Moving to MCVM

You do not have to start over.

A museum collection carries years of decisions, wording, relationships, photographs, and uncertainty. Moving it deserves more than a row count.

Current supported paths

Start with the records your museum already has.

Migration begins with a museum-generated export from the current system. MCVM keeps the source package separate from the working collection and identifies what can be brought across and what needs human review.

CatalogIt

Records from the Entries JSON export, with photographs from CatalogIt's separate media export.

Provide the CatalogIt Entries JSON export and, to bring photographs across, the separate media export (a manifest CSV and a media ZIP). MCVM checks record and photograph relationships and shows a review before anything is committed. These paths have so far been tested with synthetic records built to match the structure of real CatalogIt exports. They have not yet been checked against a customer's own export.

PastPerfect

Records exports, plus one bounded path for photographs.

Records: MCVM imports PastPerfect's own Objects export, or Objects and Contacts exported together, as CSV or TSV. Photographs: the “PastPerfect 5 Objects with Photos” path reads a closed copy of the PastPerfect 5 Data and Images folders, brings across Objects with their linked JPEG photographs, and shows a review first. It covers the single photograph PastPerfect links to each Object. Additional images on the same record, other PastPerfect catalogs, and video, audio, or document attachments are not supported.

CSV & spreadsheets

A supported migration path for existing collection data.

Provide a stable CSV or spreadsheet export with its original headings and identifiers. Field mapping is reviewed before records are committed.

A controlled process

Inspect, map, review, then decide.

MCVM's supported migration evaluation is being prepared as part of commercial release. It is designed to let the museum examine migrated information before treating the move as accepted. In V1, migration assistance is the reasonable remote guidance included with Care+; MCVM does not offer a paid remediation service or onsite migration work.

Preserve the source.Keep the original export and media package unchanged. Migration work uses controlled copies rather than rewriting the source system.
Map before committing.Review how source fields, identifiers, people, accessions, artifacts, and relationships correspond to MCVM.
Reconcile the result.Compare expected and migrated records, media, relationships, held-back items, and exceptions. Completion alone is not treated as proof that the museum moved correctly.
Accept or step back.The source collection remains untouched. Where an import path supports rollback, MCVM preserves the state needed to reverse the migration.

Preserve meaning

Untidy history is still history.

Legacy collection data may contain local names, uncertain dates, duplicate-looking people, historical identifiers, incomplete relationships, and facts that do not agree.

MCVM does not silently normalize identifiers.

MCVM does not automatically merge people or organizations.

MCVM does not correct disputed facts or invent missing history.

Ambiguous or unsupported information is preserved for review, held back with an explanation, or recorded as an exception rather than guessed into a cleaner-looking result.

Museum decision, not vendor pressure

If you decide not to continue.

The museum keeps its original source export and its existing system remains unchanged by MCVM's migration work. Evaluation expiration must not destroy, encrypt, or hide museum-created data. Final evaluation, purchase, and expiration behavior is still being completed and qualified before public release.

When the planned migration evaluation converts to a purchased institutional license, the same MCVM installation and reviewed collection data are intended to remain in place without a second import. That commercial conversion is not yet available.

Discuss Migration Readiness Data Ownership & Recovery

Evidence to retain

Know what moved and what still needs attention.

The migration process is designed to preserve the source package identity and provide reconciliation evidence for record counts, relationships, media where supported, held-back records, and unresolved exceptions. Exact customer-facing evidence and the supported migration-evaluation process remain pre-release work.

Migration availability is not yet a commercial service offer.

MCVM is preparing for controlled outside-museum installations. The migration-readiness path identifies the current system and available export without asking the museum to email collection data.

Discuss Migration Readiness