Migration Methodology - Common Processes and Tasks
This page describes tasks which may appear in an Office 365 migration WBS (work breakdown structure), project plan, estimate, or proposal. It has been provided for educational/informational purposes as a suppliment to materials provided to our clients. We hope that you'll find it useful if you have questions about migrating to Office 365 that weren't answered in our
FAQ,
General Approach to Office 365 Migration Projects, or other resources in our
Migration Guide.
Not every item listed here applies in every situation. If your organization is smaller than 50 users, we'll use a lightweight approach that will take some of these practices into account yet allow for much more efficient activity and a rapid pace of work. Likewise, if you're 25 users or less, we'll streamline the process even more. Under such compressed schedules it would be impossible to perform every task described here. In larger organizations, not every process described below will apply to your unique situation and needs.
Therefore, this information shouldn't be considered a part of any statement of work or binding agreement. Ultimately, the migration package described in your quote or proposal is the authoritative source for what activities will be included when we provide service to you.
If you have any technical difficulties with the panels below, you may also view our PDF version of this content.
Please click on a topic tile to jump to tasks in that project phase.
Project Reporting & Documentation
Discovery & Planning
Initial Office 365 Configuration
Advanced Security & Authentication
E-mail Migration
File Migration
SharePoint Development
End-user & Technical Training
Ongoing Support
| PowerShell Scripts | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-PowerShell-Scripts.aspx | PowerShell Scripts | <p class="MsoNormal">In many cases, migration of files requires the creation of multiple SharePoint sites or Document Libraries. Reasons for this may include the desire to compartmentalize files for security reasons, to organize information in a logical way, or to work around the frontiers of SharePoint, such as certain limitations that arise when you store more than 5,000 documents in a single library.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Such bulk operations can be time consuming and labor intensive when performed using Office 365's web based UI or tools such as SharePoint designer. So, we have automated this process wherever possible by using PowerShell. In some cases, the scripts we have on hand may not be exactly what the situation calls for; in those situations, we customize what we already have. Our own tools also use PowerShell as the primary interface. When we perform a series of upload or configurations with CloudPower, these are primarily performed by writing and executing scripts which run on PowerShell's command line interface.</p> | File Migration | |||
| File and Folder Structure Checks | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-File-and-Folder-Structure-Checks.aspx | File and Folder Structure Checks | <p class="MsoNormal">While SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business do offer some compelling features for uploading and storing files in the cloud, it is important to understand that such a powerful document management platform is very different from a traditional network file share. If you’d like to know more about what’s involved, please read our blog article “<a target="_blank" href="http://blog.liquidmercurysolutions.com/blog/bid/324623/How-to-Smoothly-Migrate-Files-to-Office-365-SharePoint-Online">How to Smoothly Migrate Files to Office 365 SharePoint Online</a>” at <a target="_blank" href="http://blog.liquidmercurysolutions.com/blog/bid/324623/How-to-Smoothly-Migrate-Files-to-Office-365-SharePoint-Online">blog.liquidmercurysolutions.com</a> or you can ask us for a copy.</p><p class="MsoNormal">We check your files to make sure that they will migrate smoothly into SharePoint. This involves making sure there are no security gotchas, that the folder structure does not exceed system limits on path names, and that the files do not contain any illegal characters. We detect and report any problems so they can be corrected before the migration starts.</p> | File Migration | |||
| Document Migration | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-Document-Migration.aspx | Document Migration | <p>Document Migration is the part of the process where you begin moving your existing files into <strong>SharePoint Online</strong>. Past experience teaches us that not all content is best housed in <strong>SharePoint</strong>, and that storing every file your company has ever created in <strong>SharePoint</strong> is generally a bad idea. It is often best to use this opportunity to provide some structure and make a conscious decision about how to move files in a manageable way.</p><p>If you must move large amounts of content, tools will be required to complete the move. There are several options available and each has its own strengths and weaknesses. They range in price from a few hundred to several thousand dollars. </p><p>Whether we use third party tools, leverage our own PowerShell commands in <strong>CloudPower</strong>, or move your files by hand, all of these will involve setting up batches of files to be moved or copied in a coordinated way. Each batch needs to be locked in order to prevent users from changing files while we work. Tools will need to be configured, and progress will have to be monitored during the process. We follow a basic pattern that follows communication plans, so users know what to expect and where and when their files have been moved.</p> | File Migration | |||
