In this article, we'll walk through the process of transitioning an HL-managed community to an AMS-managed community.

Before we begin...

Let's examine the difference between HL-managed communities and AMS-managed communities so you understand how each functions and is managed:

• AMS-managed (or integrated) communities are created in your membership database (e.g., NetForum, Aptify, Personify, etc.). Higher Logic refers to this database as an AMS. This means that community membership is based on a classification that is sourced from your membership database, and that classification pulls over your Higher Logic site and puts users in a specific community based on the member's record in your membership database. For example, if you have a Board of Directors community that is AMS-managed, your database admin would have to add a code or classification - like BOD - in a user's member record for the system to pull them into that community.
• HL-managed communities don't interact with your membership database, or AMS, at all. They are created solely on the Higher Logic side, and membership is managed through the community settings on our platform. You can manually add/upload users to this type of community, or set up Automation Rules to add specific user groups.

Transition from HL-managed to AMS-managed

The structures of HL-managed and AMS-managed communities are fundamentally different, so there is no way to simply "flip a switch" to instantly change one to another. However, you can follow the process below to transition from one to the other.

1. Create your AMS-managed community

Because the community will be managed by your AMS, this process begins with your membership database administrator.

• They need to create a custom field or category that indicates, in your database, that users are being placed in that community.
• This will generate what we call an AMS code (i.e., if the community is called Board of Directors, the AMS code might be BOD), which is the unique identifier for that community.
• This helps our system identify the community that's pulling from your database and tells our system that only users with that code should be in that community.

See Launch an AMS-Managed Community to learn more.

2. Add members to your AMS-managed community

Because membership is now governed by your AMS, you have to associate the AMS code to all of the users you want in the community. This is how they get added to the community.

NOTE: For an AMS-managed community to sync to the Higher Logic community, there must be at least one user in the community.

3. Decide what content to migrate from your HL-managed community

Higher Logic can bulk-migrate content from one community to another.

• We can migrate all library entries, discussions, blogs, etc., from one community to another free of charge, but there may be a fee if you'd like to only migrate specific files, discussions, or blogs.
• If you decide to migrate content from your HL-managed community to your new AMS-managed community, create a case and include the links to both the old and the new community and let us know what you'd like migrated; this information will expedite the migration process.

4. Archive your HL-managed community

NOTE: In many cases, Higher Logic recommends archiving communities instead of deleting them. This way, they are still available in the future, if needed.

1. Navigate to the home page of your HL-managed community and click Settings > Settings.
2. Click the Type dropdown and select the hidden Community Type (naming conventions may vary).
3. Save the change to archive and hide your HL-managed community.