from a .csv file, shared data store (.cwc file) or data store export file to get them started with their own Cloud account. Note that each staff member added to Cloud will receive a registration email from donotreply@casewarecloud.com. We suggest whitelisting this email address to prevent your spam filters from blocking the email.

If you are preparing a .csv file, ensure that:

  • Each staff member has at minimum a first name, last name and unique email address

  • Each row represents one staff member

  • Each column represents a property (e.g. first name, last name, email)

  • Multiple staff groups are separated with tildes (~)

For example:

Last name First name Email address Initials Group
Barnett Betsy betsy.barnett@test.caseware.com BB G1
Henry Isabel isabel.henry@test.caseware.com IH G1~G2
Holt Ben ben.holt@test.caseware.com BH G2
Nguyen Nicholas nicholas.nguyen@test.caseware.com NN G2

To upload staff from a .csv file:

  1. Right-click the Migration Manager executable and click Run as administrator.

  2. On the main menu, click Upload Staff.

  3. Next to the CSV file upload option, click UPLOAD.

  4. The Staff app displays in Cloud. Click New | Import | Staff.

  5. The Import Staff dialog displays. Click Import from CSV and browse for your .csv file, or copy and paste the content from your .csv file into the text box. Click Next.

  6. The list of staff from your .csv file display in a table. Assign the applicable heading for the data in each column. Note that columns with the Ignore heading will not be uploaded.

  7. Click Import.

The staff list is uploaded to Cloud. You can view all of the staff in your Cloud site by clicking Staff on the Cloud menu. Close the Import Staff dialog to return to the main menu.

To upload staff from a shared data store:

  1. Right-click the Migration Manager executable and click Run as administrator.

  2. On the main menu, click Upload Staff.

  3. Click the file icon and browse for the folder containing the connection (.cwc) file. Select the file and click Open.

  4. Click UPLOAD.

  5. A login dialog displays requesting administrator credentials for the shared data store. Enter the credentials and click OK to begin the upload.

The staff list is uploaded to Cloud and the upload results display. For more detailed information, view the automated log file by clicking the link provided. Click CLOSE to return to the main menu.

To upload staff and groups from a data store export file:

  1. Right-click the Migration Manager executable and click Run as administrator.

  2. On the main menu, click Upload Staff.

  3. Next to the DSAT upload option, click UPLOAD.

  4. The Working Papers Security Import dialog displays in Cloud. Click Select Files and browse for your export file, or drag and drop the file into the dialog.

  5. The Import Staff and Groups dialog displays with a list of your staff, staff groups and roles. Click Import.

The staff list is uploaded to Cloud and the roles display in the Working Papers Security list. You can view all of the staff and groups in your Cloud site by clicking Staff and Groups on the Cloud menu. Close the Import Staff and Groups dialog to return to the main menu.

Upload entities to Cloud

Entities are workspaces that store all the relevant information for a particular client, including business and contact information, documents and engagement files. You can upload a list of entities to Cloud using a .csv file. When preparing the .csv file, ensure that:

  • Each entity contains at minimum an entity name (up to 60 characters) and number (up to 10 characters)

  • Each row represents one client entity

  • Each column represents a property (e.g. client name, operating name, website)

  • Multiple tags are placed between quotes and separated with commas

For example:

Entity name Entity number Start date Fiscal year end Tags
Chockablock Industries 4829 09 Jul 2012 December "Retail, Partnership"
Superior Furniture 5937 22 Aug 2010 December Retail

We suggest that you include as many properties as possible to ease the process of mapping your engagement files to the correct entities later on in the migration.

To upload entities from a .csv file:

  1. Right-click the Migration Manager executable and click Run as administrator.

  2. On the main menu, click Upload Entities.

  3. The Import Entities dialog displays in Cloud. Select the applicable import options.

  4. Click Import from CSV and browse for your .csv file, or copy and paste the content from your .csv file into the text box. Click Next.

  5. The entities from your .csv file display in a table. Assign the applicable heading for the data in each column. Note that columns with the Ignore heading will not be uploaded.

  6. Click Import.

The entities are uploaded to Cloud. You can view all of the entities in your Cloud site by clicking Entities on the Cloud menu. Close the Import Entities dialog to return to the main menu.

