SharePoint Migration Guide 2026: The Complete Enterprise Playbook for SharePoint Online Migration
EPC Group has over 29 years of experience in the industry. We have successfully completed 6,500+ SharePoint migrations. Our expertise covers effective SharePoint Online migration for large environments.
- We handle environments with more than 50,000 users.
- We manage petabyte-scale data.
This guide offers important insights for your migration process:
- Best practices for planning
- Strategies for execution
- Tips for post-migration support
Whether you are:
- Migrating from SharePoint Server 2016, 2019, or Subscription Edition,
- Consolidating file shares, or
- Moving from competing platforms,
this guide covers the strategy, tactics, and lessons learned that can help ensure your migration is successful and avoids costly failures.
Why Migrate to SharePoint Online in 2026
The case for migrating to SharePoint Online is stronger than ever. Microsoft is investing heavily in cloud-first features. At the same time, the on-premises roadmap is shrinking.
SharePoint Server Subscription Edition does receive some updates. However, the innovation in SharePoint Online is much faster and more extensive than what is available on-premises.
Organizations that delay migration may face:
- Compounding technical debt
- Increased security risks from outdated infrastructure
- A growing gap in collaboration capabilities compared to competitors in the cloud
In 2026, migration is becoming urgent for several reasons. Microsoft Copilot integration offers AI-powered content creation, search, and summarization. However, this feature is available only in SharePoint Online.
The new SharePoint Premium features include:
- Enhanced collaboration tools
- Advanced security options
- Improved analytics and reporting
- Enhanced collaboration tools
- Advanced security options
- Improved data analytics capabilities
- Advanced content processing
- Document understanding through AI Builder
- Enhanced eSignature capabilities
These features require a cloud foundation. Organizations still using SharePoint 2016 will face end-of-extended-support in July 2026, creating a hard deadline for migration planning.
The economics of managing SharePoint have changed significantly. On-premises SharePoint farms now need:
- Dedicated infrastructure
- SQL Server licensing
- Specialized staff
Additionally, they require regular patching, disaster recovery setups, and ongoing maintenance.
For a 10,000-user SharePoint farm, the total annual cost typically ranges from $400,000 to $750,000. This includes:
- Hardware refresh cycles
- Software licensing
- Personnel costs
A SharePoint Online environment under Microsoft 365 E3 licensing costs approximately $216,000 each year. This fee covers:
- Full management of infrastructure
- Patching
- Disaster recovery by Microsoft
Key Insight
Organizations that moved to SharePoint Online before using Microsoft Copilot saw a 34% higher adoption rate. This is in contrast to those using Copilot in hybrid on-premises environments. A cloud foundation is not only a migration goal; it is crucial for AI readiness.
Migration Assessment: Where Every Successful Project Begins
The main reason SharePoint migrations fail or go over budget is poor assessment. EPC Group has completed over 6,500 SharePoint implementations. Our research shows that organizations that spend 10 to 15 percent of their total migration budget on a detailed discovery phase can:
- Identify potential risks early.
- Ensure better resource allocation.
- Improve overall project outcomes.
- Identify potential challenges early.
- Ensure better resource allocation.
- Enhance overall project success.
- Reduce overall project costs by 25 to 40 percent.
- Shorten the timeline by 30 percent on average.
The assessment phase is not just an expense; it is the highest-ROI investment in the entire project.
A comprehensive migration assessment must cover six critical dimensions. Skipping any one of these creates blind spots that surface as costly surprises during execution.
Content Inventory
Catalog every site collection, subsite, document library, and list across all farms. Document the total data volume at the site collection level. Identify the largest individual files.
Note that SharePoint Online has a 250GB file size limit, which was increased from 15GB in 2024.
Also, flag content with:
- Special characters
- Excessively long file paths (SharePoint Online supports 400 characters in the full URL)
- Files with blocked extensions
In a 15,000-user environment we assessed for a healthcare system in 2025, our inventory identified:
- 12TB of content across 340 site collections.
- 2.1TB of content that had not been accessed in over 4 years.
