I have a client I've been working with for over 12 years. They have decided to change to a new system (Miva Merchant) and have their new site (new web design company as well) ready to go live. They are just now trying to figure out how to export all of their current customer data. They have around 33,000 customer files and don't want to lose that information.

What can I tell them?

I wanted to add a little more info regarding the "new" company that is taking over this site.

My client (soon to be former client) is, understandably upset that they are just learning that they don't have a plan to keep all of their customer data. This is a portion of the email they received from their new web designer: "We talked about the "customers and orders" quite a while back after we first ran into trouble with the platform you were using. We quoted your project out based on thinking it was using WooCommerce, because it looked like it was. It wasn't until we started actually trying to get at the data and you granted us access that we realized the site is built on some unknown platform and the data is kind of whacky."

I'm just a bit surprised that they have no idea how to deal with ECT - and see it as "whacky"? They also said: "We will still be able to bring over the products, the attributes and the customers, albeit bringing over the attributes was going to be GREATLY complicated due to the way the data is integrated within your current platform. The current platform in fact is a total mess."

ECT has work flawlessly for me and many clients over the years - as well as many, many others. I'm confused as to why they are having so much trouble with it.

Any help that anyone can give me here will be greatly appreciated.

The data is well organized in the database.
It's my opinion that if they are moving to a company that is unable to go to the database and export data and use that data elsewhere, they (new web design company) should not be in the business of moving data.

There are tools build in the admin to export customer orders, but to get all the data they are looking for, they will need to go to the database.
Again, if they don't know how to do that, shame on them.

David

I agree with you 100%...but here we are. On one hand I want to just throw my hands up and tell them "it's no longer my problem" - but I have been working with them for many years and I guess I kind of feel bad. I really have a sneaking suspicion that it's going to go badly and they will be back. Not sure if that's a something I even would want!

So, can I tell them that they can go into orders and just use the Export to a CSV file? They would have to choose ALL orders (dates) - so I assume this would put quite a tax on the system and take a lot of time. At this point we are just worried about being able to export all of the customer data and their orders in a way that they will have them for safe keeping.

I also can't believe that exporting the data wouldn't have been one of the first things that should have been addressed by this company before they began building a new site.

How do you confuse WooCommerce with ECT. "It looked like..." That to me is a red flag. Just my 2 cents worth.

I also understand your "I guess I kind of feel bad." Been there too often, so much so, for the most part, I now take the stance that it is no longer my problem. Loyalty works two ways.

Marshall
CENLYT Productions - ms designs
Affordable Web Design
Custom Ecommerce Designs
Responsive Websites
Cenlyt.com

Marshall -- I so agree with that. I thought the very same thing. Who would build an entire new website for a company this large and not fully understand what they were dealing with before they start? It's the very first thing I do whenever I'm taking over a site from someone else. I need to know how easy (or not easy) it's going to be to work with what they have.

One more question (I know...I can't just leave them without trying to help) -

Their NEW site will be on a totally different server (and platform - Miva) - they currently have their own server (with InMotion Hosting) and that is where their OLD site has been for a few years (and is still at this moment). They would like to keep their OLD site and just access it with a temp URL (or something like that) - just so that they can refer back to it, grab info, or whatever.

This new company is telling me that a temp URL won't work - they can see the OLD site with it but not access the admin.

What would be the best way to do this - could they rename the OLD site somehow? I'm not really sure any of that is a good idea - I think leaving customer data out there on an old site like that would be asking for trouble - not to mention having all of that duplicate data floating around.

Anyone have any thoughts?

quote:

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So, can I tell them that they can go into orders and just use the Export to a CSV file? They would have to choose ALL orders (dates) - so I assume this would put quite a tax on the system and take a lot of time. At this point we are just worried about being able to export all of the customer data and their orders in a way that they will have them for safe keeping.

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Yes, but maybe break it down by months, or years if it's a large number of orders.
I find it hard to believe they cannot just go into the database and get everything they need.
The (hosting) control panel should have phpmyadnin, and that has tools to download any data you want from the database.
As a matter of fact, even if the new provider cannot merge the data, your client should take a full backup of the website and the database and keep it.

David

If they want to keep the old site live, just have them purchase a domain name and point it to the old site.
Or access it via the IP address. All websites have an IP address...
Domain names are just there to make it easy to remember.

David

Dave,

My question would be - if they create a new domain (oldsite.com) and then point that to the OLD site - will the admin still work with that? How would things be changed to look for those links? As of now links to pages would be "newsite.com/proddetail.php?prod=XYZ" -- how would that work if it were changed to "oldsite.com/proddetail.php?prod=XYZ"?

It seems they are unable to currently access the admin area using the IP address. Is there a work around for that?

All you have to do is move the database and vsadmin and site files to the new hosting and place them in a directory named 'old-site'

Import the database and make the connection

Then just browse to https://www.yournewdomain.com/old-site/vsadmin/login.php and https://www.yournewdomain.com/old-site/ if you need to view the front end.

For the front end if it's a wordpress site you'll have to update the old domain entries to the new domain in the database. I usually do that before I migrate it.
If you only need to view the old orders you won't have to change any domain entries, all you'll need to do is upload the vsadmin directory



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quote:

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All you have to do is move the database and vsadmin and site files to the new hosting and place them in a directory named 'old-site'

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Hi Phil, the client is moving away from ECT, and it sounds like they may not have access to the hosting, or it's managed by a 3rd party.
I believe with MIVA, they host the site and the user has no control over the hosting. I could be wrong though.

Really all you need to do is set the main settings in the admin for the new domain and point the domain name to the hosting, often the A Record.
I would set the pages to all no index, no follow so the pages do not get indexed on the old site.
Perhaps remove all the front end website pages and just have the admin only.
It would remain active as long as they pay for the hosting.
Be warned that at some point in the future, if the host makes some king of change (php updates for example) the admin may need an update. But with no front end site, it should be super easy.

David

quote:

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Hi Phil, the client is moving away from ECT, and it sounds like they may not have access to the hosting, or it's managed by a 3rd party.

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Sorry I misunderstood, so follow Daves advice if that's the case



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It seems the client is still having issues. Their IT guy posted (at my suggestion) on the Pre-Sales forum on here asking for help. I just wanted to connect the two threads so someone can hopefully help out with this. Here is the link to his question:

https://www.ecommercetemplates.com/support/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=114815

Thanks!

Hi JustDucky923
I've answered the IT guy.

Vince

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Thank you Vince! I really appreciate your help on this.