The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS), a prominent national nonprofit committed to advancing scientific knowledge, encountered a pressing challenge with their outdated SharePoint 2010 system. As the platform neared the end of its support lifecycle, UCS faced the risk of diminished functionality and increased vulnerabilities. This impending obsolescence underscored the urgent need for a modern, supported solution to sustain the organization’s operational efficiency and effectiveness. The limitations of their on- premises SharePoint 2010 farm were becoming more apparent, and Us needed a strategic approach to mitigate potential disruptions to their workflow.
Facilitating Seamless Cloud Migration and Process Automation
Case Study
Facilitating Seamless Cloud
Migration and Process Automation
The Customer
And Their Challenge
To tackle these challenges, UCS engaged i3solutions, aiming to migrate their heavily customized SharePoint 2010 environment to the cloud-based Office 365 platform. This migration not only promised to enhance system performance and security but also provided an opportunity to streamline processes through automation and modern tools. By leveraging i3solutions’ expertise, UCS sought to future-proof their operations while minimizing downtime and ensuring a seamless transition for all users.
The Solution
Cloud Migration and Process Automation
i3Solutions adopted a comprehensive and strategic approach, beginning with an in-depth evaluation of UCS’s legacy SharePoint 2010 farm. This meticulous assessment was crucial in crafting a well-structured, phased migration plan tailored to UCS’s specific needs. During the pre-migration planning phase, i3solutions worked closely with UCS to thoroughly assess their business requirements and create an optimized site structure that better aligned with their organizational framework.
The SharePoint 2010 farm, which featured over 25 customizations with compiled source code, was carefully analyzed by i3Solutions. Each customization was evaluated for its relevance and functionality, leading to decisions to replace, retire, or reengineer them for Office 365. i3Solutions utilized lightweight front-end client scripting, including JavaScript, Query, and AngularJS, to ensure the customizations were modernized effectively.
Given the substantial volume of content to be migrated, the process was scheduled over four weekends. i3solutions engaged extensively with stakeholders, ensuring that the migration’s impact on key processes was minimized. Effective communication and coordination were critical in guaranteeing a smooth transition with minimal disruption.
Post-migration, i3solutions provided essential support to UCS’s IT portal team, serving as a second-tier escalation point. This ongoing assistance ensured that the team could gradually take over the volume of support requests, facilitating a seamless operational handover.
In the second phase of the project, i3solutions focused on re-engineering selected applications for Office 365. Demonstrating a deep understanding of UCS’s internal processes, i3solutions developed process maps, wireframe diagrams, and detailed application documentation. This collaborative effort involved direct engagement with over 10 different UCS departments, ensuring their unique requirements were meticulously documented and addressed.
Beyond the migration, i3solutions leveraged their expertise to develop workflow solutions aimed at automating and tracking UCS’s internal processes, ensuring greater efficiency and transparency across the organization. These solutions were tailored to seamlessly integrate with UCS’s existing systems, providing long-term scalability and adaptability as their needs evolve.
i3solutions’ development of SharePoint workflows, JavaScript forms, and the implementation of migration tools demonstrated our exceptional expertise in both migration and the entire software development lifecycle. Our commitment extended beyond just development, as we also provided robust post- implementation support, ensuring seamless integration and long-term success for UCS.
Technologies
Used in the Solution
Office 365 is a cloud-based suite of productivity and collaboration tools from Microsoft, including applications like Word, Excel, and SharePoint, designed to enhance communication and streamline workflows. For UCS, Office 365 provides a modernized foundation by integrating these tools into a unified platform that supports advanced collaboration, data management, and scalable infrastructure, enabling greater flexibility and efficiency in their operations.
AngularJS is a structural framework for building dynamic web applications, offering a robust | client-side MVC (Model-View-Controller) architecture that simplifies both development and testing. During the migration from SharePoint 2010 to Office 365, AngularJS was instrumental in reengineering customizations. By leveraging its structured MVC approach, i3solutions modularized and enhanced front-end scripting, ensuring a seamless transition of functionalities to the Office 365 platform.
jQuery is a fast, concise JavaScript library that simplifies tasks such as HTML document manipulation, event handling, and animation, leading to cleaner, more efficient code. i3solutions integrated jQuery into their client-side scripting toolkit, utilizing its streamlined syntax and powerful features to boost the performance of JavaScript code during reengineering. This enhancement significantly improves the efficiency and responsiveness of the user experience in the migrated Office 365 environment.
SharePoint, part of the Office 365 suite, is a collaborative platform that helps organizations manage documents and automate business processes through custom workflows. i3solutions utilized SharePoint workflows to streamline and track UCS’s internal processes, developing tailored solutions for various departments to standardize and enhance tasks such as document approvals, collaboration, and data management.
JavaScript is essential for client-side interactions, offering the lightweight versatility needed to reengineer customizations from the SharePoint 2010 farm. i3solutions leveraged JavaScript to tackle over 25 customizations with compiled source code in the legacy system, efficiently adapting them for seamless compatibility with the modern Office 365 environment. JavaScript forms enhance user interactions with dynamic interfaces and streamline data entry for a smoother transition and improved user experience.
ShareGate is a migration and management tool that simplifies the transfer of content and configurations between SharePoint environments and Office 365, ensuring efficient and reliable data migration. Both ShareGate and SharePoint’s internal migration tool were essential for transferring data from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint Online in Office 365. i3solutions everaged these tools to ensure data integrity, minimize downtime, and achieve a seamless migration, laying the foundation for a modern, adaptable digital infrastructure.
Measurable Benefits
and Business Impact
Cost
Savings
By leveraging Microsoft’s free hosting for eligible non- profits, UCS realized immediate cost savings in hosting expenses. This financial relief allows UCS to allocate resources to other critical areas of their mission, amplifying the impact of their advocacy efforts.
Operational Continuity
For UCs, an expertly planned migration by i3solutions minimized downtime by strategically scheduling the transfer of their SharePoint environment, ensuring continuity of operations throughout the process. This meticulous approach allowed UCS’s systems to remain functional, enabling users to transition smoothly and maintain productivity without disrupting daily activities or risking data loss.
Enhanced Collaboration
The transition to Office 365 fosters enhanced collaboration among UCS departments. i3solutions’ development of workflow solutions, including SharePoint workflows and JavaScript forms, promotes seamless information flow and improves inter- departmental collaboration.
Improved Adaptability
The phased migration plan, combined with i3solutions’ proactive development of a new site structure, emphasized modernization and adaptability to UCS’s evolving business needs. Reengineering applications for Office 365 underscored a commitment to future- proofing UCS’s digital infrastructure, ensuring long- term scalability and relevance.
Increased Data Integrity
Reliable migration tools and robust support preserved data accuracy and consistency, enhancing trust in the new system. This ensured that UCS could confidently rely on the migrated data for critical decision-making and operational processes.
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