
A well-planned SharePoint migration is the key for efficient data management and collaboration among clients and colleagues. To perform an error-free migration to SharePoint, you need to do thorough research, create a proper strategy, and execute each step accurately.
To make things easier for you, we’ve outlined some of the best strategies for you to plan your migration process in the simplest way possible. Follow the practices given in this blog carefully and execute each step as described, and in the exact order for a fool-proof migration of your data.
Benefits of SharePoint migration
Shifting all your data to SharePoint has a wide range of benefits that facilitate better data management for organizations. Some of the most common benefits are as follows:
- Better flexibility: Migrating data to SharePoint online facilitates much better collaboration amongst clients and colleagues. Additionally, SharePoint Online can easily scale up or down as per your business requirements.
- Decreased cost of infra and maintenance: Shifting to cloud-based platforms eliminates the cost of maintenance and infrastructure.
- Better security features: Microsoft 365 Suite (including SharePoint Online) offers a multitude of advanced security features like encryption, data loss prevention (DLP), and advanced threat protection. Also, data stored can only be accessed by people with necessary permissions and modifications made are constantly logged.
- Constant updates and new features: Microsoft regularly launches new features and updates for Office 365 Suite to make it easier for users to manage their data.
Roadmap for SharePoint migration
A proper roadmap with detailed strategies and easy-to-follow steps guarantees flawless SharePoint migration. Strategies for SharePoint migration are divided into three sections:
- Pre-migration strategies
- Phase-wise migration process
- Post-migration planning
Pre-migration strategies
Before proceeding with the SharePoint migration, it’s imperative that you carry out the tasks given below to make sure that the migration being performed is per your requirements.
- Identify business requirements: It’s crucial to pinpoint all the specific needs of your organization that calls for migration to SharePoint. Identifying this helps in utilizing SharePoint to its fullest potential.
- Create a migration team: It’s best to create a dedicated team for migrating your data to SharePoint effectively. Assign different roles and responsibilities to the members of the team and make sure that every member is properly trained and well-versed with the process of SharePoint migration.
- Analyze data: Assessing and segregating data allows you to understand the size of your data. Analyzing data like this also helps in identifying what needs to be migrated and what can be left behind.
- Clear up your current environment: After categorizing the data that is to be migrated, perform a content audit to look for outdated data. Clear up data that is no longer needed or has become redundant before migration. This will allow you to manage your data much more easily and prevent any errors during migration.
- Set up destination environment: Configure all the necessary permissions required to access data in the destination environment. You need to configure all the web applications as well and apply new or existing customizations. Also, backup SharePoint data multiple times at different locations to avoid data loss.
Phase-wise migration process
It is crucial to perform migration in batches or calculated phases if you’re migrating data in bulk. This also helps in monitoring all the challenges involved in SharePoint-to-SharePoint migration and navigate through them. Draft a migration schedule with a set date limit and frequently inform users of the status of the migration.
Run Pilot test migrations to check for any gaps or inconsistencies before the actual migration. Verify that the small amount of content has been migrated safely, and all the permissions are intact. If you find any errors or inconsistencies, then make changes as required to make sure actual migration runs smoothly.
Note: To have fast output, try migrating all your data in off-peak hours like during weekends or during night. This will allow you to have a smooth and quick data migration.
Read also: SharePoint Online Migration Preparation
Post migration planning
After the successful completion of migration to SharePoint, verify migrated data to look for any irregularities present in the migrated data and fix them. Regularly check workflow and make sure that all the permissions and customizations are intact. Remove access to the old SharePoint environment and double-check that the permissions are given to the correct users.
Be prepared for unplanned errors to occur during the migration process and resolve them promptly. Communicate with your team frequently to address any queries about their data or the challenges faced. Their inputs can be important for the migration to progress smoothly.
Direct approach for SharePoint migration
Following these strategies carefully guarantees you a successful SharePoint migration. But what if you face an unexpected error? A single mistake or an unprompted error can bring your migration process to a halt and lead to significant data loss. Not to mention that manually migrating data from SharePoint is a tedious and time-consuming process. Then what’s the alternative for this?
Utilizing the advanced features of a trusted SharePoint migrator tool is a wise choice for a smooth and easy migration of your entire content. Kernel Migration for SharePoint is a versatile utility specifically developed to migrate data from platforms like Google Drive, OneDrive, MS Teams, etc. to SharePoint. You can also perform SharePoint tenant to tenant migration while keeping the site hierarchy and permission levels as they are.
Conclusion
Preparing a thorough and well-researched strategy to migrate your data to SharePoint is crucial to avoid data loss. We’ve given a detailed checklist to help you effectively strategize your SharePoint migration process. Follow each step carefully and in the exact order. For a direct approach, utilize Kernel Migration for SharePoint. This advanced software can easily migrate your entire data while keeping the full data structure intact.
Read more blogs : Biz Link Builder