Overcoming Common Challenges in Microsoft SharePoint Migration

Most SharePoint migrations fail—not because the data is complex, but because the planning is weak, the process rushed, and the wrong tools are used. This isn’t just a data move—it’s a restructure of access, security, and collaboration across your entire digital workspace. From permission handling to metadata and compliance, every detail matters. This guide gives you the full strategy from pre-migration audits to post-launch governance. Paired with the right SharePoint migration tool, a proven migration tool for SharePoint, and a trusted migration tool SharePoint admins rely on—you can migrate without disruption.

Introduction 

harePoint migration is a re-architecture of how your business handles permissions, metadata, site structures, and compliance—across environments or tenants. Success depends on a structured plan and the right SharePoint migration tool that won’t disrupt daily operations.

At Calance, we’ve helped enterprises navigate complex SharePoint migration projects for over two decades—migrating from on-prem systems, cross-tenant, and hybrid configurations.

Here’s how we approach every SharePoint to SharePoint migration tool project:

• Audit and classify your existing sites, lists, and libraries
• Eliminate redundant content to improve speed and clarity
• Align information architecture with business logic
• Map security, version history, and workflows for continuity
• Execute using a proven SharePoint tool migration platform
• Keep users informed to reduce friction and support adoption
• Validate performance post-migration with automated reporting

Why Microsoft SharePoint Migration is Essential for Your Business Success?

SharePoint migration is the process of moving critical business content—documents, workflows, metadata, and permissions—from legacy or fragmented systems into a centralized, secure, and scalable collaboration platform.

In hybrid work environments, where teams rely on shared digital spaces to operate efficiently, migrating to SharePoint ensures better governance, streamlined operations, and long-term productivity. It transforms unstructured digital sprawl into a controlled, business-aligned infrastructure.

SharePoint offers a best solution for data organization that is:

• Scalable: As a business grows, SharePoint’s flexible platform can adapt to its increasing data content and team collaboration
• Accessible: SharePoint is mobile-friendly, continually evolving, and equipped with AI-powered solutions. This helps keep the platform accessible to everyone within an organization, regardless of where, when, or what device they are working on.
• Cost-effective: While SharePoint set up involves initial costs, it ultimately lowers expenses for many users by reducing the need for third-party maintenance and enhancing team efficiency and productivity.

Understanding SharePoint and Its Ecosystem: A Comprehensive Overview 

Understanding the essentials of a successful migration can be challenging without a solid grasp of SharePoint and its ecosystem. Below is a brief overview of the foundational elements.

What is SharePoint?

SharePoint is not just an intranet—it's a comprehensive content services platform that connects teams, automates processes, and integrates tightly with the Microsoft 365 ecosystem. Businesses use it to manage version-controlled document libraries, enforce permissions, build custom applications, and power collaboration through real-time co-authoring and automated approvals.

It supports structured data, metadata tagging, policy enforcement, and seamless integration with tools like Teams, Outlook, Power Automate, and OneDrive. Whether used for internal knowledge bases or as a foundation for operational portals, SharePoint supports the modern digital workplace with precision.

Top Features and Benefits of Microsoft SharePoint Migration for your Business Success

SharePoint’s out-of-the-box features provide all of the basic elements required for an effective intranet site. It also enables users to create custom solutions when required. With SharePoint, users can also:

• Role-based access controls for secure, segmented information sharing across departments and locations
• Version-controlled document libraries to track changes, restore prior states, and support audit readiness
• Metadata tagging and content types for structured document classification and advanced searchability
• Workflow automation (Power Automate) to standardize processes like approvals, notifications, and task routing
• Real-time co-authoring in Office apps to eliminate version conflicts and enable simultaneous editing
• Compliance-ready audit trails and retention policies to enforce governance and meet regulatory demands
• Integration with Microsoft 365 apps (Teams, OneDrive, Outlook) for unified digital collaboration
• Extensibility through REST APIs and Power Platform to build business-specific apps and automate logic

Whether it’s through basic services or customized solutions, SharePoint has the potential to revolutionize the internal operations of a modern enterprise.