| Assigning Document Metadata | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-Assigning-Metadata.aspx | Assigning Document Metadata | <p>Metadata is information about your documents that helps you keep organized. Often, we are hired to move hundreds of gigabytes of documents to the cloud in one go. Organizing this information can be very difficult. Some of the tools we use will allow us to extract metadata from your existing folder structure. Sometimes it will have to be done by hand. In both cases, we rely heavily on you to share with us the knowledge of your business that we need to make this a successful effort.</p><p>We've developed new capabilities into <strong>CloudPower</strong> - our set of tools for migrating and managing <strong>SharePoint Online</strong> – that allow us to define metadata based on a variety of information sources that you already have, including your existing folder structure, file names, and even a custom Excel worksheet. These capabilities greatly increase the power and usefulness of <strong>SharePoint</strong> right out of the gate.</p> | File Migration |
| SharePoint Training | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-SharePoint-Training-Intro.aspx | SharePoint Training | <p>Before taking on the responsibility of using and maintaining your <strong>SharePoint</strong> sites, it's important to give users and administrators the knowledge they'll need to thrive in a new, unfamiliar, and complex platform. </p><p class="MsoNormal">We provide several types of <strong>SharePoint</strong> training depending on your needs. Your training curriculum can be customized to suite your unique needs.</p><p class="MsoNormal">Each training session comes with a written guidebook, so users can review the subject at their leisure. For an additional fee, we can also provide recorded versions of your sessions.</p><p>Here are some of the popular options.</p> | Training | |||
| Remote Sessions for End-Users | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-Remote-Training-for-End-Users.aspx | Remote Sessions for End-Users | <p>These 2 hour sessions provide the groundwork to help users understand what SharePoint is for and how to get the most out of it. We recommend that end users attend at least 2 sessions to get the skills that they need. Here are some recommended topics.</p><ul><li>Understanding Document Lists and Libraries, Items and Documents</li><li>How to Organize Your Files: What Is Metadata? Folders, Fields, Views, and Tagging</li><li>Check-in/Check-out, Versioning, and Collaborating in Documents</li><li>Social Features: Wikis, Forums, Blogs, Comments, Ratings - and Yammer<br></li><li>Why Should I Fill Out My User Profile and How Do I Do It</li><li>Getting the Most Out of Search</li></ul> | Training | |||
| Remote Sessions for Site Owners | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-Remote-Training-for-Site-Owners.aspx | Remote Sessions for Site Owners | <p>These 2 hour sessions provide site administrators with the skills they'll need to keep <strong>SharePoint </strong>content well organized. Site owners will need to attend the end-user sessions and at least 2 additional to acquire the baseline of necessary skills.</p><ul><li>Understanding and Managing Users, Groups, and Permissions</li><li>Creating Sites, Lists, and Libraries</li><li>Understanding Web Parts</li><li>Updating Web Content</li><li>Intermediate Metadata: Site Columns and Content Types </li><li>Advanced Metadata: Document Sets, Term Sets / Fields, Metadata Based Navigation</li></ul> | Training |
Important Note: Our support offerings have changed substantially since the information below was originally published in 2016. Please see the Cloud Services and Services on Demand pages for details. We'll update this content as soon as we're able.
| After the Migration: Ongoing Consulting, Training, and Support | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-Ongoing-Support-Intro.aspx | After the Migration: Ongoing Consulting, Training, and Support | <p>Your need for <strong>Office 365</strong> expertise doesn't stop on the day we launch your site. In fact, as people begin using it your immediate need for support and training may be great. </p><p>We provide 24x7 1<sup>st</sup> tier technical support for <strong>Office 365</strong> with overnight coverage from our partner Synnex and back-end assistance from Microsoft. What this means is that we're available to assist you any time of day or night if you have issues connecting to or using <strong>Office 365</strong> sites or services. Thus, you're always covered for that critical need at an odd and inconvenient moment.</p><p>However, there are times when you want MORE out of support than can be expected from a call center at a global corporation. Our experts provide 5x8 support during the business day and engineer, architect, or consulting level services to help keep your <strong>Office 365</strong> solutions working for you. Basic or standard support from <strong>Liquid Mercury</strong> covers the basic needs for services going forward after you begin using <strong>Office 365</strong> in a production capacity, and we have a wide array of value-added services that go even farther. We'll be there for you when you need us.</p> | Ongoing Support | |||
