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Migration guide

Move media from a PIM-led media stack to FileSpin

Move to FileSpin with every product image reconciled to its SKU and a working delivery route. Start with one product family: each SKU and locale is matched to its approved media, channel outputs are created and published, and the next replacement is checked without breaking product relationships.

There are two ways to run the move. Both start with an inventory and a representative sample before the full transfer.

Assisted migration
We provide the necessary tools to migrate assets from on-premise and cloud storage while your technical team runs the migration, including metadata mapping, import and validation.
Managed migration by FileSpin
The FileSpin team carries out the migration: source extraction or export coordination, field mapping, import, validation and cutover support. Your team grants source access and signs off the result.
Four migration stages, retrieve, map and import, validate and cut over, showing who carries out each one in an assisted migration and in a managed migration by FileSpin
Who carries out each stage in an assisted and a managed migration.

1. Retrieve the source files and records

The migration starts from your PIM and every store its media lives in. Through an API connection with read access, it exports product-to-media references, asset attributes, and locale and channel scope, page by page. In Akeneo, that covers product image and file attributes, Asset Manager families and asset collections. In Salsify, an export run covers products and digital assets. Originals are retrieved from each owning store, including media held outside the PIM, and requests stay within each PIM’s API limits.

Retrieval uses an authorised source account, with credentials kept out of exports, screenshots and public URLs. Each completed inventory page and download is saved, so interrupted work resumes where it stopped, and expired download links are refreshed.

2. Create a manifest you can reconcile

One record per source file or retained version: source system, asset ID, file or version ID, original name, source path, file type, bytes, a checksum recorded at download, tags, custom metadata, collection membership, rights information and source update time. The FileSpin asset ID and transfer status are added as work progresses.

Original files are kept separate from thumbnails and delivery renditions. Every exception, such as a missing original, a restricted download or an unsupported format, is listed with its resolution.

3. Map what moves and what gets rebuilt


Part of the library

What happens

Originals

Authorised source files downloaded and reconciled against the manifest

Metadata

Each media relationship keeps its product identifier, variant, locale, channel, the attribute that holds it and the order your PIM exports. Media metadata maps into FileSpin, while product descriptions, specifications and enrichment rules stay in the PIM.

Collections

Collections built from product families, asset families or channel lists, matched by product and asset codes

Versions

Current media files, plus earlier versions where your PIM or the owning storage keeps them

Access

Roles, private delivery and review workflows set up in FileSpin; PIM permissions stay in the PIM

Delivery

Each destination gets media the way it already works: a live FileSpin URL, a fetched copy or your PIM or feed export. That route is configured and its refresh behaviour tested before cutover.

History

Product and asset change history stays in your PIM; the media versions you keep come across with each file

An illustrative PIM record (product and SKU, media code, role and order, locale and channel, season, and product descriptions not moved here) mapped to a FileSpin record in the E-Commerce schema with SKU 31077 and season SS27, and the collection recreated with the destination asset IDs
A PIM record (synthetic example) mapped to the imported FileSpin asset.

4. Import and check a sample

The sample includes several file types, a multi-value metadata field, an asset in more than one collection, a retained revision and restricted content. Files are loaded, FileSpin IDs recorded, mapped metadata applied and relationships rebuilt.

In an assisted migration, your team stages the retrieved files with the tools we provide and loads metadata through the mapping. In a managed migration, the FileSpin team carries out these steps.

The sample passes when:

  • The correct file and intended version opens in FileSpin.
  • Required fields, types and controlled values match the mapping.
  • Collection membership counts match and related assets resolve.
  • Version records and current files match the scope.
  • An authorised user gets access and an unauthorised user is refused.
  • A content owner finds the selected assets by business fields and completes a review.
  • Real pages, players and feeds return the intended output, including after a replacement.
  • A test campaign link and a share download appear in Delivery Insights and Share analytics.
  • If agent work is included, its first run touches only the selected assets, stays within budget and reports its outcome.
  • Every exception is listed and resolved before the full run.
FileSpin Overview showing users, assets, collections, shares and total storage used
FileSpin Overview: compare asset and collection counts with the source inventory.
FileSpin AI Usage account ledger listing credit grants and debits with amount, running balance and operation source
AI Usage ledger: credits used by each agent run, for the budget check.

PIM media migration questions

Do our PIM’s asset links keep working?
Yes, inside your PIM. Your PIM keeps its product records and the links between products and media, and where a channel needs the image, the PIM can carry the FileSpin URL (in Akeneo, a media-link attribute stores an external URL). Media URLs your channels already use keep pointing to the PIM’s copy until each feed or page switches to FileSpin, matched through the migration manifest.
Can we keep working in our PIM during the migration?
Yes. Product teams keep enriching in the PIM while FileSpin copies the media. Akeneo’s Event Platform and Salsify’s digital asset webhooks report asset changes, a refreshed export catches anything else, and the final sync picks up recent changes before each product family switches.
Do product-asset relationships come across?
Yes. Each media file keeps its product ID, variant, locale and channel, the attribute that holds it and the order your PIM exports, so the right image stays with the right SKU. Product data stays in the PIM, and FileSpin manages the originals, outputs, reviews and delivery around it.
Do we need to run the migration ourselves?
No. In a managed migration, the FileSpin team carries out the transfer. In an assisted migration, we provide the tools and your technical team runs it. Either way, you provide a read-only API connection to your PIM’s products and assets (for example an Akeneo connection or a Salsify API key) and read access to any storage that holds the originals.

5. Cut over

1. Set the switch-over
Agree when FileSpin becomes the system of record and how new uploads and replacements are handled.
2. Final sync
Pick up the last changes through the source’s change mechanism or a refreshed inventory, import them and reconcile counts.
3. Switch one route first
Move a selected collection or application route to FileSpin, then test public output and protected access.
4. Expand and retire
Keep the source available through the recovery window, with a rollback for each route, then expand and retire it.

6. Sign off the result

  • Every in-scope source file has a destination ID or an accepted exception.
  • Required metadata, relationships, versions and access controls pass the agreed checks.
  • Applications use the intended delivery route and updates appear correctly.
  • The exception report, ownership map and recovery procedure are handed over.
Reconciliation report for four synthetic PIM media records: source IDs beside FileSpin asset IDs, file, metadata and collection checks, and one exception where a locale code was mapped to the agreed value
Reconciliation report with synthetic source records: one row per source media record, its FileSpin ID and checks, and the exception resolved before sign‑off.

Plan your migration with FileSpin. Tell us the size of your library, the history you need and the systems it feeds, and we’ll scope an assisted or managed migration with you.