Planning a SharePoint Migration: What to Know Before You Start
For all SharePoint versions – On Premises, Cloud andHybrid migrations
Any SharePoint Migration calls for meticulous planning in order to minimize time, effort and the cost of migration. Even before you start your SharePoint migration, you need to analyze and understand the costs of storage, distinguish content that qualify for migration from those that don’t, identify users that need to own, share and collaborate content with others, etc. Factors such as the nature of the source content, the size of Sites, Lists and libraries, the number of users, complexities of documents and their metadata, document versions, presence of special characters and so on, need to be studied carefully in order to come up with an overall plan that contains timelines, setting up a team, managing resources and evaluation of third-party solutions.
In addition, if you are planning to migrate to the cloud, that is, migrate to Microsoft 365, there are challenges that are unique to moving content into the cloud — it doesn’t matter whether you are migrating content from SharePoint on-premises or from other sources such as File Shares and document management systems to Microsoft 365. Your Microsoft 365 migration plan must also take into account the license plans that you have acquired for M365, the number of different users for the different plans, the term and life of your document repositories and so on.
Common SharePoint migration challenges
| Scenario | Challenges |
|---|---|
| File Share To SharePoint / OneDrive | Folder structures that don’t map cleanly to libraries; no metadata to inherit, so it has to be created from scratch; Not all file share permissions have equivalent SharePoint permissions. |
| SharePoint (older version) To SharePoint Online | Custom workflows, InfoPath forms, and web parts that do not have a direct equivalent in the cloud |
| SharePoint To SharePoint (same or different version) | Site structure and permissions drifting out of sync with what is actually in use |
| Microsoft 365 tenant To tenant | Identity and permission mapping between two separate user directories in the respective domains |
| Other DMS To SharePoint | Proprietary metadata and version history that needs translating, not just copying |
Questions to Answer Before You Migrate to SharePoint Online
A successful migration starts long before any content gets moved. The organizations that struggle with SharePoint Online migrations are rarely undone by the technology itself — they’re undone by decisions that got deferred until mid-project. Working through the following questions up front will save significant time, cost, and rework.
What content actually needs to migrate?
Not everything in your current environment needs to be migrated. Before migration planning begins, run a content assessment to identify what is actually in active use versus what is stale, duplicated, or abandoned. Old project sites, orphaned document libraries, and redundant file copies are almost always cheaper to retire or archive than to migrate, test, and maintain in the new environment. Treat migration as an opportunity to declutter, not just relocate.
What is the current state of your metadata?
Metadata is what makes content findable and governable in SharePoint Online, so it is worth resolving before migration rather than after. If your current content has little or no metadata, decide in advance whether you will extract it from existing file paths and folder structures, apply it in bulk using rules or automation, or simply accept a flatter, less structured environment post-migration. Each option has different cost and effort implications, and retrofitting metadata after the fact is significantly harder than planning for it now.
Who is accountable for permissions decisions?
Migrations are a natural checkpoint for cleaning up permission sprawl, but only if someone is explicitly accountable for making those calls before migration day — not improvising them during the cutover. Assign a named owner (or small governance group) responsible for reviewing access levels, resolving conflicting permissions, and approving the target permission model. Leaving this ambiguous typically results in either overly broad access carried forward by default, or last-minute decisions made under time pressure.
What level of disruption is acceptable during migration?
A single cutover, phased/incremental migration, and parallel-run approaches all trade speed against risk and cost differently. A single cutover approach is faster but brings risk into a single event; a phased migration spreads risk over time but extends the overall timeline and may require running two environments in parallel. Understanding your organization's real appetite for disruption — and its budget for mitigating it — should drive which approach you choose, rather than defaulting to whichever method is most familiar. Most organizations choose a phased migration to understand unforeseen issues earlier.
How will the success of your migration be measured?
Define your validation criteria before you start, not after content has already landed. This might include item counts and file integrity checks, spot-checks of permissions and metadata accuracy, or formal user sign-off from key stakeholders in each department. Establishing a checklist in advance gives you an objective way to confirm success and a clear basis for troubleshooting if something does not match expectations.
What licensing and tenant-specific factors apply?
Microsoft 365 plan types, per-user licensing tiers, and your tenant's topology (single tenant, multi-tenant, or multi-geo) all affect what is realistic on your timeline and what features are even available to you. Confirm licensing coverage for every user and workload involved in the migration, and account for any tenant-level configuration issues — such as existing hybrid setups or custom domains — that could complicate the cutover.
Getting This Right Takes Planning — and may be some additional vetting
None of these questions has a one-size-fits-all answer. The right call depends on the size of your environment, how your content is currently organized, and how much disruption yourorganization can absorb during the transition. What matters most is that these decisions are made deliberately and early, rather than discovered mid-migration when they are far more expensive to fix.
Looking for a migration consultant/partner?
If you want expert guidance in planning and execution of your SharePoint Migration project, we are here to help you. We have more than 2 decades of experience in the SharePoint migrationspace. If you would like us to assist you in your SharePoint migration project, please connectwith us at the contact details given below.
- Contact :
- sales@vyapin.com
- support@vyapin.com
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