| Standard Support (Cloud Solution Provider) | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-Standard-Support.aspx | Standard Support (Cloud Solution Provider) | <p>We may call it Standard Support but you'll get MORE than you'd expect from our regular support package.</p><p>Some Benefits:</p><ul><li>Best-in-class 5x8 support provided by our USA domestic Office 365 and SharePoint experts</li><li>Overnight 24x7x365 support based in the Philippines</li><li>Complimentary Cloud Services Evaluation license review and evaluation - $500 value</li><li>Free licensed copy of CloudPower Premium - worth $576 annually</li><li>Regular strategy sessions with our SharePoint experts - worth up to $5,616 per year (frequency is based on the number of users)<br></li><li>Personalized service you simply can't get elsewhere</li><li>Best of all, the price of Office 365 stays exactly the same</li></ul><p>Included in Standard Support:</p><ul><li><strong>Full Service Billing and License Support</strong>: Add and remove licenses from Office 365 Subscription with just an email or phone call. Call us and ask a question about your bill at any time, and talk to a live person right away.</li><li><strong>Break/fix Support for Office 365</strong>: Any problem that you're having with Office 365 services can be addressed through Liquid Mercury, including any desktop connectivity problems from computer running applications licensed through Office 365.</li><li>All benefits provided in <strong>Basic Support</strong><br></li></ul><p>Of course, we have a variety of services that go even farther. Ask us about <strong>Admin OnDemand 365</strong>, <strong>HelpDesk Plus 365</strong>, our <strong>Jump Start</strong> packages, or <strong>Advanced Support</strong> if you have needs beyond what standard support provides.<br></p><p>To be eligable for <strong>Standard Support</strong>, you must be purchasing Office 365 from Liquid Mercury rather than Microsoft or some other supplier. If we helped you migrate after January 2016, chances are you're already enrolled in <strong>Office 365 Standard Support</strong>. If you aren't sure, please feel free to ask us.<br></p> | Ongoing Support | |||
| Basic Support (Subscription Advisor) | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-Basic-Support.aspx | Basic Support (Subscription Advisor) | <p>Basic Support is for Office 365 customers who are participating in our free support network by declaring Liquid Mercury Solutions as their Subscription Advisor / Partner on Record.</p><p>Benefits Include:</p><ul><li>E-mail and forum based Q&A that goes beyond Microsoft Office 365 Support</li><li>A free license for CloudPower Standard edition - worth $288 annually</li><li>Complimentary Cloud Services Evaluation to determine if you're getting the best value from your current Office 365 plans - a $500 value</li></ul><p>Unless you were enrolled in 2015 or earlier, if you purchased a migration plan from us then chances are good you're actually enrolled in Standard Support, which is a better option. If you are on Basic Support, it's easy to switch. Just let us know that you want to transition into the Cloud Solution Provider program, and we'll work with Microsoft to transfer your account and subscription billing. There are lots of benefits you can learn more about them at <a href="/what-we-do/cloud-services/compare">http://www.liquid-hg.com/what-we-do/cloud-services/compare</a>.<br></p> | Ongoing Support | |||
| Periscope 365 and Compliance 365 | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-Periscope-and-Compliance.aspx | Periscope 365 and Compliance 365 | <p><strong>Periscope 365</strong> helps you gain insight into Office 365 with dashboards and reports that give you an at-a-glance understanding of your activity and usage, including license consumption, total mailbox size, last login per user, SharePoint utilization, plus lots more. Get alerts for issues such as running out of storage or when a team site becomes inactive.</p><p><strong>Compliance 365</strong> is an enhanced version of <strong>Periscope 365</strong> that includes compliance reporting for SOX, HIPAA, PCI, GLBA and SAS70, to help customer flag compliance concerns, and reduce risks across your Office 365 environment. <strong>Compliance 365</strong> audits mailboxes, users and licenses so you know who's making what specific changes, and detects tampering, unauthorized access, and human error. Get alerts when users are out of compliance — including suspicious or targeted events such as unauthorized or malicious modifications, inappropriate mailbox access, misconfigured security policies or other sensitive changes. (This service includes everything in Periscope, so it is not necessary to purchase both.)</p><p>Plus, for a limited time, we'll including your first six months of Periscope 365 or Compliance 365 <span style="text-decoration:underline;">free</span> when you purchase Office 365 Migration or Office 365 Migration Compliance packaged services from us. That's an additional $25 or $50 per user in value on top of our already nigh-unbeatable migration deals.</p> | Ongoing Support | |||
| Admin OnDemand 365 | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-Admin-OnDemand.aspx | Admin OnDemand 365 | <p>Take the work and worry out of Office 365 and let our staff take care of regular administration chores for you. This package offers IT Administration for Office 365 at a reasonable and predictable monthly cost.</p><p>Example uses for this service include:</p><ul><li>employee onboarding or termination,<br></li><li>user creation or deactivation, </li><li>password changes/resets, <br></li><li>security and group configuration,</li><li>report on and reassign licenses as needed,</li><li>schedule and clean-up external user access when it is no longer needed,<br></li><li>mailbox and distribution list set-up and maintenance,<br></li><li>provisioning a new SharePoint site or list, </li><li>setting up a custom view for a SharePoint list or library,<br></li><li>content changes for a SharePoint web page,</li><li>and more</li></ul><p>What's Not Included in Admin OnDemand?