Questions about migration to PT8

Question

Hi,
I work with New Tribes Mission, and will be involved in helping many other NTM translators migrate their projects to PT8 when it comes out. I have several questions related to getting ready for the PT8 Rollout.

1. When most of us in NTM started using Paratext, we did not follow any standards when generating the project names. So, as part of the migration process, I would like to use the project conversion option to be able to use the Ethnologue code for the project short name, while preserving the project history. However, one thing that I see is that in order to migrate a shared project, the project registration must first be completed, and there is no option to change the project short name. I would really prefer to correct the name before registering the project. What would be the best procedure to follow in this case? Thanks

2. If we develop a project plan on an organizational level, what would be the best way to make that project plan available to our members?

3. I would like to incorporate some teaching on the use of Paratext in our missions training. For example, I will be teaching a short translation course in a couple of months, and would like to introduce the students to Paratext. Looking at the Paratext registry site, I noticed that there is an option to have sub-organizations, within an organization. So, I was wondering if it would be good to generate a sub-organization, to use for training purposes, with restricted access to the resources etc. (not all of the students will continue with NTM, and not all will be involved in translation). Also, some of our missionaries are in areas where they are members of partner organizations, but due to different circumstances, it wouldn’t be ideal to have their affiliation with NTM be apparent. Would it be good to use the sub-organization in these types of circumstances?

Thanks much. I appreciate any help I can get on this,
BEH

Answer 1

BEH,

You are correct that currently 7.6 does not change the filenames and that 8.0 does correctly change the file names. I have submitted a bug report to see if we can get this fixed in 7.6.

At the moment then you would do the following:

1. Migrate (and register if shared) the project to 8.0
2. Convert the project to the new name
3. Register the new project
4. Share the new project
5. Remove the old project (or remove all users so that it doesn’t get shared)

As to registration. If a user is registered with “No organization” then they can be added to a registered and shared project and do S/R over the internet with that project. However, they can not register projects (which means that they can not themselves initiate a S/R over the internet). They can do S/R of projects over other media (USB, network, etc).

Sub-organizations receive the rights of the parent organization. So creating a sub-organization for training under NTM would give that training organization the rights of NTM. (This is probably not what you should do.)
Trainees who are not part of NTM (and not part of another organization) and are only wanting to learn Paratext should be registered without an organization and then can request permission for resources as an “Independent” translator. With Paratext 7, this was not very easy, but with Paratext 8 it is pretty straight forward for anyone to get a license.

Affiliates should be registered under their organization if possible. If they do not have a registered organization you can request the organization be added. However, if there are only a couple of people in the project (no organization) then adding them under NTM is an option.

dhigby is the best person to respond to specific questions regarding registration of organizations.

Comments

Thanks much anon848905.
If the convert tool on 7.6 gets fixed, then that would be a very workable option.
Regarding the organizations, I think that just registering students without an organization will take care of any issues regarding registration.
Thanks much, I think that should pretty much take care of these questions I had.
BEH

---

Unfortunately the PT8 Convert Project tool does not allow for changing file extensions. Some of us have old non-standard file extensions causing problems, so it would be really nice if it were possible to change these as well without losing the whole project history.

As for choosing organizations when registering, are you also suggesting that we in SIL register co-translators who are not SIL members as SIL International (in )?

anon716631

---

anon716631 - you are correct that the convert tool does not allow for changing
the extension. I’ve put in a feature request on this - we’ll see if it
happens. If this is truly a problem then one solution is to create a new
project and import the data. You lose the history, but can always compare
the new project against the history of the original project. This is not
ideal, but it is one way to get the file names fixed and move on with the
project.

As to registration, I would say that it is best to register users under the
proper organization. In some cases this might mean that a sub-organization
should be created. In some cases where the user is not closely related to
SIL then it might be best to register with “no organization” and then
request membership in the group of “Independent Translators” (this is sort
of an organization, but you must request permission for this). In the case
of co-translators working on an SIL project I would register them under the
particular SIL where they are working. While they are not specifically
members of SIL, they are members of SIL projects and therefore can be
registered under SIL.

anon848905
Americas Area Language Technology Coordinator
[Email Removed]
[Phone Removed]Office at JAARS)
[Phone Removed]Cell)
Skype name: anon848905

---

Thanks for your advice, anon848905.

Just one more question related to registration: If I as an Administrator of a project register other people using the +Register New User… button at https://registry.paratext.org/users and leave the Organisation field in the New User form blank, will those users still get access to the same resources as I have access to?

---

How do you request membership in the group of “Independent Translators”? Will members of that group have access to the same resources as SIL translators?

anon716631

---

No not the same resources. They would have access to resources that were granted to all Paratext users, and this is the default permission that is being negotiated. However, resources that were granted specifically to your organization would not then be available to them.

---

Publishers who license resources to Paratext users are given the option to also license them to Independent translators. However, since this is an unknown quantity, most publishers have not opted for this option.

