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7 Steps to a Successful SharePoint 2016 Migration

It’s no secret that SharePoint migrations are daunting projects that require thorough consideration and thought before execution. There are a number of posts on our blog and across the Microsoft community that speak to what to think about before deciding to migrate, how to optimize your migration project plan, and SharePoint 2016 hardware and software requirements. But if you’ve already done your research on SharePoint 2016 and understand what migration path works best for your organization, what you need to know next is how to carry out the job.

To help out, we’ve broken down the complex anatomy of a SharePoint 2016 migration into a seven-step process that will hold true – regardless of whether you’re using native functionality to upgrade directly from SharePoint 2013 (or an earlier version) or a third-party tool.

7 steps to a successful sharepoint 2016 migration

1.       Analysis of the Source: This step involves using scanning tools to understand your existing content and structure, determine the scope of your migration, and find potential migration roadblocks.

2.       Target-State Content Design: Establish the alignment between the format and layout of the content in your source environment and the information architecture in SharePoint 2016.

3.       Migration Planning: Break your migration down into a series of batches or phases to coordinate the necessary resources, clarify workflows, and schedule all migration activities. Also, consider whether data cleanup is required, and if so, whether it will occur pre-migration, in-flight, or post-migration.

4.       Pilot Migration: Establish a set of migration scenarios to test in a non-production environment to confirm the technical feasibility of the migration, identify any gaps that must be addressed, and provide the migration team an opportunity to walk through an end-to-end content migration. This step is your chance to further optimize your plan and perform rollback testing.

5.       Content Migration: Migrate content to the target environment and repeat for each batch.

6.       Testing and Validation: Validate the success of your migration based on whether or not the target environment meets the requirements of the business it supports. At this time, the results should be consistent with the results obtained during the pilot migration, and any discrepancies can be addressed. Again, you’ll repeat this step for each batch of the migration.

7.       Content Synchronization and User Transition: “Freeze” the source environment, perform one final synchronization of changes, and transition users to the target environment so it becomes their primary environment going forward. Repeat for each batch of the migration.

It’s Time to Get Moving!

Download our on-demand webinar, Start Your SharePoint 2016 Migration Today to hear our panel of SharePoint migration experts discuss the main challenges with SharePoint 2016 migrations and how to overcome them. As part of our SharePoint 2016 Readiness Guide, you’ll also gain access to our SharePoint 2016 Migration Best Practices White Paper and blog series on what’s new in SharePoint 2016!

avepoint sharepoint 2016 migration white paper

Kate P.
Kate P.
Kate is a tech savvy sushi lover with a knack for data migrations. Her articles provide insight into the latest tools to help you make your move to SharePoint and Office 365, as well as pro-tips for managing your new deployment.

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