Ensuring Continuity of Operations With Expert Cloud Migration Services

Case Study

Ensuring Continuity of Operations
for MCC with an Expert SharePoint
Migration by isolutions

The Customer

And Their Challenge

Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) is committed to delivering sustainable economic growth and poverty reduction to the world’s poorest countries that are committed to just and democratic governance, economic freedom and investing in their populations. They provide time-limited grants to these countries to promote economic growth, reduce poverty, and strengthen institutions and have helped improve the lives of nearly 270 million people across 46 countries and five continents. Continuity of operations is of utmost importance to MCC and the countries they assist, and this was threatened by an outdated legacy system that was no longer supported by Microsoft.

MCC faced the challenge of planning and executing a migration strategy to a modern, cloud-based SharePoint environment. They were concerned that the complexity of their data structure and customizations in their existing environment might not seamlessly transfer to the new system. Ensuring data integrity and user adoption were also issues that needed to be addressed prior to the migration. Additionally, MCC sought to optimize their cloud infrastructure to enhance performance and cost-efficiency throughout the migration process and beyond.

The Solution

i3solutions' Virtual Proposal Center (VPC)

MCC needed an expert IT consultant like i3solutions who could perform discovery and analysis on their current SharePoint 2010 system to determine the best approach for continuity of operations and maximizing server uptime during their migration to Office365 and SharePoint 2019. Both i3solutions and MCC recognized the critical importance of a smooth transition to their new digital workplace.

i3solutions’ reviewed all technical assets including native SharePoint components, workflows, forms, 3rd party tools, content, and permission structures. We also considered interactions from many supporting departments and projected the impact of the transition throughout the organization.

i3solutions recommended a migration approach focused on addressing the transition to a supported environment while also protecting data and content, maintaining security and compliance, minimizing usability impacts on users, preserving functionality and features, and ensuring the migration was completed as quickly as possible.

With over 20 years of SharePoint migration experience and the ability to draw on numerous lessons learned, i3solutions developed a detailed migration plan to ensure a seamless migration for MCC. Our team’s expertise in data mapping, custom integration, and user training enabled us to address the intricate challenges of MCC’s SharePoint migration effectively. By leveraging our extensive knowledge and employing best practices, the migration process aligned with their specific needs and goals while minimizing disruption and maximizing the benefits of their new SharePoint platform.

Technologies

Used in the Solution

i3solutions’ consultants leveraged a wealth of SharePoint experience to develop a robust migration plan. The following technologies provided the ultimate toolkit for a smooth SharePoint Migration:

Office 365 provides MCC with a cloud-powered productivity tool. When combined with SharePoint it delivers a comprehensive collaboration solution for MCC.

SharePoint Online provides MCC with a modern version of SharePoint that offers collaboration and document management capabilities. MCC migrated their content, sites, and data to SharePoint Online to take advantage of its scalability, reliability, and cloud-based features.

ShareGate is a third-party migration tool designed to simplify and streamline SharePoint migrations. This tool ensured a smooth migration process.

Content Discovery was used to identify and analyze MCC’s existing SharePoint 2010 environment, including content, document libraries, lists, and permissions. This discovery phase was crucial for understanding the complexity of the migration.

Data Mapping allowed i3solutions to map MCC’s existing data structure and customizations to the corresponding elements in SharePoint 2019. This ensured that data integrity was maintained during the migration.

i3solutions used ShareGate to facilitate the migration of large volumes of content and data from the old SharePoint environment to SharePoint 2019. It ensured that the content was transferred securely and efficiently, minimizing downtime.

MCC had existing customized forms created in InfoPath. i3solutions developed a seamless integration between SharePoint and the InfoPath forms ensuring continuity of operations after the migration.

SQL Server serves as the backend data storage for MCC’s SharePoint environment. It is essential for ensuring data integrity and maintaining database connections when transitioning to a new environment.

i3solutions also ensured the seamless migration of any existing 3rd party tools used by MCC in their legacy SharePoint environment and that all existing workflows continued to function as designed. The combination of these tools and technologies helped MCC achieve their goals of migrating to a modern, supported SharePoint environment with data integrity, user adoption, and minimal disruptions.

Measurable Benefits
and Business Impact

MCC has realized measurable benefits since their
migration to SharePoint 2019:

Enhanced
Productivity

SharePoint’s modern collaboration features, such as real-time co-authoring and easy sharing of documents, improved collaboration among MCC’s teams. This has increased productivity and allows faster decision-making.

Data Integrity
and Security

SharePoint 2019 provides robust security features, including data encryption, access controls, and data loss prevention policies. This ensures that MCC’s sensitive data is better protected in the new environment and no longer vulnerable to unsupported security threats.

Business
Continuity

The migration strategy recommended by i3solutions ensured minimal downtime during the transition to the new environment. The integrity of existing processes and integrations was maintained, allowing MCC to maintain business continuity without significant disruptions.

Improved
Scalability

SharePoint Online is highly scalable technology, allowing MCC to easily accommodate future growth without the need for extensive infrastructure upgrades. The move to a cloud-based solution reduces the risk of technology obsolescence, as Microsoft regularly updates and improves SharePoint Online.

Guaranteed
Support

Moving to a supported SharePoint version ensures that MCC is protected from security risks, ensures compliance, and enables them to take advantage of the latest features and improvements. It makes it easier for their IT team to maintain the security, stability, and functionality of their SharePoint environment.