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.
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:
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:
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.
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.
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:
Whether it’s through basic services or customized solutions, SharePoint has the potential to revolutionize the internal operations of a modern enterprise.
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:
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.
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.
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:
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.
Establish specific and measurable objectives for your migration initiative. These should tie into both operational targets and business value.
Aligning goals to these markers enables traceability and accountability across all stages of SharePoint migration.
Governance must be embedded from pre-migration planning to post-migration monitoring. Use a migration tool SharePoint admins trust to:
When supported by a governance-aware SharePoint tool migration, your data stays compliant without extra manual work.
A good migration plan considers critical factors like time, resources and risk before initiating action.
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.
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:
Thorough data mapping upfront can streamline the migration process and reduce complications.
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.
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.
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.
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.
There are several methods to execute a SharePoint migration, each with its own advantages and considerations:
Each method offers different benefits and allows businesses to select the best fit for their requirements.
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:
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.
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.
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:
Weighing elements like budget, convenience, speed and complexity can help decide the best approach for each migration.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
Over time, a cloud-based SharePoint site requires:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
To further mitigate security risks, consider the following:
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.