Every day across the University of Toronto, staff submit invoices and purchase orders, retrieve HR data and review research applications. But few realize these activities rely on an invisible digital infrastructure that manages more than 2 million documents.

Information Technology Services (ITS) and partners across U of T recently completed a major overhaul of this critical system, replacing aging technology with a modern, cloud-based platform that improves performance, security and scalability.

“Most people never think about where their documents go when they attach a file in the university’s Administrative Management System,” says Swetlana Signarowski, executive director of Enterprise Applications & Solutions Integration (EASI). “But these documents are essential to the university’s operations and audit trail, and they need to be easily accessible and secure.”

Beyond immediate technical improvements, the migration also advances U of T’s digital transformation strategy by modernizing core administrative systems and improving user experience.

A month-long, round-the-clock migration

The project involved moving over 3.5 terabytes of data to a new platform hosted in Microsoft Azure – a migration that ran overnight for a month to avoid affecting system performance and daily operations.

“Migrating such a large volume of documents required a lot of careful planning,” says Jamal Qureshi, SAP solutions architect with EASI. “We ran migration jobs at night and on weekends to prevent system performance issues, and our team was available for 24/7 monitoring and data validations.”

During the data migration process, the project team verified each record. “If a job was supposed to migrate 10,000 records, we needed to validate those records in the database to ensure accuracy,” says Qureshi.

A modern platform with behind-the-scenes improvements

The previous platform was scheduled for retirement in 2027, offering an opportunity to introduce long-term improvements. While most staff won’t notice changes in how they upload or view attachments, the new solution brings significant enhancements.

“The platform improves performance, collaboration and version control, and strengthens governance and compliance,” says Gary Raposo, associate director AMS/SAP with EASI. “It also introduces advanced metadata management for approved central AMS users to improve search and reporting.”

Metadata is already streamlining work. “With the previous platform, approved users had to navigate to a specific transaction to see attached documents,” says Qureshi. “Now, they can search within SharePoint – so if there are thousands of invoices, it’s easier to search for specific invoice attributes by using metadata.”

The new platform is also integrated with SAP S/4HANA, Microsoft Azure and SharePoint, and supports future cloud initiatives, such as SuccessFactors, and other enterprise applications.

Collaboration across the university

The project required extensive coordination with partners across U of T. The project team worked closely with Financial Services; the Division of People Strategy, Equity and Culture; Procurement Services; Facilities & Services; University Planning, Design & Construction; Vice-President Operations and Real Estate Partnerships; and the Division of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation (VPRI).

“This really was a team effort,” Prashanth Premkumar, project manager with EASI. “Our business partners were essential to the project’s success – especially with testing the new platform. The technical team ensured the migration was successful, and then the business teams validated the accuracy of their files.”

Recognizing the project’s impact on research enablement, Renee Brost, chief administrative officer within the Division of the VPRI, noted: “The migration of research documents to the cloud-based platform was a seamless collaborative effort between VPRI and EASI. This upgrade strengthens the digital foundation that supports U of T’s research enterprise, ensuring researchers and administrators have fast, secure access to key research documents to allow them to focus on advancing research and innovation.”

Raposo adds, “I’d like to thank the SAP operations team, including Praveen Narayanaswamy and Paul Littlefield, for their dedicated work throughout this project. Their knowledge and expertise helped to guide the technical implementation, and they were crucial to the project’s success.”

Next steps

With the migration complete, staff can continue uploading and viewing document attachments as they always have – now on a faster and more secure platform. The upgraded platform ensures critical documents remain accessible and protected for years to come.

“After careful monitoring, the system is stable, fully operational and ready to support U of T’s administrative needs well into the future,” says Signarowski. “This is an important step in building a more resilient digital environment for the university.”