15 Critical SharePoint Migration Readiness Checks
1. Build a Complete Content Inventory
Start by identifying every SharePoint site, site collection, library, list, folder, document, and relevant workload currently in use.
Record useful information such as
- Owners and administrators
This inventory becomes the baseline for your SharePoint migration assessment.
Action: Create a centralized inventory and classify workloads as migrate, archive, remediate, or retire.
2. Analyze Data Volume and Storage Requirements
Before SharePoint Data Migration begins, determine how much data actually needs to move.
Large environments may contain millions of documents, oversized files, obsolete versions, and unnecessary duplicates. Moving everything without analyzing volume can increase migration time and create unnecessary storage and governance costs.
Check:
- Total storage consumption
- Destination storage requirements
Action: Establish a realistic migration volume and identify high-volume workloads that require separate migration waves.
3. Identify Outdated, Duplicate, and Unnecessary Content
A migration is an opportunity to clean up—not relocate digital clutter.
Look for documents that have not been accessed or modified for years, duplicate files, obsolete project sites, abandoned libraries, and content with no identifiable business owner.
Migrating unnecessary content increases cost and makes the destination harder to manage.
Action: Establish retention and cleanup rules before migration. Get business owners to approve what should be archived or deleted.
4. Review SharePoint Versions and Compatibility
Your source environment matters. Organizations migrating from SharePoint Server 2013, 2016, 2019, Subscription Edition, or another legacy platform may encounter different compatibility considerations.
Review:
- Authentication configuration
- Existing service applications
Action: Document the source architecture and identify components that require replacement, redesign, or remediation before migration.
5. Audit Customizations
Legacy SharePoint environments often contain custom master pages, web parts, solutions, scripts, forms, branding, and other custom development.
Some customizations may not translate directly to SharePoint Online.
For example, a heavily customized SharePoint Server portal may require modernization rather than a straightforward lift-and-shift approach.
Action: Categorize every customization as retain, replace, redesign, or retire. Where appropriate, include SharePoint modernization in the migration roadmap.
6. Review Permissions and Access
Permissions are one of the biggest sources of migration-related problems.
Review:
- Microsoft Entra ID groups
Do not assume that existing permissions are automatically appropriate for the destination environment.
Action: Apply least-privilege principles, remove unnecessary access, and simplify complex permission structures before migration.
7. Audit External Sharing
External sharing deserves its own readiness check because poorly controlled guest access can create security and compliance risks.
Identify:
- External collaboration sites
- Existing sharing policies
Determine which external relationships are still legitimate.
Action: Remove stale external access and define appropriate guest-sharing policies in Microsoft 365 before migration.
8. Evaluate Security Controls
Migration should not weaken your security posture.
Assess authentication, identity protection, access controls, sensitive content, encryption requirements, auditing, and security policies.
Pay particular attention to sites containing:
Action: Map sensitive content to appropriate security controls and validate access after migration.
9. Validate Compliance, Retention, and Governance
Your migration plan should account for regulatory and organizational retention requirements.
Determine whether content is subject to:
- Industry-specific compliance requirements
Simply copying content without understanding its governance requirements can create serious downstream problems.
Action: Document governance requirements before moving regulated or business-critical content.
10. Review Metadata and Content Types
A successful SharePoint content migration involves more than moving documents. Metadata, content types, columns, views, taxonomy, and information architecture can be equally important.
Review:
Poor metadata mapping can make migrated content difficult to search, filter, classify, and manage.
Action: Create a source-to-target mapping for metadata and content types before migration.
11. Assess Workflows and Automation
Legacy SharePoint workflows may depend on technologies or components that are not suitable for the target environment.
Inventory:
Determine which processes can be migrated, rebuilt, replaced, or retired.
Action: Rebuild business-critical workflows using supported Microsoft 365 automation technologies and test them before production cutover.
12. Identify Third-Party Integrations
SharePoint environments frequently integrate with CRM platforms, document management systems, line-of-business applications, reporting tools, backup platforms, and custom applications.
An integration that works against the old environment may fail after migration.
Action: Create an integration dependency map and test every business-critical connection against the target environment.
13. Confirm Microsoft 365 Tenant Readiness
Your destination tenant needs to be ready before migration begins.
Validate:
- SharePoint Online configuration
This is an important part of Microsoft SharePoint Migration because technical readiness at the destination can directly affect migration execution.
Action: Complete a Microsoft 365 tenant readiness review before scheduling production migration waves.
14. Prepare Users and Business Owners
A technically successful migration can still fail if users cannot find their documents or do not understand the new environment.
Prepare users for changes involving:
- Teams and Microsoft 365 integration
- New collaboration processes
Assign business owners to critical sites and workloads.
Action: Create role-based communication and training, and provide users with clear information about what is changing and when.
15. Perform Migration Testing and Validation
Never make the production environment your first migration test.
Run a pilot using representative workloads and validate:
Compare the source and destination systematically.
Action: Define acceptance criteria before the pilot. Only proceed to production after business and technical stakeholders approve the results.