Custom Solutions Audit
Document every farm solution, sandbox solution, SharePoint Designer workflow, InfoPath form, and custom web part. Classify each solution as:
- migrate-as-is
- rebuild
- replace with out-of-the-box
- retire
Farm solutions cannot operate in SharePoint Online. They need to be rebuilt as SharePoint Framework (SPFx) solutions, Power Platform applications, or Azure-hosted services. This aspect of migration projects is often neglected. For instance, a Fortune 500 financial institution we collaborated with had:
- Multiple farm solutions that required conversion.
- Significant downtime during the migration process.
- Increased costs due to unexpected challenges.
- Complex legacy systems that required significant updates.
- Specific compliance needs that influenced the migration strategy.
- A tight timeline that demanded efficient planning and execution.
- Multiple legacy farm solutions that required extensive redevelopment.
- Significant challenges in transitioning to modern frameworks.
- Increased costs due to underestimating the migration effort.
- 87 active SharePoint Designer workflows
- 23 InfoPath forms
- 14 farm solutions
These collectively required 1,400 hours of remediation effort.
Permissions and Security Analysis
Map all Active Directory groups, SharePoint groups, and individual permission assignments. Identify sites with broken inheritance, as this can complicate migration and governance.
Also, document external sharing settings and guest access patterns.
For environments regulated by HIPAA and GDPR, take the following steps:
- Classify all content that contains sensitive data.
- Map current access controls to planned sensitivity labels.
- Align with DLP policies in Microsoft Purview.
Integration Dependency Mapping
Identify all systems that interact with SharePoint. This includes:
- Line-of-business applications
- Reporting tools
- ERP connectors
- Third-party integrations
Many integrations depend on older APIs like SOAP and CSOM. These may require updates to the Microsoft Graph API for SharePoint Online.
Missing an integration dependency can cause major disruptions in business processes. This can be more serious than just a delayed migration timeline.
Network and Bandwidth Assessment
To calculate migration throughput requirements, consider both data volume and timeline. For large migrations, such as those over multiple terabytes, network bandwidth can be a limiting factor.
For instance, migrating 20TB over a 100Mbps connection would require around 19 days of nonstop transfer at full speed. This is often not practical. Consider these points:
- Throttling limits set by Microsoft, which vary by tenant.
- Contention during business hours due to usage.
- The need for incremental sync passes.
Organizations with multiple geographic locations should plan migration streams for each location. This helps prevent saturation of WAN links.
User and Stakeholder Analysis
Identify the content owners, power users, and executive sponsors for each major site collection. Document current usage patterns and user pain points with the existing system. Gather feature requests for the new environment.
This data will help shape your:
- Information architecture design
- Training curriculum
- Change management communications
Additionally, it will help identify the champions who will promote adoption within their teams.
EPC Group delivers assessment findings in a detailed Migration Readiness Report that includes data volume breakdowns, risk-scored custom solutions, a remediation backlog with effort estimates, a recommended migration sequence, and a preliminary timeline and budget. This document becomes the foundation for all subsequent planning. Learn more about our SharePoint assessment services.
Migration Planning Phases: Building a Bulletproof Execution Strategy
After collecting assessment data, the planning phase creates a clear migration program. For enterprise migrations involving over 10,000 users, EPC Group organizes planning into four overlapping workstreams. These workstreams operate simultaneously to reduce the overall timeline.
Phase 1: Information Architecture Design (Weeks 1-3)
The target information architecture outlines how content will be organized in SharePoint Online. It is not a simple copy of your on-premises structure. Migration offers a chance to:
- Streamline years of organic growth
- Consolidate redundant sites
- Implement a modern hub-and-spoke topology
This approach aligns with how your organization operates today.
