SharePoint Migration Readiness and Implementation Plan
Grid4 proposes a phased engagement that starts with business decisions and access cleanup, then moves approved file areas to SharePoint in controlled waves.
Shared folders grew over time. Some access is broad, special, or unclear.
Confirm owners, simplify access, decide what should move or archive.
Business-owned SharePoint areas with clear owners, editors, and readers.
Proposed Engagement
A cleanup-led project designed to avoid moving old file-share confusion into SharePoint.
Confirm business owners and access decisions.
Clean up broad, individual, and special folder access.
Pilot with representative folders before full migration.
Migrate in waves with validation and support.
Recommended Migration Roadmap
Each phase has a plain deliverable and a decision gate before moving forward.
Confirm and design
Owner interviews, existing cloud location review, file usage sample, and readiness scan.
Clean up access
Create owner, editor, and reader groups. Review broad access and restricted folders.
Pilot migration
Move a representative area first, validate files and access, and refine the runbook.
Migration waves
Move approved areas in waves, validate each wave, and support users.
Stabilize and retire old paths
Hypercare, final review, archive decisions, and read-only retirement of old shares.
| Phase | Grid4 work | Expected output | Decision gate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. Confirm and design | Owner interviews, existing cloud location review, file usage sample, file readiness scan. | Owner map, target structure, open decision list. | Approved target structure and decision list. |
| 2. Clean up access | Create owner/editor/reader groups, fix broad edit access, review restricted folders. | Approved access groups and cleanup log. | Access model approved by business owners. |
| 3. Pilot migration | Move a representative area first, validate files and permissions, refine the runbook. | Pilot results, issue list, refined runbook. | Pilot signoff. |
| 4. Migration waves | Move approved areas in waves, validate each wave, support users. | Completed waves with validation notes and support log. | Wave signoffs and issue log. |
| 5. Stabilize and retire old paths | Hypercare, final review, archive/read-only decisions for old shares. | Final review, archive plan, old-path retirement checklist. | Final acceptance. |
Deliverables
What Grid4 will produce during the engagement.
Owner and decision register
A plain-English list of each file area, its owner, access decisions, archive decisions, and open questions.
SharePoint target design
A map of recommended sites, libraries, owner groups, editor groups, and reader groups.
Cleanup backlog and execution plan
A ranked list of cleanup work before migration, focused on broad edit access, individual access, and special restricted folders.
Pilot and migration runbook
Step-by-step migration, validation, cutover, rollback, and support process for each wave.
Evidence-Driven Scope
The engagement is built around the actual file-share findings, not a generic SharePoint migration template.
| Area | What the evidence showed | How it affects the engagement |
|---|---|---|
| Shared | 14,201 findings, including 11,297 broad edit-access findings and several top-level folders with different permissions from their parent. | Phase 1 and Phase 2 must prioritize Shared owner interviews, cleanup, and target structure design. |
| Lynne / commercial-client tree | Largest observed family: Lynne\HIG Commercial Clients with 9,895 findings. | Needs sampling and business structure decision before migration waves. |
| Merrick | Small count but high risk because of special restricted access and person-specific access. | Should not migrate until business owner approves access. |
| Condo Associations | 1,125 findings with lower permission severity but large structure/volume implications. | Needs business-owner structure and archive decisions. |
| Account managers / Forms / Reports | Smaller areas with individual-user access or permission differences from parent folders. | Good candidates for targeted cleanup and controlled SharePoint libraries. |
Client Responsibilities
Decisions Marris Brown will need to make so Grid4 can implement safely.
Business-owner checklist
- Who owns this data?
- Who should edit it?
- Who should only read it?
- Is anything confidential?
- Is anything old enough to archive?
- Is outside sharing allowed?
- Are files tied to apps, scanners, spreadsheets, or mapped drives?
Each major data area needs one business owner who can approve the destination and access.
Confirm owners, editors, readers, and any restricted groups.
Decide what moves, what becomes read-only, and what stays out of active SharePoint.
Identify mapped drives, scanner paths, spreadsheets, templates, or business apps.
Next Steps
Start with decisions and remaining evidence before any large production move.
Immediate recommendation: Begin Phase 1 with business-owner interviews, current usage sampling, file readiness review, and existing SharePoint/OneDrive permission review. Then approve the target structure and access model before cleanup or migration begins.