What is included in your SharePoint migration services?
Our SharePoint migration services include: (1) Pre-migration assessment — inventory of source content, permissions audit, metadata analysis, and target architecture design; (2) Migration planning — project timeline, cutover strategy, pilot migration scope, communication plan; (3) Data migration — automated transfer of documents, metadata, permissions, and version history using enterprise tools (ShareGate, Metalogix, AvePoint, or Microsoft SPMT); (4) Validation — automated and manual QA to verify content fidelity, permissions, and metadata accuracy; (5) Cutover coordination — minimal downtime cutover with rollback plan; (6) Post-migration support — 30-90 day hypercare to resolve issues found by end users. We handle migrations from SharePoint Server 2013/2016/2019, file shares (Windows, NAS), Google Workspace, Box, Dropbox, and tenant-to-tenant (M&A) scenarios.
What migration tools do you use for SharePoint migrations?
We use enterprise-grade migration tools selected based on migration type and scale: ShareGate Desktop and ShareGate Shell (most common — excellent for SharePoint to SharePoint Online with full metadata and permissions), Microsoft SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT — good for file share migrations, free), AvePoint Fly (large enterprise with complex permission mapping needs), Metalogix Content Matrix (SharePoint-to-SharePoint with granular control), and Mover/Microsoft 365 Migration Manager (Box, Dropbox, Google Workspace sources). Tool selection depends on source platform, data volume, metadata complexity, and permission requirements. We recommend avoiding the built-in SharePoint drag-and-drop migration for anything beyond 100 documents — metadata and version history are not preserved.
How do you handle SharePoint permissions during migration?
Permissions migration is the most complex and risk-prone aspect of any SharePoint migration. Our approach: (1) Permission inventory — map all unique permission levels in the source environment (SharePoint unique permissions, NTFS ACLs for file shares, Google Workspace sharing settings); (2) Group normalization — convert individual user permissions to Azure AD security groups wherever possible before migration; (3) Permission mapping — create explicit map of source → target permission structures; (4) Pilot validation — migrate 5-10% of content first and have content owners validate access; (5) Post-migration permission audit — automated report comparing source and target permissions for discrepancies. Warning: broken inheritance (unique permissions at document level) dramatically increases migration time and complexity — we recommend consolidating to library/folder-level permissions before migration when possible.
Can you migrate large SharePoint environments with minimal disruption?
Yes. Our largest migration to date was 50TB across 15,000 users with zero data loss and a 4-hour final cutover window. Strategies for large-scale, low-disruption migration: (1) Pre-migration bulk transfer — migrate 80-90% of content during normal business hours 2-4 weeks before cutover (users stay on source during this phase); (2) Delta sync — continuously sync changes from source to target in the final weeks; (3) Cutover weekend — only the delta (recent changes) needs to move during the cutover window, dramatically reducing downtime; (4) Parallel running — keep source read-only for 30 days post-cutover as a fallback; (5) Staged rollout — migrate by department over 4-8 weeks rather than all at once. For financial services and healthcare clients, we coordinate with compliance teams to ensure no migration window conflicts with regulatory reporting periods.