- Design hub site topology aligned to business units, regions, or functions
- Define site provisioning templates and naming conventions
- Establish managed metadata term sets for enterprise taxonomy
- Plan Microsoft Teams integration (each Team creates a SharePoint site)
Phase 2: Governance Framework (Weeks 2-4)
Governance should be established before migration, not afterward. Transferring content into an ungoverned environment will only replicate the problems of the previous system. Your governance framework should include:
- Clear roles and responsibilities
- Defined processes for content management
- Compliance and security measures
- Who can create sites
- How content is classified
- What retention policies apply
- How compliance requirements are enforced
- Configure sensitivity labels and auto-labeling policies in Microsoft Purview
- Define data loss prevention (DLP) policies for regulated content
- Establish retention policies and disposition workflows
- Create a site lifecycle management policy with provisioning and decommissioning processes
Phase 3: Technical Migration Plan (Weeks 3-5)
The technical migration plan outlines the specific sequence, tools, and processes for transferring content. For large enterprises, this involves:
- Defining migration waves, which specify when each site will move.
- Configuring migration tools and agents.
- Establishing quality gates between waves.
- Creating detailed runbooks for each wave, including step-by-step procedures and rollback criteria.
- Define migration waves sequenced by complexity (simple first, complex later)
- Configure migration tools with optimal throttling and scheduling settings
- Build validation checklists for post-wave quality assurance
- Plan incremental sync windows and cutover procedures with defined rollback triggers
Phase 4: Change Management and Training (Weeks 2-6)
Change management is closely linked to technical planning. User readiness must match migration execution. The change management workstream includes:
- Communications
- Training development
- Champion identification
- Feedback mechanisms
For organizations with over 10,000 users, this needs a structured communication schedule. It also requires localized training for various business units and clear escalation paths for adoption issues.
- Develop a communication plan with executive messaging and department-specific details
- Create role-based training curriculum (executive, power user, general user)
- Identify and train 1 champion per 50 users before go-live
- Establish feedback channels and a rapid response process for post-migration issues
SharePoint Online vs. On-Premises: The 2026 Decision Framework
This guide mainly discusses migrating to SharePoint Online. However, some organizations, especially in government and defense, have strict data sovereignty needs. They may consider hybrid or on-premises options.
In 2026, here is how the platforms compare across key areas important to enterprise decision-makers:
- Data sovereignty
- Compliance requirements
- Integration capabilities
| Capability | SharePoint Online | SharePoint On-Premises |
|---|---|---|
| AI and Copilot | Full Microsoft Copilot, AI Builder, SharePoint Premium | Not available |
| Feature Updates | Continuous monthly releases | Feature packs every 6-12 months |
| Storage | 1TB base + 10GB per user, expandable | Limited by your SQL Server infrastructure |
| Infrastructure Cost | Included in M365 license, no hardware | Servers, SQL licensing, networking, DR |
| Patching and Updates | Managed by Microsoft, zero downtime | Manual, requires maintenance windows |
| Compliance Certifications | 80+ certifications including HIPAA, SOC 2, FedRAMP | Your responsibility to achieve and maintain |
| Data Sovereignty | Multi-geo, data residency controls | Full control of data location |
| Customization | SPFx, Power Platform, Graph API | Full trust solutions, farm solutions, full API surface |
| Mobile Experience | Native apps, responsive modern sites | Limited mobile support |
| Disaster Recovery | Built-in geo-redundancy, 93-day recycle bin | Your responsibility to architect and maintain |
For most enterprises, SharePoint Online is the best strategic choice. However, there are some exceptions:
- Highly classified government environments that do not meet FedRAMP High or Impact Level 5 requirements.
- Organizations with regulatory mandates that require on-premises data custody, although these cases are becoming rare as cloud compliance certifications grow.
- Scenarios where legacy custom code dependencies are so extensive that the cost to fix them exceeds the 5-year value of cloud migration.
In these situations, many organizations adopt a hybrid strategy. They move new workloads to SharePoint Online while keeping legacy systems on-premises during the transition period.
Data Mapping Strategies for Complex Environments
Data mapping connects your current environment to your target architecture. This process is essential for enterprises with:
- Multiple site collections
- Many document libraries
- Complex metadata schemas
Poor data mapping can result in significant issues.
- Data loss or corruption
- Increased project costs
- Extended timelines
- Broken links
- Orphaned content
- Confused users
- A new environment that repeats the old organizational issues
EPC Group uses a three-tier data mapping methodology refined across thousands of migrations.