Understanding the latest Microsoft SharePoint Versions & Editions

As highlighted before, SharePoint is not a singular solution. Microsoft currently offers two main SharePoint deployment models named SharePoint Online and SharePoint Server Subscription Edition (SPSE). Along with the customizable options, there are multiple formats of the software. This guide focuses on the two primary versions organizations typically consider:

• SharePoint Online: Part of Microsoft 365, SharePoint Online is cloud-based, automatically updated, and integrates tightly with Teams, OneDrive, Outlook, and Power Platform. It eliminates patching, reduces infrastructure overhead, and supports modern collaboration features out of the box.
• SharePoint Server Subscription Edition (SPSE): SPSE is the latest on-prem version, replacing SharePoint 2019. It runs on a modern update cycle, supports OpenID Connect, Microsoft Graph, and hybrid configurations. It’s designed for organizations that need deep customization or data residency control.
• Other Active Versions
• SharePoint Server 2019: Still supported but aging.
• SharePoint Server 2016 & older: Outdated and vulnerable; not recommended for future investment.

Choosing the right SharePoint migration utility is key to maintaining structure, security, and performance—whether you're moving to the cloud or upgrading on-prem. At Calance, we use trusted migration tools for SharePoint to ensure permissions, metadata, and workflows move intact. With the right SharePoint to SharePoint migration tool, your environment evolves without disruption—built for how your teams work today.

Essential Steps to Prepare for a Smooth Microsoft SharePoint Migration

Before any data moves, SharePoint migration prep starts with auditing what exists, what’s critical, and how it aligns to the new environment’s architecture. It involves aligning your architecture, governance, and tooling with enterprise requirements. Whether moving to SharePoint Online or modernizing legacy infrastructure, early technical planning sets the foundation for secure, scalable success.

How to Assess Your Current SharePoint Environment Before Migration

Start with a structured audit of your SharePoint footprint. Use automated discovery tools or your preferred SharePoint migration utility to gather:

Here’s how to approach SharePoint environment assessment:

• Active and archived document libraries, lists, and pages
• Custom workflows, site templates, and content types
• User roles, permission hierarchies, and group access
• External dependencies (e.g., Power Automate flows, third-party connectors)

Document which assets should migrate, be archived, or rebuilt. This improves performance and reduces unnecessary data during migration. The right migration tool for SharePoint will support granular filtering and content mapping.

Defining Clear Migration Goals for a Successful Microsoft SharePoint Migration 

Establish specific and measurable objectives for your migration initiative. These should tie into both operational targets and business value.

• Define data volume thresholds or completion timelines per phase
• Use metrics like number of documents migrated, success rate, and delta sync accuracy
• Conduct user acceptance testing (UAT) post-migration to benchmark satisfaction and detect functional gaps

Aligning goals to these markers enables traceability and accountability across all stages of SharePoint migration.

Ensuring Compliance and Data Governance in SharePoint Migration

Governance must be embedded from pre-migration planning to post-migration monitoring. Use a migration tool SharePoint admins trust to:

• Preserve document-level permissions, audit trails, and version histories
• Apply encryption and retention policies automatically during content transfer
• Map regulatory frameworks (HIPAA, GDPR, etc.) into access rules and content lifecycles

When supported by a governance-aware SharePoint tool migration, your data stays compliant without extra manual work.

Creating a Winning Microsoft SharePoint Migration Plan & Strategy

• Timeline Development: A timeline provides time-based milestones for transferring data and implementing changes. This helps in setting clear deadlines and expectations for the migration process, ensuring that all parties involved are synchronized and aware of critical phases.
• Resource allocation: Securing the necessary personnel, budget, and other resources ahead of time helps circumvent any potential bottlenecks. It's vital to assess where and when to engage third-party support, guaranteeing that resources are efficiently utilized and the migration proceeds smoothly.
• Risk mitigation: This includes implementing safeguards and developing contingency plans to address potential risks such as data loss, system downtime and compatibility challenges. By anticipating these issues, the team can put measures in place to minimize impact and ensure a more resilient migration process.

