10 Best Practices for SharePoint Tenant-to-Tenant Migration

SharePoint tenant-to-tenant migration is typically done when organizations merge, acquire other companies, or restructure their SharePoint environment.

It involves moving data such as documents, lists, and site content, as well as configurations such as site templates, workflows, and permissions associated with one SharePoint tenant to another. However, this process can be complex and time-consuming, requiring careful planning and execution to ensure data integrity and minimize downtime.

This post demonstrates the top ten best practices for SharePoint tenant to tenant migration that can help ensure a smooth transition and avoid potential pitfalls.

1. Plan and Strategize

Ensure your IT team has a well-defined migration plan, timeline, and resources before beginning the migration process. Identify the migration team and their roles and responsibilities. Your internal IT team must plan on the technical details as given below.

• Decide whether you are migrating to a new or an existing SharePoint Online tenant.
• Which workloads to pick in the source tenant?
• Consider the number of accounts in scope.
• Should you have continued collaboration between both tenants or not
• Tracking the various project metrics, etc.

2. Assess the Source and Destination Tenant Environments

Before initiating the migration process, assess the source and destination tenants to identify any potential issues, limitations, or gaps. Identify only the necessary source tenant data and archive the unwanted information.

Review the customizations and versions of SharePoint in both tenants to identify any compatibility problems. Check if there are any required upgrades before the migration can take place.

3. Evaluate third-party tools

Consider using third-party tools to simplify and streamline the migration process. These tools can help ensure data integrity, reduce migration time, and minimize downtime.

Check the source tenant data volume and verify whether the migration tool is capable of handling it. It should also be able to execute an overall SharePoint tenant to tenant migration, including Microsoft Teams data transfer.

CloudFuze is a leading cloud data migration tool that enables businesses to implement tenant-to-tenant migration for SharePoint Online with the following capabilities.

• User and data migration
• Microsoft Teams to Teams migration
• Email migration
• Links migration
• Whiteboard migration
• OneDrive for Business to OneDrive for Business

4. Perform a Pilot Migration

Set up a test environment replicating the production environment as closely as possible. This includes configuring SharePoint settings, security permissions, and user accounts.

Conduct a pilot migration of a small subset of data to validate the migration plan and identify any issues or gaps in the process.

5. Migrate Data in Phases

By migrating data in phases, organizations can minimize the impact on end-users, reduce downtime, and ensure data integrity throughout the migration process. It also allows for easier management of the migration process and ensures that critical data is prioritized and migrated first.

Categorize data into batches based on criticality and priority. This process helps facilitate easier and quicker data transfer in phases for SharePoint tenant to tenant migration.

6. Validate the Destination Data

Validate the migrated data by performing a data integrity check to ensure all data has been migrated correctly and is accessible to end users. Conduct a thorough post-migration validation assessment verifying the data attributes and configurations.

7. Communicate with Stakeholders

Keep all stakeholders informed throughout the migration process, including business owners, IT teams, and end-users. Communicate any changes or downtime, and provide regular updates on the progress of the migration.

8. Test the New Environment

Conduct thorough testing of the new SharePoint tenant environment before fully onboarding all the users. Test all functionalities, including workflows, permissions, and customizations, and address any gaps or bottlenecks in the migrated data.

9. Provide End-User Training

Train end-users on the new environment to ensure they understand the changes in data, customizations, Teams groups, and owners so that they can use the new features effectively.

10. Monitor and Maintain the New Environment

Monitor the new SharePoint Online tenant environment for any issues or errors, and perform regular maintenance tasks, such as applying patches and updates, to ensure optimal performance.

Following these best practices ensures that the organizations can successfully migrate users, data, mailboxes, links, and Teams data from one SharePoint tenant to another.

Contact our data migration experts at CloudFuze to know more details.