When deciding to start a SharePoint migration, most companies focus their thoughts on the technical act of moving sites and content from one platform to another. This is generally viewed as a mission for the SharePoint administration team, outside of the interests of end users and business decision makers. The fact is that SharePoint is not so much a technical platform, as it is a business solution that uses technology to serve business needs.

1. TIPS FOR CONSTRUCTING A SUCCESSFUL MIGRATION TO SHAREPOINT
When deciding to start a SharePoint migration, most companies focus their thoughts on the
technical act of moving sites and content from one platform to another. This is generally viewed as a
mission for the SharePoint administration team, outside of the interests of end users and business
decision makers. The fact is that SharePoint is not so much a technical platform, as it is a business
solution that uses technology to serve business needs.
There is a great difference between approaching SharePoint as a purely technical perspective and
approaching it from a business-oriented perspective. Thus, the key to constructing a successful
migration to SharePoint is to realize that a great part of the migration project should happen well
before the technical move.
Here is the bidirectional approach of migrating to SharePoint that we suggest:
 The managerial strategy for project vision in which you should define the main steps of the
project, choose the Self-Service, set-up the communication flow, choose migration
instruments, understand how much redundant information there is and realize the fact that
end-users should take time to clean-up this information
 The technical strategy in which you should define the specific stages and methods needed
for meeting the project’s objectives. Take into consideration that this approach should also
consider the end-user and its way of working.
Migrations are complex, but in the best of circumstances, where there are clear governance policies
the outcome might be the right one. Here are two more considerations you should think of before
performing a migration to SharePoint:
 Differences between platforms. Usually both platforms may seem similar to a certain point,
with features for shared work or for discussions on different topics. But there are also many
functions from one platform that are missing in the second one. It is first necessary to
understand the functional differences between the two platforms.
 Migrate, archive or delete information. In most cases the platform that has to be changed
was used for a considerable time period and contains a lot of folders and documents with
redundant or unhelpful information. All this information should be deleted and important
data that is no longer needed archived before performing the migration to SharePoint.
Before beginning the migration from a collaboration platform to SharePoint, you should have a
comprehensive understanding of what is in your current environment, with a clear vision on what is
being used and what is not, what is working and what is not, and doing a thorough clean up before
you migrate.
Valy Greavu, Senior Sharepoint Consultant at IT Green Light

2. ABOUT IT GREEN LIGHT
IT Green Light is an IT consultancy company, focusing mainly on special IT projects and technologies.
Headquartered in Romania, the company develops IT projects worldwide through its offices in
Munchen and Dubai. For over 10 years, IT Green Light designs and implements collaboration
solutions, business intelligence, corporate intelligence and knowledge management solutions.
Contact details:
Address: 28, Cameliei Street, Bucharest, district 1
E-Mail: office@glit.ro
office@itgreenlight.ro
Web: www.fanica.ro
www.itgreenlight.com