Migrate from Box to OneDrive for Data Governance

When you’re adopting a cloud-first strategy, data governance is a major part of that. Migrating from Box to OneDrive for Business isn’t just about moving files – it’s about setting up a data governance system that supports security, compliance and scalability in Microsoft 365.

Migrating from Box to OneDrive should be planned efficiently. It’s not a simple “lift-and-shift” – it’s a strategic cloud migration process that means your data governance policies are in place before, during and after the migration.

Preserve the Data Structure During Migration

Migrating data from Box to OneDrive can be tricky if your organization has specific folder structures and sharing permissions. Replicating the Box structure in OneDrive is a best practice for maintaining your data governance framework. This allows your IT team members to manage data as they would do before the migration.

Things to consider when preserving data structure:

• Migrating Box folders and files to OneDrive in the same hierarchy
• Preserving metadata and file timestamps
• Transferring user and group permissions with the data

By doing these you’ll save time and reduce the chance of errors during the migration. For more information on how to transfer files from Box to OneDrive check out the steps that match your organization’s governance policies.

Permissions and Access Control

OneDrive is part of Microsoft 365’s data governance policies for permissions and access control. As part of your Box to OneDrive migration, you need to map out your existing access controls and replicate them in the new environment.

Some things to do:

• Transfer Box folder and file level permissions to OneDrive
• Implement conditional access and Multi-Factor Authentication
• Use Microsoft’s security and compliance features like Data Loss Prevention (DLP) and Information Protection policies

These steps will ensure your data is secure and access is granted to those who need it, according to your governance and compliance policies. If you want to read more on how to import Box to OneDrive the process will walk you through best practices for managing during the migration.

Use SharePoint for Team Collaboration

SharePoint Online is for team collaboration and enterprise data governance. By migrating the right data into SharePoint as well you can simplify file sharing and collaboration according to your governance policies.

Things to do:

• What data should be in SharePoint vs OneDrive
• SharePoint sites structured for collaboration and secure sharing
• Move shared files and folders to the right SharePoint sites

This keeps the data in the right place, governance and workflow will improve. To see how to structure your migration check out the Box to OneDrive migration plan for more details.

Compliance and Retention Policies

OneDrive and SharePoint have robust compliance tools to help you meet industry requirements. As part of the migration from Box to OneDrive, you will need to set up these compliance tools to protect your organization’s data.

You should:

• Set retention policies so data is kept for the required time then deleted or archived as per regulation.
• Map Box’s retention policies to Microsoft 365 policies

By aligning your data governance with regulations during the migration process you’ll have a smoother transition and maintain your compliance posture. For more details on how to move files from Box to OneDrive, check out the compliance and retention guidelines.

Consolidate External Sharing and Collaboration

If your organization uses external sharing via Box you’ll need to replicate this in OneDrive and SharePoint and ensure external collaboration follows your governance policies. External sharing needs to be managed carefully to prevent data leaks or unauthorized access.

To manage external sharing, consider:

• Mapping Box’s shared links to OneDrive’s sharing features
• Setting external sharing permissions for both OneDrive and SharePoint
• Using Microsoft’s secure external collaboration tools like guest access and sharing controls

By migrating your external sharing policies thoughtfully, your IT team can still manage external collaborations without compromising security. For more details check out the Box to Microsoft 365 migration steps to manage external sharing.

Partner with a Trusted Migration Expert

Migrating from Box to OneDrive for Business is an opportunity to simplify data governance in Microsoft 365. But the key to success is planning, migration and making sure your data governance policies are fully enabled in the new environment, and CloudFuze helps you in doing that.

Ready to start your migration and get your data governance in order? Contact our migration team. We can help you develop a custom migration plan to get you up and running smoothly while meeting your organizations data governance requirements.