<br></p><ul><li>Consulting, business/systems analysis, requirements gathering, etc.</li><li>Advanced Information Architecture: development of Site Columns and/or Content Types.</li><li>Management of auditing, retention, or e-discovery features.</li><li>Web page development including CSS, HTML, or content authoring</li><li>SharePoint development with custom code, including JavaScript or apps</li><li>Tasks requiring SharePoint designer</li><li>Creative activities such as writing or graphic design</li><li>Support for third-party apps from the Marketplace</li><li>Office 365 connected accounts for Windows Server 2012 Essentials, support for AD Connect or Single Sign On with ADFS</li><li>Anything requiring VPN or Remote Desktop to your servers</li><li>Assignments that can't be feasibly completed in less than 4 hours, or are otherwise deemed to be exploitative.<br></li></ul><p>Minor changes that use features described as out-of-scope above will be permitted on a case-by-case basis at our discretion.<br>Please note that we provided services such as those described above within the context of Advanced SharePoint Support, Solution Jump Start, or at standard daily rates.<br><br></p> | Ongoing Support | |||
| HelpDesk and HelpDesk Plus 365 | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-HelpDesk-and-HelpDesk-Plus.aspx | HelpDesk and HelpDesk Plus 365 | <p><span style="font-weight:bold;">HelpDesk 365</span> is the perfect service for smaller companies who want to stay focused on their primary business and ensure the best possible productivity for their own staff. It's also great for mid-size or growing organizations that struggle to keep up with IT support.</p><ul><li>One phone number or email address to use any time - day or night, weekends and holidays included.</li><li>Dedicated help desk staff who are familiar with your organization's history and needs.</li><li>Customized FAQ and knowledgebase for your company.</li><li>Tickets created and tracked for every case and every contact.</li><li>Managed Help Desk web site to view all your cases/tickets, across the full life-cycle of support.</li><li>1st tier support for anything IT, whether it's Office 365 or not.</li><li>Escalation to Tier 2/3 for Liquid Mercury Solutions' Office 365 <span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:calibri;font-size:11pt;">Standard Support</span>, <span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:calibri;font-size:11pt;">Admin OnDemand</span>, or <span style="font-weight:bold;font-family:calibri;font-size:11pt;">Advanced Support</span> as needed.</li><li>Hand-off for non-Office 365 support needs to your internal IT staff or other vendors according to your preferences and instructions.</li></ul><p><span style="font-weight:bold;">HelpDesk Plus 365</span> includes all the same great services provided above, with added 24/7 support coverage at tier 2/3 for <span style="font-weight:bold;">Office 365</span>, plus <span style="font-weight:bold;">Periscope 365</span> included at no extra cost. It's a great choice when your needs require the fastest response and resolution possible.</p> | Ongoing Support | |||
| "The Full Monty" Bundle (Admin, Help Desk, and Compliance) | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-The-Full-Monty-Bundle.aspx | "The Full Monty" Bundle (Admin, Help Desk, and Compliance) | <p>"The Full Monty" is a bundle that lets you take advantage of three of our premium support services for one low price of just $7.77 per user per month, compared with $12.81 if you purchased them seperately.</p><p><strong>Periscope + Compliance 365:</strong> Advanced monitoring, alerts, and reporting for Office 365 services.<br></p><p><strong>HelpDesk Plus 365:</strong> Managed IT help desk portal with multi-tier support services.<br></p><p><strong>Admin OnDemand 365:</strong> Our staff answer your beck and call and will do your bidding for whatever you may desire.<br></p> | Ongoing Support | |||
| Advanced Office 365 and SharePoint Support | https://spliquidmercury-web.sharepoint.com/Pages/Task Descriptions/O365-Advanced-SharePoint-Support.aspx | Advanced Office 365 and SharePoint Support | <p>Liquid Mercury Solutions' <strong>Advanced Support</strong> plans for <strong>Office 365</strong> and <strong>SharePoint</strong> provide a direct hotline between your company management or IT staff and our technical experts. Rely on us for any issues or needs relating to Office 365, SharePoint, Windows Azure, ADFS, and other Microsoft cloud services.</p><p><span>If you have 100 users or more or have ongoing SharePoint development needs, these plans will be of value to you.</span> We have options starting at $1,500/month to add high level expertise to your in house staff or existing support provider.<br></p><p>Many managed service providers charge as much as $12/user/month and up for <span style="text-decoration:underline;">just</span> cloud and desktop support services, but don't have SharePoint experts on staff and limit what you can do with support hours.<br></p><p>Our <strong>Advanced Support</strong> plans pick up where those services fall short. They're the perfect addition if you already have desktop support covered for cases requiring physical access, but you need to augment the capabilities of your team with Microsoft cloud platform expertise.</p><p>And the price of these plans isn't tied to the number of users you have, so cost doesn't increase just because you're growing. Costs are based on a budgeted number of hours that are worked on a regularly scheduled basis. <span>Your commitment to purchase services on a monthly subscription basis lets us provide you with our best possible price.</span><br></p> | Ongoing Support |
