Migrate SharePoint Without Losing Customizations or Workflows

Migrating SharePoint to SharePoint is a complex process, specifically when you migrate sites with customizations and workflows. Therefore, the process involves a lot of careful planning and execution. You need to specify what you’ll migrate, what tool you’ll be using, and the preferred migration approach to complete the process.

Whether you just want to migrate SharePoint lists or libraries or move entire sites, this article will take care of all. Scroll down to learn how to migrate SharePoint sites without losing customizations or workflows.

How to migrate SharePoint sites without losing customizations or workflows?

SharePoint site migration is much more than just a simple drag and drop of content. You will require a well-devised action plan for a successful data transfer. Let’s go through a step-by-step process to learn the approach to migrate SharePoint to SharePoint online with customizations and workflows.

Pre-migration planning

Before you start migrating, here is what you need to do as part of the pre-migration planning phase. There are different customizations (web parts, branding customizations, APIs, custom lists, columns, etc.) and workflows (built-in, Power Automate, and custom) in a site within SharePoint. Start with the analysis of the source environment to identify all the customizations and workflows available in the current SharePoint sites.

Determine if there are any compliance requirements you need to fulfil, associated security risks, and take inventory of all the available data from the source environment.

Prepare the destination environment

Once the source environment is sorted, start preparing the destination environment to make it ready to accept the data, complex permissions hierarchy, and all the customizations. Create the users, default sites, site structure, and assign the permissions carefully, just like the source mirror it in the destination.

Select your migration approach

After preparing the source and destination, the next step requires you to select the migration approach you will follow. There are two available approaches for migrating SharePoint sites: phased migration approach or migrate the entire site in one go with big bang approach.

You can go with the manual methods of migrating SharePoint to SharePoint Online, which requires you to manually create all the customizations, workflows, integrations, and permissions. But there are risks of losing data and associated permissions, customizations, and workflows. Therefore, we suggest using a professional SharePoint migration tool that migrates the entire site carefully.

Execute careful migration

Migrate a batch of content first to test the process and resolve the issues (if any) before thoroughly migrating the sites. This is a wise move that helps to avoid severe errors and loss of crucial data. Verify that all the assigned permissions are migrated correctly, and the customizations/ workflows are operational.

Make adjustments to the process if required after the pilot migration.

Post-migration activities

The migration process never ends with the content migration; there is a lot that continues in the background even after transferring the data. You must verify and validate that all the content, permissions, etc., are carefully migrated to the original structure. Train the users to help them learn how to use the upgraded SharePoint version.

Monitor the destination regularly to identify and address issues in real time, accompanied by ongoing support.

Helpful tips to consider during SharePoint migration

Here are some tips that will help you avoid errors and data loss throughout migration:

1. Plan the migration of each SharePoint customization carefully.
2. Make sure that the crafted process is secure enough to protect your crucial data.
3. Consider all the legal and compliance requirements to abide by during the process.
4. Take a comprehensive backup of all the data stored within the SharePoint site.
5. Efficiently handle customizations associated to deprecated features.
6. Always rely on a professional SharePoint migration tool for the best results.

Conclusion

SharePoint site involves site content, lists, libraries, web parts, metadata, customizations, workflows, and a lot more. To perform a smooth SharePoint migration without losing customizations or workflows, you need to be even more cautious; otherwise, there can be potential data loss. Use a professional SharePoint migrator to migrate SharePoint sites with all the data, their original structure, and carefully mapped permissions. You can avoid information clutter in the destination with a tool like Kernel Migration for SharePoint. It supports SharePoint site migration along with the granular control on what data you need to migrate.