Validate engagement files

We suggest that you validate your organization's engagement files to determine if they are ready for migration to Cloud. Some common issues that will prevent validation of a file include:

  • The file is corrupt

  • The file is a sync copy rather than a parent file

  • The file's name includes unicode characters

  • The file's version is older than Working Papers 2011

  • The compressed file does not include subfolders

If possible, ensure that you resolve these issues prior to validation. If any of these issues are discovered after a validation attempt, resolve them and try the validation again.

To validate your engagement files for migration:

  1. Right-click the Migration Manager executable and click Run as administrator.

  2. On the main menu, click Validate Files.

  3. Click the folder icon and browse for the folder containing the files that you want to validate. Click Select Folder.

  4. Click VALIDATE.

The results of the validation process display in the validation report. For more detailed information, view the automated log file by clicking the link provided. Click CLOSE to return to the main menu.

Create a mapping file

Prior to migration, you'll need to create a mapping file that assigns each engagement file to its applicable Cloud entity.

To create a mapping file:

  1. Right-click the Migration Manager executable and click Run as administrator.

  2. On the main menu, click Map Files.

  3. Click the folder icon and browse for the folder containing the files that you want to map. Click Select Folder.

  4. Click AUTOMAP to assign files to entities based on their engagement properties.

  5. A list of each file and their proposed entities displays. If there are any unmapped or incorrectly mapped files, select the box next to the file name and click MAP. Select the applicable entity, then click Apply. Repeat this process until all engagement files are mapped to an entity.

Note: Clicking MAP ALL will map all remaining unmapped files to a specified entity. Mapped files will not be changed.

A mapping file named CWCloudMigrationMng.csv is created in the folder containing the mapped files. If you intend to migrate files in stages, refer to this mapping file for the applicable range to migrate. Click CLOSE to return to the main menu.

Migrate engagement files to Cloud

Migrate your engagement files to Cloud in order to take advantage of Cloud's file management and engagement tracking tools. We strongly recommend backing up all files prior to the migration, as the original copies will be automatically deleted afterwards.

To migrate engagement files:

  1. Right-click the Migration Manager executable and click Run as administrator.

  2. On the main menu, click Migrate Files.

  3. Click the document icon and browse for your mapping file (CWCloudMigrationMng.csv). Select the file and click Open.

  4. If you only want to migrate a range of files (e.g. files 1-50) rather than all files at once, specify the first and last numbers of the range in the applicable fields.

  5. Click MIGRATE.

The files are migrated to Cloud and the migration results display. For more detailed information, view the automated log file by clicking the link provided. Click CLOSE to return to the main menu.

Integrate engagement files from a SmartSync Server

Firms who seek to leverage Caseware Sherlock's practice management capabilities, while still using an on-premise SmartSync Server, can integrate their engagement files with Cloud directly through the Migration Manager. This feature enables firms to integrate historical files, extract historical data, and then use that data in Caseware Sherlock.

Notes:

  • You do not need to migrate your engagement files for this process.
  • To ensure that no changes are made to the original historical files, we recommend that you make copies of all the parent files that you intend to integrate and perform the validation, mapping and integration processes on the copies, rather than the original parent files. Ensure that all child sync copies remain closed throughout integration. After the integration, delete the parent file copies before staff open any child sync copies.

To integrate engagement files from a SmartSync Server:

  1. Right-click the Migration Manager executable and click Run as administrator.
  2. On the main menu, click Integrate Files.
  3. Click the document icon and browse for your mapping file (CWCloudMigrationMng.csv). Select the file and click Open.
  4. If you only want to integrate a range of files (e.g. files 1-50) rather than all files at once, specify the first and last numbers of the range in the applicable fields.
  5. Click INTEGRATE.
  6. If you are integrating any files from a previous version of Working Papers, a dialog displays where you can either convert or skip these files. Converted files will no longer be accessible in the previous version of Working Papers, while skipped files will not be converted or integrated with Cloud.

The files are integrated with Cloud and the integration results display. For more detailed information, view the automated log file by clicking the link provided. Click CLOSE to return to the main menu.

Important: Before your staff open any child sync copies of the files, you must delete the parent file copies.