SharePoint Migration Checklist: 75-Point Enterprise Readiness Guide

# SharePoint Migration Checklist: 75-Point Enterprise Readiness Guide

Migration projects fail for predictable reasons: inadequate discovery, poor permission mapping, surprise content volumes, and cutover issues that extend downtime beyond the planned window. This 75-point checklist ensures nothing falls through the cracks.

Use this checklist for on-premises to SharePoint Online migrations, tenant-to-tenant migrations, and file share migrations.

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Phase 1: Pre-Migration Discovery and Assessment

Environment Inventory

[ ] Complete inventory of all source SharePoint sites (farm, site collections, subsites)
[ ] Document total content volume (GB/TB) by site and library
[ ] Identify all unique content types and templates
[ ] Enumerate all custom web parts, add-ins, and custom solutions
[ ] Document all InfoPath forms and classic workflows
[ ] Identify all SharePoint Designer workflows
[ ] Map all external system integrations (ERP, CRM, custom APIs)
[ ] Inventory all site themes and branding customizations
[ ] Identify all large list warnings (lists approaching 5,000-item threshold)
[ ] Document all SharePoint groups and permission levels

User and Permission Analysis

[ ] Export complete user list with licenses and group memberships
[ ] Identify service accounts and their permissions
[ ] Map SharePoint groups to Azure AD Security Groups
[ ] Identify users with Full Control (minimize before migration)
[ ] Document external sharing configurations
[ ] Review guest/external user accounts and future access needs
[ ] Identify orphaned permissions (permissions to deleted users)

Content Analysis

[ ] Classify all content by sensitivity level (Public, Internal, Confidential, Restricted)
[ ] Identify content subject to legal holds
[ ] Flag content with retention policies that must be preserved
[ ] Identify duplicate content for deduplication
[ ] Locate very large files (files over 250MB — SharePoint Online limit)
[ ] Identify files with unsupported characters in names (#, %, &, etc.)
[ ] Find long file paths that exceed SharePoint Online's 400-character limit
[ ] Identify blocked file types (.exe, .bat, etc.)

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SharePoint architecture diagram showing hub sites, team sites, and content structure — Enterprise SharePoint architecture with hub sites and connected team sites

Phase 2: Target Environment Planning

Architecture Design

[ ] Design target site collection structure (hub sites, team sites, comm sites)
[ ] Plan URL structure and naming conventions
[ ] Map source sites to target sites (migration mapping document)
[ ] Plan information architecture improvements (don't just lift-and-shift)
[ ] Identify content that should NOT be migrated (archive or delete)
[ ] Plan metadata and taxonomy structure
[ ] Design term store taxonomy for managed metadata

Licensing and Capacity

[ ] Verify sufficient SharePoint Online storage (tenant default: 1TB + 10GB per licensed user)
[ ] Confirm all source users have M365 licenses in target tenant
[ ] For tenant-to-tenant: plan license assignment timing
[ ] Identify users who need Microsoft 365 Copilot (add-on license)
[ ] Verify OneDrive for Business quotas match user needs

Security and Compliance

[ ] Configure sensitivity labels in Microsoft Purview
[ ] Set up DLP policies before migration (to catch mis-classified content)
[ ] Plan Conditional Access policies for SharePoint
[ ] Configure audit logging (extend retention to 1 year)
[ ] Plan eDiscovery holds for legal requirements
[ ] Configure retention policies for regulated content types

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Phase 3: Migration Tooling and Testing

Tool Selection and Configuration

[ ] Select migration tool (Microsoft SPMT, ShareGate, Metalogix, Avepoint)
[ ] Install and configure migration agents on source servers
[ ] Test network connectivity between source and target
[ ] Configure migration tool service account with appropriate permissions
[ ] Set up migration job logging and monitoring
[ ] Test migration tool against representative sample content

Pilot Migration

[ ] Select pilot scope (5-10% of total content, representative sample)
[ ] Run pilot migration and document results
[ ] Validate metadata preservation (created/modified dates, author, custom columns)
[ ] Verify version history preserved (where required)
[ ] Check permission mapping accuracy
[ ] Test all custom web parts and solutions in target
[ ] Identify and resolve blockers before full migration

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Phase 4: User Communication and Training

Communication Plan

[ ] Announce migration timeline to all affected users (4+ weeks before cutover)
[ ] Send detailed FAQ document to users
[ ] Train IT helpdesk on SharePoint Online differences
[ ] Schedule department-specific training sessions
[ ] Set up feedback channel for user questions
[ ] Brief management on business impact and contingency plans

Training Content

[ ] SharePoint Online vs classic interface overview
[ ] New URL structure and how to find content
[ ] OneDrive sync client setup and usage
[ ] Mobile access via SharePoint mobile app
[ ] Co-authoring and version history

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Phase 5: Migration Execution

Pre-Cutover Checks

[ ] Complete all pilot-phase fixes and retests
[ ] Verify all users have accounts in target tenant
[ ] Confirm all licenses assigned
[ ] Test all critical workflows and integrations
[ ] Verify DNS records ready for cutover
[ ] Prepare rollback plan (clear documented steps)
[ ] Confirm helpdesk staffing for cutover day
[ ] Notify users of cutover window (set read-only mode start time)
[ ] Disable new content creation in source (read-only mode)

Cutover Execution

[ ] Run final delta migration (sync last changes before cutover)
[ ] Verify content sync completeness (checksums/file counts match)
[ ] Update all bookmarks and internal links to new URLs
[ ] Update SharePoint Online URLs in any external systems
[ ] Set source environment to read-only
[ ] Redirect source URLs to new target URLs
[ ] Verify redirect rules are working
[ ] Notify users that cutover is complete

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Phase 6: Post-Migration Validation

Technical Validation

[ ] Spot-check 50+ documents for metadata accuracy
[ ] Verify version history on random sample
[ ] Test all permissions — verify users can access what they should (and can't access what they shouldn't)
[ ] Test all workflows and Power Automate flows
[ ] Verify all integrations are functional
[ ] Test SharePoint search (confirm new content is indexed)
[ ] Verify OneDrive sync is working for all users
[ ] Check Microsoft Teams channel tab connections to SharePoint
[ ] Validate sensitivity labels on migrated content

User Acceptance Testing

[ ] Department champions sign off on their content
[ ] IT sign-off on security and compliance configuration
[ ] Legal sign-off on retention policies and eDiscovery configuration
[ ] Management sign-off on business process continuity

Hyper-Care Period (4 weeks post-cutover)

[ ] Dedicated migration support team on standby
[ ] Daily check-in with key department contacts
[ ] Track and resolve all migration issues within 24 hours
[ ] Document all post-migration issues for lessons learned
[ ] Conduct user satisfaction survey at week 2
[ ] Final lessons-learned debrief at week 4

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Common Migration Risks and Mitigations

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