How to Plan a Successful SharePoint Modernization Project

SharePoint Modernization is the process of upgrading to a more recent version of SharePoint, often involving a transition to SharePoint Online. This modernization process offers a wide range of benefits, including improved user experience, enhanced collaboration, increased security, scalability, and potential cost savings. 

SharePoint Modernization is a complex undertaking that requires careful planning and execution. A well-planned project ensures a smooth transition, minimizes disruptions, and maximizes the benefits of the new platform. Let us see — in detail — the planning it takes for SharePoint Modernization. 

Assessment Phase 

Scoping out a modernization project involves gaining a complete understanding of your current SharePoint environment and defining your desired business outcomes. 

Understanding Your Current State 

• Inventory of existing SharePoint content and sites: Conduct a thorough inventory to identify all SharePoint content and sites within your organization. 
• Assessment of content types, metadata, and permissions: Analyze the structure and organization of your content, including content types, metadata usage, and permission levels. 
• Identification of redundant, obsolete, or trivial (ROT) content: Identify content that is no longer relevant or valuable to your organization. This can help streamline the migration process and reduce storage costs. 

Defining Business Objectives 

• Clarifying the goals of modernization: Determine the specific objectives you want to achieve through modernization, such as improving user experience, enhancing collaboration, or increasing efficiency. 
• Aligning modernization with business strategies: Ensure that your modernization goals align with your overall business strategies and objectives. 
• Identifying key stakeholders and their requirements: Identify the individuals and departments that will be affected by the modernization project and gather their input on their specific needs and expectations

Strategy Phase 

Developing a Migration Plan 

• Define the scope of the migration: Determine which SharePoint content and sites will be migrated and which will remain on the legacy system. 
• Create a timeline and milestones: Establish a clear timeline with key milestones to track project progress. 
• Identify necessary resources and budget: Determine the resources required for the migration, including personnel, tools, and budget. 

Choosing the Right Approach 

• Evaluate migration methodologies: Consider options like lift and shift, hybrid, or phased migration based on your specific needs and circumstances. 
• Factor in content volume, complexity, and budget: Assess the volume and complexity of your content, as well as your budget constraints, to choose the most suitable approach.

Addressing Technical Challenges 

• Plan for data migration: Develop a strategy for migrating your content, including data cleansing, transformation, and validation. 
• Consider content restructuring: If necessary, plan for restructuring your content to align with SharePoint's architecture and best practices. 
• Manage metadata: Develop a plan for migrating and managing metadata to ensure consistency and accuracy. 
• Identify and mitigate risks: Assess potential risks associated with migration and develop strategies to address them.

Metadata Migration and Management 

• Map existing metadata: Determine how your existing metadata will map to SharePoint's metadata architecture. 
• Enrich metadata: Consider techniques for enriching metadata to improve search results and discoverability. 
• Establish governance: Implement policies and procedures for managing metadata throughout the migration process and beyond.

Customizations and Applications 

• Migrate customizations: Develop a plan for migrating custom workflows, web parts, and other customizations. 
• Modernize existing apps: Assess the need to modernize existing SharePoint applications and identify potential updates or replacements. 
• Develop new apps: Explore opportunities to build new SharePoint apps to support specific business needs.  

Execution Phase 

Preparing the Target Environment 

• Set up the new SharePoint environment: Configure the necessary hardware and software for your new SharePoint environment. 
• Configure settings and permissions: Establish appropriate settings and permissions to control access to content and sites. 
• Customize the user interface and workflows: Tailor the SharePoint environment to meet your organization's specific needs and preferences.

Migrating Content 

• Execute the migration plan: Use appropriate tools and techniques to migrate your content from the legacy system to the new SharePoint environment. 
• Monitor progress and address issues: Track the migration process and address any challenges or errors that may arise. 

Testing and Validation 

• Thoroughly test migrated content: Verify that all content has been migrated successfully and is accessible in the new environment. 
• Validate data integrity and accuracy: Ensure that the data migrated to SharePoint is accurate and consistent. 

User Adoption and Change Management 

• Develop communication plans: Create effective communication plans to inform users about the migration and address their concerns. 
• Provide training: Offer training programs to help users learn how to use the new SharePoint environment effectively. 
• Implement change management strategies: Address resistance to change and support users in adapting to the new system. 
• Measure adoption: Track user adoption metrics to assess the success of the migration and identify areas for improvement.

Post-Migration Activities 

Security and Compliance 

• Protect sensitive data: Implement security measures to safeguard your organization's sensitive data. 
• Address compliance regulations: Ensure that your SharePoint environment complies with relevant industry regulations and standards. 
• Follow security best practices: Adhere to security best practices to protect your data from threats. 

Hybrid Environments 

• Develop coexistence strategies: If you're maintaining a hybrid environment, establish strategies for coexisting with legacy systems. 
• Utilize hybrid features: Explore and use hybrid features like OneDrive sync and SharePoint hybrid search. 
• Plan the migration path: If you plan to migrate completely to SharePoint Online, outline the steps involved in the transition.

Ongoing Optimization 

• Monitor and optimize: Continuously monitor the performance and health of your SharePoint environment and make necessary optimizations. 
• Implement improvements: Incorporate feedback from users and stakeholders to make ongoing improvements. 
• Define KPIs: Establish key performance indicators (KPIs) to measure the success of your modernization project. 
• Track and analyze results: Regularly track and analyze performance metrics to assess the project's effectiveness. 

While in-house IT teams can use sophisticated migration tools to successfully execute a lift-and-shift migration, modernizing applications and restructuring information architecture requires careful planning and execution. Engaging an external team with deep domain knowledge can provide valuable insights and expertise, streamlining the migration process and delivering tangible benefits. 

CTG offers an extensive approach to SharePoint Online migration, ensuring a seamless and user-centric experience. Our team of experts can assist with: 

• Stakeholder engagement 
• Project planning 
• Architecture and design 
• Permissions and security 
• Features and customization 
• Content strategy and development 
• Document management and retention 
• Testing and quality assurance 
• Training and documentation 

By partnering with CTG, you can use our expertise to optimize your SharePoint migration, free up your internal IT resources, and unlock the full potential of SharePoint Online.