Three main sections
The R5 Migration Pro database is divided into three main sections: Infrastructure Migration, Application Migration, and Reference Materials. You can see a sample of the table of contents in Figure A.

FIGURE A


You can see just a sample of the documents that this database contains. Roll over picture for a larger image.

While the network administrators in my company found the Infrastructure Migration section extremely useful, with all of its Microsoft Project templates, Word documents, and Excel spreadsheets, the Application Developer in me found the Application Migration section extremely fascinating. It contained information about upgrading and compatibility issues that I hadn't seen before, including one document that detailed eight known errors to check for.

The third section, Reference Materials, pulls together a wealth of information in one place. This includes information such as descriptions of and links to training databases on the Web, technical documents and presentations from Lotus, and over 25 knowledge base documents that you should read. I found reading the knowledge base documents especially informative.

The Index view and Attachments
The attachments contained in the database deserve a little section of their own due to their importance and usefulness. You might even find that one or a few of the attached files alone were worth the cost of the entire product. Keep in mind that in order to get the most benefit out of R5 Migration Pro, you should have Microsoft Office and preferably Microsoft Project as well. In Table A, you'll see a brief description of the major types of files you'll find in the database.

You can easily find the attachments in the database by going to Index and then Attachments, as you can see in Figure B. The index is an especially useful way to navigate around the database to get to the information you need.

FIGURE B


You can see a list of the documents that contain attachments in the Index view. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Gathering the information so you don't have to
The single most useful thing that R5 Migration Pro does is to gather together in one place all the relevant information you need to make your migration process successful. Sure, you could probably gather all this information by yourself, given an infinite amount of time and the ability to clone yourself. But why bother?