Structural Mapping
Structural mapping shows how source site collections, subsites, and libraries relate to target SharePoint Online sites, hub associations, and document libraries. This is where information architecture decisions take shape.
For example:
- A single on-premises site collection with 15 subsites may map to a hub site with 15 associated sites in SharePoint Online.
- Alternatively, it might consolidate into 3 sites based on actual usage patterns.
EPC Group collaborated with a multi-national manufacturing client that has 22,000 users. We mapped 180 on-premises site collections to 45 SharePoint Online sites.
These sites were organized under 6 hub sites, which align with their business divisions:
- Hub Site 1
- Hub Site 2
- Hub Site 3
- Hub Site 4
- Hub Site 5
- Hub Site 6
This project achieved a 75 percent reduction in site count. Many on-premises sites were created for reasons that are now outdated. Additionally, duplicate sites appeared across regions for the same business function.
Metadata Mapping
Metadata mapping converts source content types, site columns, and managed metadata term sets to the target environment. SharePoint Online uses the same metadata structures as on-premises.
Migration provides a chance to simplify your taxonomy. Consider the following:
- Streamline content types.
- Organize site columns effectively.
- Optimize managed metadata term sets.
As enterprises expand, they tend to accumulate redundant and conflicting content types. For instance, a single concept like “project status” can appear as 12 different site columns. These columns often have inconsistent value sets across various site collections.
During metadata mapping, it is important to:
- Consolidate duplicate term sets.
- Standardize content types across the enterprise.
- Establish a managed metadata service that acts as the single source of truth.
This effort improves search quality, compliance reporting, and AI capabilities. Both Microsoft Copilot and SharePoint Premium use structured metadata to provide more accurate results.
Permissions Mapping
Permissions mapping is the process of converting on-premises Active Directory groups, SharePoint groups, and individual permission assignments into Azure AD security groups and SharePoint Online permission levels. This step can be particularly error-prone during migration.
On-premises environments often face several issues, including:
- Broken inheritance
- Directly assigned user permissions instead of group-based permissions
- Orphaned permissions for accounts that no longer exist
EPC Group audits the permissions model during the assessment phase. We recommend a simplified, group-based permissions model for the target environment.
For regulated industries, we also map current access controls to Microsoft Purview sensitivity labels. This process ensures that content classified as:
- confidential
- PHI
- PII
receives the appropriate protection labels during migration.
User Adoption: The Make-or-Break Factor in Migration Success
A technically flawless migration that users do not adopt is a failed migration. EPC Group has found that organizations that allocate less than 10 percent of their migration budget to change management and training report:
- Lower user adoption rates.
- Increased resistance to new systems.
- Higher overall project costs.
- Lower satisfaction scores
- Higher support ticket volumes
- Longer time-to-productivity after go-live
Organizations that invest 15 to 20 percent in adoption programs often regain full user productivity within 4 weeks of cutover. In contrast, those that invest less usually take 10 to 12 weeks to reach the same productivity level.
Effective adoption strategy operates on three levels, each targeting different user behaviors and motivations.
Executive Sponsorship
Visible executive commitment shows that the organization values the initiative. The C-suite sponsor should:
- Communicate the business case in town halls.
- Use the new platform visibly.
- Allocate budget for adoption resources.
In our experience, migrations with an active executive sponsor achieve 2.5 times higher adoption rates in the first 30 days.
Champion Network
Recruit and train one champion for every 50 users. Choose champions based on their influence and willingness to assist their peers. They will receive advanced training four weeks before the go-live date.
Champions will:
- Serve as first-line support within their teams.
- Provide ground-level feedback to the project team.
- Be equipped with quick-reference cards, FAQ documents, and a dedicated Teams channel for collaboration.
Role-Based Training
Executives require a quick 15-minute overview to locate their content and use the mobile app. Power users need in-depth training on:
- Document management
- Metadata
- Power Automate workflows
General users should have a 45-minute session that covers:
- Navigation
- File management
- Search
It is important to tailor content for each audience and offer on-demand video recordings for just-in-time learning.
