Based on our 20+ years of experience at Xillio with Documentum and SharePoint, we know the finer points of both systems. Documentum and SharePoint are both great systems to manage enterprise documents, but they suit different operating models. OpenText Documentum Content Management supports a high-volume, process-driven and regulated content. SharePoint Online on the other hand combines document management with collaboration across Microsoft 365. SharePoint Embedded provides API-only storage for all your custom applications. SharePoint Embedded comes without the standard SharePoint interface.
Your current content model will be the base of your choice. Other important factors are compliance obligations, business processes and the needs of the users. A Microsoft 365 strategy alone does not make every Documentum workload a good SharePoint candidate.
Documentum vs SharePoint at a glance
Architecture and document management
Documentum is a repository-centric solution. The architecture of Documentum allows organizations to develop custom object types, metadata, security, process lifecycles and relationships within Documentum. Content can then be exposed to Documentum solutions as well as to other business systems. OpenText now offers off-cloud, private-cloud or managed-service deployments of Documentum.
SharePoint Online uses a structure of sites and document libraries to organize content. In Teams, channel files are stored in a connected SharePoint site which is near to the conversation and the relevant Office applications. Daily collaboration is supported by the model but needs proper governance for sites, owners and sharing.
SharePoint Embedded has no standard SharePoint UI, so your line-of-business app or software app uses File Storage Containers in SharePoint. These are accessed via Microsoft Graph, and all your files live in the customer’s Microsoft 365 tenant. You own the UI for search, workflow, etc. Microsoft explains this architecture in its SharePoint Embedded guidance.
Collaboration, metadata and customization
When users create and review Office documents in Microsoft Teams, SharePoint Online has clearly the advantage. On the other hand, Documentum remains strong when documents pass through formal lifecycle states or specialist business applications.
The metadata models of both systems are quite different. Documentum doctypes and attributes can control security, workflows and application behavior. SharePoint uses content types, site columns and managed metadata. The teams responsible for the migration must decide which source fields still have a business purpose instead of copying every little attribute into SharePoint.
Customization can be really deep and are supported through its object model, APIs, D2 and xCP. SharePoint Online supports Microsoft Graph, Power Automate, Power Apps and the well-known SharePoint Framework. The most control can be gained with SharePoint Embedded. SharePoint Embedded gives developers full control over the interface, but also makes them responsible for the application experience and support.
Compliance and AI
For validated or regulated apps built around records, controlled lifecycles and audit trails Documentum remains a great option. SharePoint Online also supports regulated content through Microsoft Purview, provided that the organization configures and validates the required policies. Microsoft states that retention policies and labels can apply to both SharePoint and SharePoint Embedded content. Its retention guidance describes the supported scope.
Neither platform creates compliance through installation. The migration teams must specify ownership, test permissions and document how retention and disposition work. Required capabilities may depend on additional add-on licenses.
Generative AI is offered on both platforms. OpenText Content Aviator adds conversational search, summarization and other AI functions to governed Documentum content. Microsoft 365 Copilot has access to all SharePoint content that each user has permission to. Of course, that does not correct poor permissions or inconsistent metadata, so AI readiness should include access reviews and content cleanup. Microsoft explains how SharePoint permissions affect Copilot. A better way to make your data quickly accessible and without using lots of tokens is Aspected data. Aspected combines content, metadata, and context into a single searchable index, helping AI find the right documents more accurately and reduce the number of LLM tokens needed to retrieve relevant information.
Cost and migration complexity
Compare the total cost of the migration first, and thereafter the license prices for several years. A Documentum calculation should include deployment, upgrades, specialist administration and custom application maintenance. A SharePoint calculation should include Microsoft licensing, storage, governance add-ons, migration and tenant administration. SharePoint Embedded also adds consumption charges and application development. If you have the knowledge and capacity to do this in house, this can save you a lot of money.
A Documentum-to-SharePoint project is a content-model transformation project. Cabinets, custom doctypes, ACLs, version trees, renditions, virtual documents and relationships do not map directly to corresponding SharePoint structures. Each must be mapped, changed or eliminated in the target repository.
When planning a controlled migration, a first step is to perform an assessment of the content in the currently used repository. Based on this analysis, the team selects the content to migrate, sets up the target system, tests complex scenarios and verifies metadata, permissions and business processes. Simply migrating a large number of files is not sufficient to ensure that the content will function correctly in the new system.
Xillio has hands-on experience with large-scale Documentum to SharePoint Online migrations. For example; Xillio supported a global professional services organization in migrating more than 200 TB of content across six countries.
When to keep Documentum
Keeping, modernizing and updating Documentum can be the better decision when:
- a validated application meets current requirements and would be costly to requalify;
- custom relationships, renditions or lifecycle controls drive the business process;
- critical integrations lack a funded SharePoint target design;
- a proof of concept shows that SharePoint would require extensive custom development.
SharePoint Online becomes a stronger fit when employees work in Teams and Office, the content model can use sites and libraries, and the organization accepts process redesign. SharePoint Embedded can be a good choice when a custom application should own the interface and content must remain in the Microsoft 365 tenant. Xillio's Documentum to SharePoint Embedded page explains such a migration in full.
If SharePoint is just one option on a bigger shortlist, read the guide to Documentum replacement options.
What should be your next step?
Xillio analyzes the Documentum repository, maps content and security, runs phased migrations and validates the result. Explore our step-by-step Documentum to SharePoint Online migration approach or discuss with us the objects, controls and applications your project must preserve. With our 20+ years of experience and hundreds of huge and complex migrations we are sure we can help you.
