Migrating from one Microsoft 365 tenant to another is rarely a simple ask. It often involves complex considerations across workloads, identities, devices, applications, user experience, and more. Success starts with asking the right questions early and building a strategy that aligns with organisational needs.
This post outlines some of the important questions to consider during the planning phase of a tenant-to-tenant migration project. These questions will help uncover hidden complexities, avoid surprises, and shape a realistic migration strategy. It is by no means a complete list.
Identities
- What will happen to identities? Will they be cloud identities, or will an on-premises synced directory solution such as Active Directory need to also be considered as part of the migration activity?
- How will users be provisioned in the target tenant?
- Does Guest user access need planning and communication?
Devices
- Are existing devices joined to Active Directory, Entra joined, or Hybrid joined?
- Is now a good time to go fully Entra joined and Intune managed for Windows devices?
- Can the organisation realistically support the number of devices needing to be provisioned, reset or reconfigured? Can a rolling pool of new or reprovisioned devices enable a more efficient means of managing devices in a new environment?
- Will users inherit the current configuration in the target tenant, or is there a need to segregate configuration and assignment?
- Do mobile devices and BYOD scenarios need to be considered?
Migration specifics
- Which tenant workloads are currently in use, and which need to be migrated?
- Are all workloads directly migratable, or will some require manual recreation or reconfiguration?
- Is it necessary to migrate all users and underlying content, or can the number be reduced, for example, stale data in SharePoint, or OneDrive, or users that are no longer part of the organisation?
- Does a 3rd party toolset enable better management and introduce efficiencies that support the migration?
- Can all users be migrated as a single cutover event, or is it more practical to split users into tranches over a longer period of time, enabling coexistence between tenants?
- Is there scope to run a pilot migration prior to a wider production user/workload migration?
- Will any on-premises (if applicable) solutions be impacted, and if so how will they be addressed as part of the migration?
- Can some tasks be completed prior to migration? For example, MFA registration on the new user accounts.
- Is the timeline for a migration practical? It’s very difficult to gauge how long it will take for workload data to be migrated due to various reasons. Committing to delivering a migration by a defined date is often a bad idea, and there should be plenty of flexibility to enable more time if needed, rather than sacrificing the quality of the migration.
Applications and integrated solutions
- Are there other solutions such as Telephony solutions that need consideration, and is now perhaps a good time to introduce alternative solutions such as Teams Phone, or Defender security solutions?
- Are there any 3rd party integrated services or solutions that need planning and consideration? ERP, HR, or Azure services for example.
- Are there Enterprise applications in use that will need recreating in the target, tenant or will some means of access to the source tenant need to be retained or introduced?
- How will any custom domain names be migrated to the new tenant, and are there any issues in releasing them from the source tenant?
User experience and support
- How will the changes during migration be communicated to end users?
- Are users comfortable with the solutions and services being introduced, or is there value in providing some user training prior to or immediately post migration?
- During the migration, can the existing support desk staff handle a spike in requests and troubleshooting during the migration period?
- Would tech bar support, scheduled sessions, or extra floorwalkers help manage migration-related support more effectively?
- Where do users work? Is it practical for users to attend an office location at a given date and time, or will they need remote support? If so, which tools are available and what will the process be?
These are some of the many considerations that shape a successful tenant migration project. What may seem straightforward at first glance can quickly grow in complexity as wider impacts are uncovered. Engaging experienced subject matter experts early in the process can save time, reduce risk, and ensure a smoother experience for both IT teams and end users.
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