A content migration can pass its import command and still fail the people who need to find, edit, and trust the migrated material. This checklist follows a content-heavy Drupal migration from inventory to reconciliation, with checks for structure, links, media, and editorial readiness.
Inventory the source before mapping
Count content by type, status, language, and owner. Capture fields, taxonomy, media, redirects, references, and workflows. Identify stale, duplicate, legally sensitive, or orphaned records and agree whether each will migrate, be merged, archived, or retired. Drupal Views contextual filters.
Sample records by type and complexity, not only the newest pages. Record known data-quality problems so they are not mistaken for migration defects later.
Design and test mappings
Map each source field to a Drupal destination field, transformation, fallback, and validation rule. Confirm stable identifiers and how references resolve when records import in batches. Separate content that belongs in structured fields from layout fragments that need editorial cleanup.
Build a small migration first, inspect real output, and revise before scaling. The Drupal Migrate API supports source, process, and destination steps; plan dependencies and repeatable imports rather than relying on manual one-off edits.
Reconcile more than record counts
Compare source and destination counts by type and status. Verify samples for text, dates, authorship, translations, taxonomy, referenced entities, files, and alt text. Check links, canonical URLs, redirects, and public rendering. A matching total does not prove content is complete. See also Content types and fields.
Test reruns and changed records. Confirm rollback or restore procedures and preserve source backups through acceptance.
Bring editors into acceptance
Have editors find, preview, correct, and publish representative migrated content with their normal permissions. Provide a list of exceptions and an owner for each. Verify search, Views, filters, and navigation against real editorial tasks.
Agree on launch criteria: resolved high-impact defects, redirect coverage, backup, monitoring, freeze or delta plan, and a named decision maker. The migration is complete when the new content can be operated—not just loaded.
What would you do?
What is the migration detail most likely to be missed on your sites: references, redirects, permissions, or editorial workflow? Share your experience in the comments.
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