Streamline migrations with user contribution and membership mapping

We are excited to announce a new feature that enhances the group and project import process: improved user contribution and membership mapping. This feature represents a significant improvement in the project import process, offering greater flexibility and control for both users managing the import process and users receiving contribution reassignments. The feature is available in GitLab migration by direct transfer and we are working on integrating it with our third-party importers.

What's changing?

1. Post-import mapping: Previously unavailable, this feature allows you to assign imported contributions and memberships to users on the destination instance after the import has been completed. Imported memberships and contributions are first mapped to placeholder users. Until they are reassigned, contributions display as associated with placeholders.
2. Email-independent mapping: The new process doesn't rely on email addresses, allowing you to map contributions for users who may have different email addresses on source and destination instances.
3. User control: Each user on the destination instance who is assigned a contribution mapping has to accept the assignment before any imported contributions are attributed to them. They can also reject the assignment.

Key points for your migration

As you prepare to migrate your resources, here are some important aspects to familiarize yourself with:

1. Placeholder users: Take some time to understand the concept of placeholder users in GitLab. Consider how the placeholder limits apply to your specific use case.
2. Reassignment process: Explore the reassignment interface in the UI. It's designed with security in mind, so be sure to review these security considerations.
3. User involvement: Inform your team about the migration process, particularly how they can accept contribution reassignment. This helps provide for a smooth transition for everyone involved.

By understanding these aspects, you'll be well prepared for a successful migration.

What’s next

We are committed to enhancing this feature further. Key upcoming currently planned improvements include:

1. CSV-based contribution reassignment:
   • Enable group owners to reassign contributions via CSV file upload
   • Particularly beneficial for large-scale customers managing numerous users
2. Enhanced UI visibility of the placeholder limits and counts

For a full list of further anticipated improvements, see the User Contribution Mapping epic.

Availability

This feature is available by default for direct transfer migrations on GitLab.com. On GitLab Self-managed instances it is available when two feature flags, importer_user_mapping and bulk_import_importer_user_mapping, are enabled.

It is anticipated to become the default way of user contribution mapping on GitLab Self-managed instances and GitLab Dedicated from GitLab Version 17.7.

Feedback and support

We value your feedback! If you encounter any issues or have suggestions regarding this change, please add a comment in the feedback issue.