Valo Intranet Migration for Venture Capital Firm

20 October 2023

The Client

The client is a major venture capital organization.

The Need

The client aimed to replace Valo due to its impending end-of-life in June 2025 and actively sought alternatives. However, they encountered limitations with out-of-the-box SharePoint during their search for a suitable replacement.

The Challenge

The client faced the challenge of preserving data accumulated over several years at Valo sites. The solution needed to replace all current web parts, including the people directory, notification alerts, custom posting capabilities, and branding features, while ensuring ease of management.

The Solution

We conducted an assessment and developed a strategic migration plan and roadmap for the solution. Despite Valo being a mature solution, SharePoint Out-of-the-Box (OOTB), though relatively new, demonstrated robustness comparable to Valo’s intranet solution.

The solution involved creating new SharePoint OOTB sites, migrating and mapping content to new layouts, and decommissioning older sites. Before initiating the project, we conducted a comprehensive analysis using the Star Knowledge Valo Adoption and Migration Assessment Tool Scanner to identify data anomalies, assess Valo’s current use cases, and evaluate adoption.

Following the analysis, features and requirements were mapped, and the solution was executed without data loss. The process included data validation and user training to facilitate adoption. Custom SPFX webparts for people directory, notification center, custom workflow for approval, knowledge management and custom RSS feed reader were developed

The Benefits

1. 1. The successful introduction and implementation of a replacement for Valo’s end-of-life were achieved.
   2. Business continuity and data preservation were guaranteed.
   3. Seamless content migration took place without any loss of data.
   4. A 30% cost savings in licensing was realized.
   5. The chosen solution tool is the Star Knowledge Valo Adoption and Migration Assessment

Technology Used

• • SharePoint
  • Star Knowledge Valo Adoption and Migration Assessment Tool
  • SharePoint Migration Manager
  • SPFX
  • ReactJS

Conclusion

Our strategic approach seamlessly replaced Valo with SharePoint OOTB, ensuring data preservation and business continuity. The cost-effective transition, coupled with a cost savings in terms of maintenance and licensing that demonstrates the efficiency of our solution. Our OOTB offering coupled with customizations on SPFX components helped the client migrate their experiences from Valo to the native SharePoint experience.