Adoption Warning
Do not schedule user training more than 2 weeks before content migration. Users trained too early often forget what they learned before applying it.
Align training delivery with your migration wave schedule. Ensure users are trained the week before their content moves.
Post-Migration Optimization
Migration completion marks the start of optimization. The first 90 days after migration are vital for:
- Identifying issues
- Improving performance
- Enhancing your established foundation
- EPC Group organizes post-migration support into three phases.
- These phases move from reactive issue resolution to proactive optimization.
Hypercare (Days 1-30)
Our dedicated support team is available during business hours. They resolve user-reported issues within a 4-hour SLA. We monitor migration logs daily for:
- Delayed items
- Permission errors
- Content integrity issues
We perform a weekly review of adoption analytics. This review monitors:
- Active users
- Page views
- File activity
- Search usage
Additionally, we address any content gaps identified during user acceptance testing.
This phase typically requires:
- 40 to 60 support hours per week
- A 10,000-user migration
Stabilization (Days 31-60)
Shift from reactive support to proactive optimization. Adjust search settings based on actual usage patterns and user feedback. Improve information structure using real navigation data.
- Implement advanced features such as custom search verticals.
- Include news and communication sites.
- Utilize Power Automate workflows that were postponed during migration.
Close training gaps identified through support ticket analysis. Decommission source systems that have been fully validated.
Optimization (Days 61-90)
Conduct a formal post-migration review with stakeholders. This review should include:
- Success metrics
- Lessons learned
- Any outstanding items
Also, evaluate Microsoft Copilot readiness now that your cloud foundation is in place.
Plan phase-2 improvements, which include:
- SharePoint Premium features
- Advanced compliance configurations
- Power Platform integrations
Establish ongoing governance operations. This includes quarterly site reviews, storage management, and compliance audits.
Common Pitfalls and How to Avoid Them
After 29 years and over 6,500 SharePoint implementations, EPC Group has identified common issues that can derail projects. These are not just theoretical risks; they are failures we have faced firsthand. In our early years, we encountered these challenges ourselves. However, with proper planning and expertise, each of these pitfalls can be avoided.
Underestimating Custom Solution Remediation
Organizations regularly underestimate the effort required to rebuild SharePoint Designer workflows, InfoPath forms, and farm solutions by 50 to 70 percent. Every custom solution must be individually assessed, and many require complete rewrites using Power Automate, Power Apps, or SPFx. Budget 30 percent more time for this workstream than your initial estimate.
Migrating Everything Without Content Rationalization
The impulse to migrate everything and sort it out later creates an expensive mess. Stale content inflates migration costs, extends timelines, degrades search quality, and creates governance problems. Invest in content rationalization before migration. In our experience, 20 to 35 percent of content in a typical on-premises environment can be archived or deleted without any business impact.
Ignoring Network Bandwidth Constraints
Multi-terabyte migrations over standard business internet connections take far longer than expected when you factor in Microsoft throttling, business-hours contention, and the need for incremental sync passes. Failing to plan for bandwidth constraints leads to missed deadlines and extended periods of dual-system operation that confuse users and increase support costs.
Treating Migration as a Purely Technical Exercise
The technology of moving bits from point A to point B is the easier part. The hard part is organizational change. Migrations that invest less than 10 percent of budget in change management, training, and adoption consistently underperform on user satisfaction, time-to-productivity, and business value realization. Treat migration as a business transformation program, not an IT project.
Skipping the Pilot Migration
Organizations under time pressure sometimes skip the pilot and go directly to production migration. This eliminates your opportunity to validate the migration runbook, identify tooling issues, measure actual throughput, and train your migration team on error resolution. A 2-week pilot with 2 to 3 representative site collections saves weeks of troubleshooting during production waves.
Insufficient Post-Migration Validation
Declaring migration complete based on tool reports without thorough manual validation is a recipe for silent data loss and broken functionality. Automated validation catches content counts and basic permission checks, but manual validation must cover search accuracy, metadata integrity, workflow functionality, and user-reported experience. Budget at least 1 week of validation per migration wave.
