‘Migration’ is defined to mean ‘moving from one state or form to another’. Migration is generally a linear-sequential activity. In technical-terminology product/software upgrade is also termed as migration from old version to new release or platform.
The magnitude and complexity of migration projects are challenging to execute in terms of duration and cost. Over a period of time of use of a product, the users demand customization and changes to address their unique business needs. It therefore becomes very important for business continuity to undertake upgrade projects and complete them quickly, on time and with 100% accuracy.
Some of these product upgrades/migration are mandatory and cannot be avoided to align with product lifecycle release and support roadmap. The product’s new release may include enhancements and new features addressing critical updates, issues, errors, security vulnerabilities, etc.
SharePoint 2013, new release by Microsoft in October 2012, is the ideal candidate for upgrade/ migration. As per the official statistics, between the years 2006 to 2011, Microsoft has sold over 36.5 million user licenses. SharePoint is currently being used by 78% of Fortune 500 companies and 93% by SMB segment including SharePoint freeware – (no cost: WSS and Foundation versions).
In case of Microsoft SharePoint, it is advisable to wait up to 6 months or until SP1 (Service Pack 1) is released for the said version. The wait will avoid the early adoption blues or application instability and then plan for migration/upgrade technical roadmap. Now it’s more than 6 months since the release of the base version and relative cumulative updates (CU) are available. With Office365 and SharePoint Online version, it is already at par with SP1 release.
As per our experience, based on the volume of data, number of sites/sub-sites and customization of the base product, execution of SharePoint migration projects varies from 8 weeks to 30+ weeks, Most of the migration activities carried out are repetitive and are inter-dependent resulting in added costs and time in completion of the project. Something similar to work on a factory shop-floor….. With automation of the right processes and policies, quality and output can be optimized in a given timeframe.
Axisvation team with deep technical background in SharePoint and vast migration/upgrade experience in SharePoint 2003 to 2007 to 2010, and to 2013 with Fortune 500+ Companies, has built Migration Factory Framework Model (MFFM) based on the theory of Constraints. This model will help to optimize and complete base migration project within a short timeframe of 4 weeks.
The following are key highlights of Axisvation’s Migration Factory Framework Model:
In conclusion, purchasing a product is a big capital expenditure and its complete ROI (Return on Investment) may yield in a stipulated period, however, product maintenance and upgrade costs are equally an integral part of the TCO (Total Cost of Ownership) of the product life cycle. In some cases, if the product is not aligned with its life-cycle-roadmap i.e. required upgrades are not completed in a given timeframe, the ROI yield will reflect negative numbers and the TCO will shoot up to multiple folds.
We have seen some of the early adopters of SharePoint i.e. versions 2003 and 2007 who are still considering migration to the new version. If you too are considering whether to migrate or not, here is the answer…… Migration Factory Framework Model for SharePoint 2013.
For more details and information on Axisvation Migration Factory Framework Model for SharePoint 2013: Click here
Request for Information