A good migration plan considers critical factors like time, resources and risk before initiating action.

Planning Your SharePoint Data and Content Migration with Expert Guidance 

After completing the assessment and preparation stages, it is crucial to establish a framework for the data migration itself. Here are the essential steps to achieve this effectively.

How to Conduct Data Inventory and Mapping for a Successful Microsoft SharePoint Migration

A successful migration plan relies on a well-defined data map. Begin by creating a comprehensive data inventory, listing all documents and files currently held by the company. This inventory should include detailed information such as titles, locations, and key attributes.

IT leaders can use this phase to evaluate the relevance of each document to current organizational goals. This step allows for:

• Content Categorization: Organize content by type, importance, and access levels, which will aid in sorting during and after the migration.
• Preprocessing Assessment: Evaluate data quality and identify inconsistencies or compatibility issues that may affect the migration.
• Partial Migration Testing: Conduct a test migration to identify potential issues or errors before executing the full migration.

Thorough data mapping upfront can streamline the migration process and reduce complications.

Optimizing and Transforming Your Organization Content during SharePoint Migration

The process of mapping out data presents opportunities to clean it up. Using filters such as URLs, file sizes, and duplicate documents can help identify superfluous or troublesome data in an existing system.

This is an ideal time to remove or archive any unnecessary, outdated and redundant files. Proactively engaging in this process minimizes the volume of data requiring migration. It ensures that the retained data is relevant, well-structured, and optimized for its new SharePoint environment.

Managing Permissions and Access Controls for a Secure Microsoft SharePoint Migration

Accessing controls throughout the migration process is critical. It’s prudent to record, remove, reorganize, and simplify the existing structure for user permissions prior to migration. Understanding current permission and access controls makes it easier to plan a successful migration. It allows for a controlled environment where all parties remain aware of user permission updates and changes.

How to Foster Clear Collaboration During SharePoint Migration

A successful SharePoint migration hinges on effective collaboration. When allocating resources and considering team members to assist with migration, leaders must address how the individuals will collaborate.

If an organization chooses to work with a third-party IT services provider, this adds another layer of communication complexity. It’s important to establish clear roles, responsibilities, and communication channels to keep everyone working effectively and efficiently.

Tailoring Your Data Migration Strategy for a Seamless SharePoint Transition

The process of identifying, preparing, transforming, and migrating data isn’t a one-size-fits-all activity. It’s necessary to consider what areas of migration require customized solutions that are unique to a business’s circumstances. From geographic elements to specific categorizations of sensitive information, it’s wise to identify personalized elements ahead of time. This step ensures that these elements do not impede the migration process.

How to Choose the Best SharePoint Migration Approach for Your Business

There are several methods to execute a SharePoint migration, each with its own advantages and considerations:

• The lift-and-shift method refers to moving an existing SharePoint environment to the new platform as-is. It involves minimal changes.
• The hybrid method combines on-premises and cloud-based solutions. This allows businesses to be selective in choosing which workloads move to the new cloud system and which items (such as sensitive data) stay on-premise.
• The re-architecture method engages in a full redesign and optimization of a SharePoint environment before the migration. It restructures content, updates configurations, and adopts new features to align with current best practices.

Each method offers different benefits and allows businesses to select the best fit for their requirements.

Top Migration Tools to simplify SharePoint Migration

When planning the transition to SharePoint Online, selecting the right migration tools is crucial. Here are several options, each with unique features to facilitate the move:

• Microsoft SharePoint Migration tool: Directly from Microsoft, this tool is designed to seamlessly transfer local SharePoint sites to SharePoint Online. It offers a straightforward interface, making it a reliable choice for direct migrations.
• ShareGate: Known for its user-friendly interface, ShareGate simplifies the migration process by efficiently transferring content, structure, and permissions. It’s ideal for those who need a clean and straightforward approach to migration.
• AvePoint: As a comprehensive platform AvePoint provides detailed migration management with features like scheduling, pre-migration assessments, and extensive reporting. It's perfect for organizations requiring a granular control over their migration processes.
• Metalogix: Specializing in restructuring and optimizing existing content, Metalogix is particularly suited for controlled migrations where data accuracy and security are paramount.