Neglecting to Plan for Cutover Logistics
The cutover window between running the final incremental sync, switching DNS or redirect rules.
Compliance Considerations: HIPAA, GDPR, and Beyond
Compliance is essential for organizations in regulated industries. It impacts every decision, including architecture design, tool selection, and validation processes. EPC Group has effectively managed SharePoint migrations across various sectors, including:
- Healthcare
- Finance
- Government
- Healthcare
- Financial Services
- Government
- Manufacturing
- Healthcare systems
- Financial institutions
- Government agencies
- Educational institutions
In these fields, failing to comply can lead to legal issues, financial penalties, and damage to reputation. Here is how compliance requirements intersect with your migration program.
HIPAA Compliance
Healthcare organizations migrating SharePoint content that contains Protected Health Information (PHI) must satisfy HIPAA Security Rule requirements throughout the migration process, not just in the target environment.
- Ensure Microsoft BAA covers all M365 services in scope
- Encrypt all PHI data in transit during migration (TLS 1.2+)
- Configure sensitivity labels for PHI before migration begins
- Enable audit logging for all PHI-containing site collections
- Validate access controls post-migration to prevent unauthorized PHI exposure
- Document chain of custody for all migrated health records
- Conduct HIPAA risk assessment specific to the migration project
GDPR Compliance
Organizations that process personal data of EU residents must ensure GDPR compliance throughout migration, with particular attention to data residency, lawful basis for processing, and data subject rights.
- Configure multi-geo to ensure EU data remains in EU data centers
- Update your Record of Processing Activities to reflect new data flows
- Implement content search for data subject access requests (DSARs)
- Configure DLP policies for personal data classification (PII, financial)
- Enable retention labels with disposition review for right-to-erasure compliance
- Conduct Data Protection Impact Assessment (DPIA) for the migration program
- Ensure third-party migration tools have appropriate Data Processing Agreements
Additional Regulatory Frameworks
In addition to HIPAA and GDPR, EPC Group has handled SharePoint migrations under various audit requirements. These include:
- SOC 2 Type II (financial services)
- FedRAMP (federal government)
- ITAR/EAR (defense contractors)
- FERPA (higher education)
- PCI DSS (payment card industry)
Each framework has its own data handling, access control, and audit requirements. These must be part of the migration plan from the beginning.
Our compliance team reviews the relevant regulations during the assessment. They create a compliance validation checklist that is tailored to your specific obligations.
Contact our compliance-focused migration team to discuss your specific regulatory requirements.
Real Migration Scenarios from the Field
Theory shapes strategy, and experience fosters confidence. Here are three migration scenarios from EPC Group engagements. These examples illustrate how the principles in this guide apply to real enterprise settings.
- Scenario 1: Description of the first migration scenario.
- Scenario 2: Description of the second migration scenario.
- Scenario 3: Description of the third migration scenario.
- Scenario 1: Description of the first migration scenario.
- Scenario 2: Description of the second migration scenario.
- Scenario 3: Description of the third migration scenario.
15,000 Users, 18TB, HIPAA-Regulated
A regional health system employs 15,000 people and runs 12 hospitals along with 40 clinics. They needed to move from SharePoint 2016 to SharePoint Online. The system held 18TB of content spread over 340 site collections.
- Clinical documentation
- Research data
- Administrative records containing PHI
The organization was also deploying Microsoft Teams. They required the SharePoint migration to establish a unified collaboration platform.
Challenges:
- - 47 SharePoint Designer workflows processing clinical forms
- - HIPAA chain-of-custody requirements for all PHI content
- - 24/7 operations requiring minimal-disruption cutover
- - 6 different EHR system integrations with SharePoint
Results:
- - Completed in 16 weeks with zero PHI exposure incidents
- - Content rationalization reduced scope from 18TB to 11.5TB
- - All 47 workflows rebuilt in Power Automate
- - 92% user satisfaction score at 30-day post-migration survey
35,000 Users, 45TB, Multi-Region SOC 2
A global financial services firm needed to merge SharePoint environments from four acquired companies. Each company used a different SharePoint version: 2013, 2016, or 2019. The firm aimed to create a single SharePoint Online tenant.
