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University of Lorraine

The University of Lorraine's wiki team utilized XWiki’s Confluence Migrator (Pro) to efficiently and accurately transfer over 145,000 pages, 17,000 users, and 315 spaces.

XWiki
Client Visit their website
Location
EuropeFrance
Size
17k users
Hosting On-premises

Industries

Academics

Usecases

Documentation, Intranet, Knowledge Base

Services

Consulting, Custom development, Migration

Requirements

Collaborative editing with various degrees of access rights

The context

After Atlassian announced their significant price increase, University of Lorraine searched and considered multiple tools for their migration needs. Out of all the options, XWiki was the only software capable of answering the specific requirements that the University of Lorraine wiki's team expressed during the preliminary meetings.

One of the said requirements was ensuring that users' data could be smoothly transferred to the new tool and XWiki, through its migrator, was the only viable option capable of meeting this critical need. Another critical requirement was that the internal documentation from the new solution be accessible to all — staff, teachers, students. Therefore, they selected XWiki not just as a replacement tool, but as the optimal solution to ensure data transfer continuity amidst financial challenges posed by Atlassian's Confluence price increase.

Needs

University of Lorraine required a knowledge base solution that could also act as an intranet for collaborative editing and documentation. The new solution had to be able to:

  • transfer users, permissions, history, and content with the current structure, attachments, and comments;

  • support collaborative editing through OnlyOffice or another integration;

  • support SSO authentication with multi-value attribute management or LDAP connection (decided to move forward using only CAS SSO);

  • offer the possibility to create independent spaces or themed wiki farms;

  • handle granular access controls for spaces and pages;

  • offer API support.

The solution

The project leveraged XWiki’s Confluence Migrator (Pro), which ensured an efficient and accurate transition of data, including over 145,000 pages, 315 spaces, and 17,000 users. Furthermore, the XWiki Client team also carried out the following services:

  1. Consulting and development of 2 new sponsored extensions to enhance the functionality of their intranet

    • URL Shortener Application — With this application users can create short URLs for their wiki pages, improving usability and navigation.
    • Location Search Macro — This application allows users to easily search specific elements within designated areas, using specific tags and object types, enhancing search efficiency.

  2. Online training sessions

    • The XWiki team delivered virtual training sessions for users and Administrators for onboarding into XWiki.
    • The training sessions were recorded for future reference and further dissemination within the University of Lorraine.

  3. Technical support and change management

    XWiki provided a dedicated architect that prioritized and solved technical issues across the migration.

    The XWiki architect also held regular technical review meetings to provide best practices and workarounds for specific use cases.

    A dedicated Account Manager ensured smooth communication and project oversight.

    The XWiki Client team also created a shared GitLab space for transparent issues reporting, tracking and resolution, allowing the university’s team to actively participate in the process.

    University of Lorraine's team is also able to open issues for the core product, for extensions, and the Confluence Migrator, with all the issues being publicly accessible and easy to track.

    The XWiki Client team also assisted in customizing the intranet's look and feel to align with the University of Lorraine's branding.

The results

The University of Lorraine's successful migration from Confluence to XWiki represents a significant improvement in their intranet capabilities, offering enhanced control over data and hosting, flexibility, customization, and full alignment with their academic and administrative needs.

The collaboration with the XWiki Client team enabled a smooth and comprehensive transition, as evidenced by the following results:

  • Seamless Migration

    Over 145,000 pages, 315 spaces, and 17,000 users were migrated with full retention of structure, content, attachments, history, comments, and permissions.

  • Customized Solutions

    The URL Shortener app and the Location Search macro enhanced the usability of University of Lorraine's intranet, streamlining navigation and easing data search.

  • Comprehensive support and training

    Users already resumed their activity in the new tool and can also communicate easily any issues and needs that they have for their intranet in GitLab and receive timely resolutions from XWiki.

University-ready
“The XWiki migration tool is constantly evolving, and they are adding features requested by different customers.”
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