Adopting Modern Sharepoint: Planning For A Successful Migration

Assessing Your Current SharePoint Environment

The first step in planning your migration to modern SharePoint is thoroughly evaluating your current SharePoint environment. This includes reviewing the SharePoint version, features and capabilities, integrations with other systems, and any customizations that have been implemented.

Older versions of SharePoint lack the enhanced collaboration, intelligence, accessibility, and mobility offered by SharePoint Server 2019 and Microsoft 365. Determining your current version will shape migration planning and approach. On-premises options to migrate to include SharePoint Server 2019 or SharePoint in Microsoft 365.

Comparing existing features against modern needs allows rationalizing unused features that won’t make the transition. Review widely-used capabilities like document libraries, lists, wikis, and determine must-have features going forward. Special attention should evaluate bespoke customizations and whether alternatives exist in the modern ecosystem.

Interfaces with related systems are critical for contextual user productivity and should be catalogued. This includes integrations with Office applications, proprietary line of business systems, and third party add-ons. Reflect if existing connections can work after migration or require updates.

Key Assessment Activities

• Document current SharePoint version and patch levels
• Inventory features and capabilities utilized by site and permissions
• Audit custom solutions against out-of-the-box features
• Diagram SharePoint integration touchpoints with accessories

Determining Goals and Requirements for Migration

Once the as-is environment defined, the target vision will direct migration plans. This entails aligning SharePoint migration to broader IT objectives and real user needs. Provide clarity on the problems being solved and SharePoint’s role advancing top priorities after migration.

Organizations migrate seeking enhanced team productivity, mobility, and smarter search. See how modern SharePoint can make locations, people and files more connected to fuel collaboration. Determine governance policies balancing accessibility needs versus security, risk and compliance.

User workflows spanning SharePoint deserve attention, ensuring continuity of regimented business processes. Goals setting should incorporate feedback from power users down to casual site consumers. Build consensus on a hierarchy of must-have versus nice-to-have capabilities.

Key Goal and Requirement Activities

• Link migration goals to overall business and IT roadmaps
• Develop feature comparison table of old vs. new SharePoint
• Model and diagram site user workflows used most
• Categorize capabilities as essential versus supplementary

Planning Your Migration Approach

With legacy and future state SharePoint environments better scoped, smart planning will connect the two. Evaluate technology strategies and tradeoffs to determine optimal migration methodology and timing.

The primary path choices include in-place upgrades, database attach upgrades, or using third party migration tools. Each vary considerably in levels of effort, risk, and outage impacts. An in-place upgrade builds the new environment atop the existing farm, upgrading its components sequentially. A database attach method stages the new farm separately, migating content databases over post configuration.

Third party tools promise automation to transcend SharePoint version and deployment differences. They shine transforming large content volumes or unusual customizations. Weigh if one fits for needs beyond native capabilities. For most migrations, native methods often prove faster with much lower licensing costs.

Be sure to plan timelines aligned to organizational change capacity while minimizing user disruption. Have technical resources queued to execute without delays plus support staff for when inevitable hiccups occur. Budget for expected data space growth, infrastructure upgrades, software licensing, contractors and overtime.

Key Migration Planning Activities

• Estimate level-of-effort requirements per migration method
• Define RTO and RPO objectives
• Sequence timeline with contingency buffers
• Right-size budget to actual scope

Preparing Content and Customizations for Migration

Conducting migration dry runs prepares artifacts making the leap to modern SharePoint. This entails content analysis, remediation, and testing cycles.

Start by inventorying sites, libraries and lists earmarked in scope. Catalog all contents begging reconciliation against what actually gets used. Apply information lifecycle management practices to clean out unused, duplicated or dated material.

Cull custom solutions now replaceable by out-of-the-box features like Power Apps and Power Automate. For the remnants, sanity check for backwards compatibilitygotchas plus test upgrades. Similarly, scrub user permissions and security groups to essential access.

Schedule a “dress rehearsal migration” once prepared, particularlyvaluable for large or complex environments. This preflight checks converted content fidelity, validated workflows, and integration connectivity. Refine just prior to go-live!

Key Content and Customization Preparation

• Establish content cleanup targets
• Repurpose dated customization
• Perform test migration iterations
• Inspect all high-value workflows

Executing a Pilot Migration

The best insurance policy before full migration is first completing a pilot. This entails migrating a sampling of sites, libraries and key use cases to validate assumptions.

Start by selecting pilot content reflective of broader environments and user scenarios. Good candidates have intricate permissions, many document versions, integrated workflows. Baseline expected specifics before proceeding then compare post-migration.

During execution, keep legacy SharePoint online read-only to prevent data divergence. Contend with potential customization gotchas requiring tweaks so the larger roll-out doesn’t hit snags. Document completed steps to ensure high fidelity replication later on.

Use results assessing title fidelity, security settings, metadata maintenance, storage thresholds, and speed. Sample power users get to test drive new workflows and integrations. Iterate until stakeholders signoff it meets needs before advancing all-in.

Key Pilot Migration Activities

• Identify sites with intricate permission and content density
• Lock down legacy environment from changes
• Contrast before and after migration validations
• Document lessons learned and finalize plan

Training Users on the New SharePoint Environment

SharePoint changes, even beneficial ones, risks disrupting hard-fought user adoption. Smooth transitions require awareness campaigns and hands-on learning to onboard everyone.

Early documentation helps orient stakeholders to expected process and capability direction. As functionality goes live, follow up with embedded user assistance. Offer virtual training webinars allowing practice in safe sandbox environment. Create cheat sheets focused on their precise workflow steps.

Augment with chatbot and in-app support for assistance if stuck or confused. Monitor usage data to see what adoption sticks and where more help required. Refine resources iteratively based on this feedback towards engraining new habits.

Key User Training Activities

• Create documentation on changes impacting key roles
• Develop webinars for transitional capabilities
• Embed assistance links during workflows
• Incent participation through learning rewards

Going Live and Providing Post-Launch Support

Migrating day delivers the new future state SharePoint, yet work continues ensuring it succeeds long term. Support through stabilization while capturing learnings to optimize.

Have expanded help desk capacity to aid early procedures and unavoidable hiccups. Monitor performance and usage levels across sites to curtail growing pains. Openly communicate planned changes or known issues to maintain trust.

Solicit user feedback on the wins, gaps or desires stemming from recent changes. Quantify notable process improvements, capture anecdotes of enhanced workflows. Use insights to fuel further tool refinements towards sticking simplified habits.

Celebrate the decommissioning of legacy environments once stable while recalling the accomplishments. Revisit initial goals around capabilities, budgets, security and accessibility to cement achievements.

Key Go-Live and Support Tasks

• Scale up IT help desk to assist transitional areas
• Resolve inevitable performance issues
• Survey user satisfaction and future desires
• Retire legacy SharePoint infrastructure