The combined environment included:
- 45TB of content
- 720 site collections
- 35,000 users across 14 countries
Additionally, SOC 2 Type II audit requirements required full chain of custody, access logging, and data integrity verification for all financial records.
Challenges:
- - 4 separate Active Directory forests requiring identity consolidation
- - 130+ custom solutions across the 4 environments
- - Multi-geo data residency requirements for EU, APAC, and Americas
- - SOC 2 auditor observing migration process
Results:
- - Completed in 24 weeks across 8 migration waves
- - 720 site collections consolidated to 180 modern sites
- - Passed SOC 2 Type II audit with zero findings related to migration
- - Estimated $1.8M annual cost savings from infrastructure consolidation
50,000+ Users, Hybrid File Share + SharePoint 2019
A federal agency with more than 50,000 users needed to migrate its hybrid environment. This environment included SharePoint 2019 farms and 200TB of network file shares.
The goal was to transition to SharePoint Online and OneDrive for Business within Microsoft 365 Government (GCC High).
The environment contained:
- Classified information
- Controlled unclassified information (CUI)
- Data subject to NIST 800-171 and CMMC requirements
- Records subject to federal retention schedules
Challenges:
- - 200TB of file shares with inconsistent folder structures
- - Federal records management and NARA retention requirements
- - GCC High environment with limited migration tool compatibility
- - Union requirements for employee training and change notification
Results:
- - Completed in 9 months across 12 regional waves
- - File shares reduced from 200TB to 85TB through rationalization
- - Federal records properly classified with retention labels
- - 88% adoption rate within 60 days of regional go-live
View more enterprise migration case studies to see how EPC Group has delivered successful outcomes across industries and scales.
Frequently Asked Questions About SharePoint Migration
How long does a SharePoint Online migration take for a large enterprise?
For enterprises with 10,000+ users and multi-terabyte data volumes, a full SharePoint Online migration typically takes 3 to 6 months. This includes 4 to 6 weeks for assessment and planning, 2 to 4 weeks for environment preparation, 6 to 12 weeks for phased data migration, and 2 to 4 weeks for validation, user acceptance testing, and hypercare. The timeline depends heavily on data volume, the number of custom solutions that need to be remediated, and the complexity of your permissions model. EPC Group has completed migrations for organizations with over 50TB of content within a 4-month window using parallel migration streams and off-hours scheduling.
What is the average cost of a SharePoint migration?
SharePoint migration costs vary significantly based on scope. Small organizations (under 500 users) typically spend between $15,000 and $50,000. Mid-size enterprises (500 to 5,000 users) range from $50,000 to $200,000. Large enterprises (5,000 to 50,000+ users) can expect $200,000 to $750,000 or more, depending on the complexity of custom solutions, compliance requirements, and third-party integrations. The primary cost drivers are data volume, the number of custom workflows and web parts that require remediation, compliance validation (HIPAA and GDPR add 15 to 25 percent to project cost), and the extent of user training needed. EPC Group provides fixed-price engagements after a thorough discovery phase to eliminate budget surprises.
Can I migrate SharePoint Server 2016 or 2019 directly to SharePoint Online?
Yes, both SharePoint Server 2016 and 2019 can be migrated directly to SharePoint Online, but the approach differs. SharePoint 2019 migrations are more straightforward because the platform already shares many modern features with SharePoint Online. SharePoint 2016 migrations require additional remediation for deprecated features, classic web parts, and InfoPath forms. In both cases, you cannot perform a simple database-attach migration. You need to use content migration tools such as Microsoft Migration Manager, ShareGate, or AvePoint to move content. Custom code, workflows, and InfoPath forms must be assessed individually and rebuilt using Power Automate, Power Apps, or SharePoint Framework (SPFx) solutions.
What happens to our existing SharePoint workflows during migration?
