Choosing Information to Extract

When planning your migration, consider which data to extract. For example, you may or may not want to extract schedule and calendar features or personal distribution lists. You may want to limit the extraction to certain ranges of data. For example, you could impose an age limit on mail. Also consider special issues related to extracting the following information:

Personal address books (PABs)   If users can create their own directory entries in PABs on your existing system, you can extract the information. If the administrator cannot access PABs, consider how users will migrate this data. Users can send a message to themselves with all the entries in the PAB listed in the Cc field before their mailboxes are moved. After the messages are migrated to Microsoft Exchange Server, users can open them and add the recipients to the new PABs. This method is especially useful for migrating PABs from Microsoft Mail for AppleTalk Networks to Microsoft Exchange Server.

Attributes   Some existing systems have additional data about each account stored in their directory ¾ title or department, for example. Extract this information as part of migration, or import it separately by using the Directory Import command in the Administrator program.

Attachments   Is the attachment useful after being migrated? Attachments that require an application on a host system may no longer be useful in their current format. Do any attachments need to be converted before being added to the migration file?