SharePoint Migration Checklist is a vital, costly and time taking process which when failed or gone wrong, can result in a lot of losses for the company, be it financially or in terms of time lost due to disruption.
SharePoint Migration Checklist to Tick off before Migration
1. Assessing all our Requirements
First of all, we need to make sure if we really require SharePoint migration or if we are doing it just for the sake of keeping up with the trend. Once that is clear, we need to decide what needs to move first, how are we going to prioritize them, what are the changes required, how is the staff reacting to the idea of migration, how would we deal with the downtime, how would governance and security be taken care of and all such aspects which might disrupt the smooth working of the organization.
2. Estimating Realistically
We should not over or underestimate the SharePoint migration complexity, be it for any amount of data. We need to be pre-aware of time-consuming tasks that might come up during the migration process and also be ready for any emergency task that might crop up during it. Basic factors such as the number of fields to be transferred from source to target systems are to be taken care of. In fact, understanding the source data is one of the most crucial steps of any migration process.
Also, in case we need only partial migration, we can choose some specific lists and libraries and as the number of metadata versions can also be limited according to our requirement, we can plan it out beforehand so that during the rushed migration period, we don’t migrate the unnecessary versions, being data & time savior.
3. Choosing the Tool Appropriate for our Organization
Choosing the migration tool perfect for our company’s specific requirement is decisive in determining the extent of success of the migration. The choice will be depending upon the detailed analysis of what kind of data our company possesses, the quantity of data, the acceptable time gap or downtime while migration will be going on, and so on. The tool should be able enough to take care of all our lists and libraries and be sure to carry on the metadata of each of them to the newer version of SharePoint version as it is as well as be effortless in user mapping.
4. Going for a Sample Test
A migration gone wrong can call out a big crisis for the company. So, we need to take up every preventive step to ensure everything goes on well. So, we should never go for a full-fledged migration without going for a test drive. So, before the actual migration, we should test everything on a test server and verify if everything is going on fine and working properly. This will ensure minimal risks.
5. Planning to migrate during Slow Period
A well-structured, well – planned and well-monitored SharePoint Migration would not cause permanent problems with the traffic, but it can surely bring about a temporary dip or even stand still. Therefore, to ensure the minimum loss, it is best to perform migration in that period when there is a usually natural dip in the traffic due to the seasonality of our business or any other factor.
6. SharePoint Migration Checklist for Analytics Documentation
Make proper documentation of the Analytics Data so that it can be used in the future for the purpose of comparison. This will help us know if there is any abnormality cropping up in the analytics post-migration. And, if it does, we will be able to know the exact location facing the issue. Therefore, fixing them up will be easy.
7. Pre-Migration Crawling as a necessary part of SharePoint Migration Checklist
Crawling of all the sites and data must be undertaken before migration. The crawl report and documentation must be saved for further comparisons. This will work as a preventive measure for any kind of data loss due to the transitions taking place during migration. This can be used as an opportunity to detect broken links, missing users, unnecessary older versions, empty lists and libraries and so on. We must get rid of them before migration.
8. Identifying Potential Risks, Developing Combat Plans and deciding upon the Switch Over Plan
We cannot just be superficially sure that everything will be in the right place after a migration process occurs. We must analyze every possibility of risks and keep the combat plan handy for each of those situations. Evaluation of potential risks involved in each step of migration is quite essential. Risks along with complexity turn out to be the key factors in deciding if the data is to be migrated All At Once or Bit By Bit with Time. Decide it wisely so that no severe problems are faced while undergoing the migration process.
9. Planning Over the Security Concerns
The most important concern before going for migration is usually security. We need to use proper tools and equipment while ensuring that the security of our data is in no way compromised. Along with complex security tools, the ones as common as the encryption tool should also be inculcated in the plan. A well-designed plan will ensure protection against breaches and keep the process going, even in cases of failures. Saketa Migrator’s Security manager ensures that there are no security glitches, keeping the confidentiality of all your data intact.
10. Making A Pre-Migration Plan as Perfect as Possible
The success of the Saketa SharePoint Migration process depends largely upon how precisely the Pre-migration plan is designed. Pre-migration starts with a pre-migration check, which refers to detecting most of the upcoming migration problems and either helping us fix them before the migration or keeping the solution to it ready, to be followed after migration. It’s a read-only feature. It includes the :
- Suggested Migration approach
- Resource planning
- Scheduling
- Staff planning
- Training
- Downtime compensation planning
- Risk mitigation strategies
- Rollback strategies
- Decommissioning
Sticking to a proper migration plan ensures success in most cases.
After this SharePoint checklist is fully done, you can proceed with the Pre-Migration Process. This server migration checklist template can be used every time and after the migration is done, carry out the SharePoint Post Migration Process.