Answer 2

BEH,

1. The recommended process is to a) Use the Convert Project tool in PT 7.6 to fix the name and any other conversion issues that need to be handled. b) Register and migrate the converted project from within PT 8.

2. There is help on “How do I save project progress settings as a base project plan” under Browse Help. Once you have created that .xml file you can share it among your organization or request that it be added to the available plans included with Paratext (if the organization is large enough that it is worth sending it to everyone).

3. With the new Paratext 8 registration it is best to register people according to their organization. So if the trainees are NTM then you would register them that way. Others could register as no organization and would receive temporary codes for the training. They could then request permission for more resources. This is covered on the “registration” tab of the pt8.paratext.org site.

Answer 3

anon848905, thanks for responding.

1. I thought about using the convert project tool in PT 7.6, but that tool does not change the file names, so though the project short name has been corrected, the filename has not. For instance, in my case, if the old short name was XYZ, the sfm for Matthew would be 41MATXYZ.sfm, and though I have converted project XYZ to ZYX, the filename still stays as 41MATXYZ.sfm. This has been fixed in the Paratext 8 conversion tool, but not in the 7.6 tool. About a year ago, I converted a project, and neglected to edit the project long name (neglecting to follow the instructions completely), and ended up with some issues with the send/receive server, that I am guessing had to do with the filename. So, that makes me a bit skittish about recommending people convert using 7.6, etc. Also, I have 7.6, but most people who will need to rename their projects do not.

2. Reading the registration info, I couldn’t tell if people registering without an organization would have difficulty being part of a shared project such as a training project. If registering without an organization would allow them to send/receive a shared project, then this would work well for the training aspect. Regarding affiliates who are members of partner organizations, would we just add them as NTM, since they are affiliated with us? I noticed that SIL for example has SIL International, but several child organizations such as SIL Africa, etc. So I was wondering if it would be best in our case to do the same type of thing.

Thanks again.
BEH

Answer 4

A translator we helped to migrate, had changed her last name since she registered for PT7, so she registered for PT8 with her new name and email address without entering any PT7 registration code. But when she was going to migrate her project to PT8, it was greyed out in the list of PT7 projects available for migration, making migration impossible. This situation did not change until we reregistered her using her old PT7 registration name and code.

Does migration really require that the PT7 and PT8 user names are the same?

Comments

The user names do not have to be the same, but you have to link the two accounts using the PT7 registration code. It should be possible to register under a new name while using the old code. Once you’ve used the old code, projects that were shared with that user will now be shared with the ‘new’ user.

Edit: this appears to be untrue.

---

Since a Paratext 7 registration code has some kind of logical connection to
a name (you can put a name and registration code into a computer that has
not been connected to the internet during or after the installation and it
will accept the code only if the name is perfectly spelled), I don’t see
how you could “link the two accounts”. Nor have I seen that possibility on
the website. While you can change your login name, the Paratext
registration name and number are greyed out. If it is actually possible,
then it would be great to have more specific instructions for that.

Blessings,

Shegnada J.

---

anon716631:

Does migration really require that the PT7 and PT8 user names are the same?

Yes, the user name is the ID of the user inside Paratext. Thus they have to be exactly the same[1]. It’s the only way that Paratext can know they are the same person.

If it’s important that they use their new last name in PT8, they can either register in PT7 with their new name and get it changed before the migration or continue to have both in PT8 so that migrations can be done and then switch the project to the new name after migration.

[1] This is not entirely true as some users had leading and/or trailing spaces that are now removed in PT8. This should happen automatically when the PT7 code is entered in the Registry, though.

---

Thanks for the info. If she wants to switch the project to the new name after migration, is the procedure for that as follows?

1. Enter the new registration information under Project > Registration Information… in PT8.
2. Restart PT8.
3. Go to Project > Project Properties and Settings… in PT8 and reregister the project under the General tab.

---

No, there is no reason to re-register the project. The users are separate from the project registration.
Her new name just needs to be added to the project in Project > Users, Roles and Permissions and her old name removed from the project. If she’s the administrator, then she needs to make sure she switches her registration (Project > Registration Information) after this has been done to make sure that she still has access to the project after the switch.

Answer 5

Consider renaming it with the convert tool in Paratext 7.6 before migration. You might have less problems and be happier with the results.

Answer 6

In AmArea we have created a spreadsheet to help guide the process of migration. If this is useful to you - feel free to use it or modify your own copy.
English version:

docs.google.com

Migration Checklist

Migrating Projects Have all the team members registered for Paratext 8?, Yes- go to next step, No- users should be registered at registry. paratext. org. Note that project administrators can register other users if they have their Paratext 7...

Spanish version:

docs.google.com

Lista de verificación de migración

Migración de proyectos ¿ Se han registrado todos los miembros del equipo para Paratext 8?, Sí- ir al siguiente paso, No- los usuarios deben registrarse en la página web: registry. paratext. org. Tenga en cuenta que los administradores de proyectos...