There are multiple tools that exist, each with its own distinct advantages for specific migration requirements. They all aim to support a smooth transition from SharePoint On-Premise to SharePoint Online, enhancing an organization's capability to operate efficiently in a cloud-based environment.

Custom vs. Out- of- the- Box Microsoft SharePoint Solutions: Which One is Right for You?

When migrating to SharePoint, you can choose between out-of-the-box (OOB) or custom solutions.

Custom solutions offer many benefits such as precision, flexibility, and ability to adapt to specialized or complex migration needs. However, they also require greater pre-migration testing and can be an expensive option comparatively.

Out-of-the-box (OOB) solutions adhere to preset methods, providing convenience, speed, and affordability. They seamlessly integrate with future upgrades and ongoing maintenance. However, they are inherently limited and incapable of addressing more nuanced data migration demands.

Selecting the Right Microsoft SharePoint Approach and Trusted SharePoint Experts for your Needs

There are multiple factors that can help decide whether a custom or an out-of-box migration solution is a better fit for an organization. Here are a few questions to consider when making the choice:

• Does your organization have a limited budget for SharePoint migration? If so, an OOB solution is likely the best option.
• Is your organization's data particularly complex and unique in its organizational
  structure? If the answer is yes, then this may necessitate a customized solution.
• Is your organization seeking a fast and frictionless deployment? If so, an OOB solution
  offers simple, generalized experiences without highly technical data requirements.
• Do you have proprietary business processes that won’t conform to general data
  management solutions? If so, a customized solution could be tailored to meet these
  unique needs.

Weighing elements like budget, convenience, speed and complexity can help decide the best approach for each migration.

Ensuring a Successful Microsoft SharePoint Testing & Validation

Before go-live, testing validates that your migrated SharePoint environment is secure, functional, and aligned with business workflows. It’s not just a QA phase—it’s how you prevent post-migration issues from disrupting users or exposing data.

Essential Pre-Migration Testing for a Smooth SharePoint Transition

Pre-migration testing is an attempt to identify potential migration issues before beginning the migration itself. This “pre-check” begins with the process of moving data. However, instead of actually doing so, it looks for potential red flags and brings them to the attention of a migration team. A migration tool like ShareGate, for example, offers a Migration Pre-Check feature. This walks a user through the steps required to initiate a migration and then produces a Pre-Check report with warnings and errors.

SharePoint Post-Migration Testing: Critical Steps for Long-Term Success

Post-migration testing is done after a migration is complete. Its goal is to confirm that a company’s data is intact and that key functionalities are working as expected in its new SharePoint environment.

Post migration, users can also highlight the key data they want to check on their own as an additional test. If the test reveals errors, users can address them immediately before they become an issue.

Ensuring a Smooth Transition with Effective User Acceptance Testing in Microsoft SharePoint Migration

Pre and post-migration testing verify each migration on a foundational level. However, there is still the question of whether the new SharePoint environment is meeting the requirements of its users.

User acceptance testing seeks feedback from end-users to see if their new online workspace is meeting their needs and expectations. When that is not the case, steps can be taken to address ongoing requirements proactively before they impact productivity.

How To Troubleshoot Common Microsoft SharePoint Migration Issues

To address any issues that arise during the testing and validation period, there are many common troubleshooting tips, solutions, and best practices that are available online.

Below are examples of issues that could arise and their resolution:

• Error messages like “We are unable to connect to the site you provided,” are
  common. They require active intervention to restore or request access to a source site.
• Invalid source folders may require confirmation that the pathway entered in a database search is correct.
• A site that “cannot be created” may require confirmation of the proper permissions to create the site, along with a valid URL.

There are many other potential migration issues that could arise in this phase that organizations have to watch out for and be ready to resolve. Having an experienced third-party support partner can swiftly address these concerns and ensure the migration progresses smoothly.

Essential Post-Migration Best Practices for Long-Term SharePoint Success

A successful migration is exciting, but it is only the first step. To make the most of a new SharePoint environment, users must also maintain best practices post-migration. Here are a few of the most common best practices worth prioritizing.