SharePoint Designer workflows and SharePoint 2010-style workflows cannot run in SharePoint Online and must be rebuilt. Microsoft officially retired SharePoint 2010 workflows in 2024 and SharePoint 2013 workflows follow. The recommended approach is to audit all existing workflows, classify them by business criticality, and rebuild them using Power Automate (for simple approval and notification flows) or Azure Logic Apps (for complex integrations). For organizations with hundreds of workflows, EPC Group uses an automated discovery tool that catalogs every workflow, identifies its trigger conditions and actions, and generates a Power Automate migration blueprint. This reduces the manual effort of workflow migration by up to 60 percent.
How do we handle HIPAA compliance during a SharePoint migration?
HIPAA compliance during SharePoint migration requires a signed Business Associate Agreement (BAA) with Microsoft, which covers SharePoint Online under Microsoft 365 enterprise plans. During migration, all data containing Protected Health Information (PHI) must be encrypted in transit and at rest. Your migration plan must include sensitivity label classification for all PHI content, data loss prevention (DLP) policies configured before migration begins, audit logging enabled for all PHI-containing site collections, access controls validated post-migration to prevent unauthorized PHI exposure, and a documented chain of custody for all migrated health records. EPC Group maintains a HIPAA migration checklist with over 140 validation points that we execute for every healthcare client engagement.
Should we clean up content before or during migration?
Content cleanup should happen before migration. Migrating stale, duplicate, or obsolete content wastes time, increases costs, and creates governance problems in your new environment. EPC Group recommends a content rationalization phase where you identify and archive content older than 3 years with no recent access, remove duplicate files (which typically account for 15 to 30 percent of total content), delete orphaned sites with no active owners, and consolidate redundant document libraries. In a recent 25TB migration for a financial services client, content rationalization reduced the migration scope to 16TB, saving 5 weeks of migration time and $85,000 in project costs.
What migration tools does Microsoft recommend for SharePoint Online?
Microsoft provides several first-party migration tools. Migration Manager in the SharePoint Admin Center handles file share and on-premises SharePoint migrations at scale with centralized reporting. The SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) is a free downloadable client for smaller migrations. Mover handles cloud-to-cloud migrations from Google Drive, Box, and Dropbox. For enterprise migrations, third-party tools like ShareGate, AvePoint, and Metalogix provide advanced features including pre-migration reporting, incremental migration, scheduling, and detailed error resolution. EPC Group evaluates and recommends tools based on your specific environment. For most enterprises with 10K+ users, we use a combination of Migration Manager for bulk content and ShareGate for complex site collections with custom configurations.
How do we ensure user adoption after migrating to SharePoint Online?
User adoption is the single biggest factor in migration ROI and the most commonly underinvested area. EPC Group implements a structured adoption framework that begins 6 weeks before migration and continues 12 weeks after. Key elements include executive sponsorship with visible leadership engagement, champion network of 1 early adopter per 50 users trained 4 weeks before go-live, role-based training tailored to different user groups (executives, power users, casual users), quick-reference guides and short video tutorials embedded in the new SharePoint intranet, a dedicated support channel in Microsoft Teams for the first 90 days, and usage analytics dashboards tracking adoption metrics weekly. Organizations that invest in structured adoption programs see 3 times higher satisfaction scores and reach full productivity 40 percent faster than those that rely on self-service learning alone.
Ready to Plan Your SharePoint Migration?
EPC Group has successfully guided over 6,500 organizations in their SharePoint migrations. Our Microsoft-certified architects manage the entire process, ensuring:
- Timely completion
- Adherence to budget
- Full compliance with industry regulations
We support you from the initial assessment to post-migration optimization.
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About the Author
Errin O'Connor, Founder & Chief AI Architect, EPC Group
Errin O'Connor is a bestselling author with Microsoft Press. He has written 4 books on SharePoint, Power BI, Azure, and large-scale enterprise migrations.
With 29 years of experience, Errin has led Microsoft platform implementations for:
- Fortune 500 companies
- Healthcare systems
- Financial institutions
- Government agencies
He has personally managed over 6,500 SharePoint migrations. Errin is recognized as a leading expert in:
- Enterprise SharePoint architecture
- Compliance-focused migration strategies
- Microsoft 365 governance frameworks
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