Successful User Training and Adoption for Microsoft SharePoint Migration

A migration isn’t complete until users can employ the data. Proper training can ensure a frictionless adoption of the new system. It also offers proactive, hands-on support as users adapt to their new SharePoint environment.

Ongoing SharePoint Maintenance and Management

Over time, a cloud-based SharePoint site requires:

• Software updates, as well as proper training to learn new system features and changes.
• Updated governance, including user permissions, is an important part of ongoing system integrity.
• User support, which should be an ongoing priority to help troubleshoot problems and address key issues over time.

Monitoring and Optimizing SharePoint Performance for Long-Term Efficiency

Regularly scheduled optimization and performance reviews are an important aspect of the longevity of a SharePoint environment. Dedicated monitoring tools can help organizations track metrics from response times to server resource utilization; and can even help improve data performance over time.

Ensuring Data Security with SharePoint Backup and Disaster Recovery Strategies

A disaster recovery plan is an essential part of any SharePoint system including the one that runs online. A good plan includes backups, versioning, and access controls. This ensures minimal downtime and rapid restoration of operations in the event of a data loss or similar unexpected issue.

Key Compliance and Security Considerations for a Safe Microsoft SharePoint Migration

Security and compliance are critical elements in all data management endeavors. A migration could create loopholes for cybersecurity failures or compliance issues. Below are key elements to consider in order to avoid these concerns.

How to Ensure Compliance with Regulatory Requirements in SharePoint Migration

Ensuring compliance with regulations concerning data management, security, and confidentiality is critical during a migration process. The specific requirements can vary significantly across different industries. For example, in the healthcare sector, the retention period of data is a crucial consideration due to stringent privacy and storage regulations.

In contrast, for legal data, maintaining consistency in data presentation is vital to ensure that all records are uniform and meet legal standards. These differences highlight the need for a migration strategy that is not only thorough but also customized to meet the particular compliance demands of each industry.

It’s worth discussing these nuances with a qualified IT vendor so that a CTO or other C-suite leaders can come up with an adequate security and compliance response.

Strengthening Security with Data Encryption and Compliance in SharePoint Migration

It is wise to encrypt data with popular formats such as SSL or TLS when transmitting it. This boosts the security of the data. It also upholds a company’s responsibility to maintain data privacy in the enterprise environment.

Simplifying SharePoint Auditing and Reporting for Better Compliance

Allocating investments towards adequate, updated, and continuous cybersecurity measures helps robust data retention and access controls. Additionally, it guarantees that audit trails are appropriately configured and documented, and data reports are generated in compliance with legal requirements.

Reducing Security Risks in SharePoint Migration

To further mitigate security risks, consider the following:

• Conduct thorough security assessments to identify any outstanding vulnerabilities in a SharePoint system.
•  Implement robust access controls and user permissions to enhance data security while minimizing disruption to workflow.
• Monitor the entire migration process for potential vulnerabilities and breaches.

Successfully Moving Microsoft SharePoint from On-Premises to the Cloud

Many organizations still run on aging SharePoint Server versions—often unsupported, security-vulnerable, and increasingly incompatible with modern tools. Migrating to SharePoint Online is not just a version upgrade—it’s a shift to a scalable, cloud-native platform built for hybrid teams, automation, and seamless Microsoft 365 integration. Cloud-based SharePoint improves operational continuity, reduces infrastructure overhead, and supports zero-trust security models. But successful migration requires more than file transfers—it demands strategic data mapping, metadata preservation, and careful identity and permission handling.

Migration leads should evaluate dependencies, clean redundant content, and use a proven SharePoint migration utility or enterprise-grade migration tools for SharePoint. These tools ensure that workflows, libraries, lists, and user access are transferred accurately—with support for delta sync and governance policies. Partnering with an experienced migration vendor accelerates execution, especially when moving from end-of-life systems. With the right migration tool SharePoint environments can rely on, your SharePoint to SharePoint migration tool ensures a secure, compliant, and future-ready digital workspace.