10 SharePoint Migration Interview Questions and Answers

SharePoint Migration is a critical process for organizations looking to upgrade their collaboration and document management systems. As businesses grow and evolve, the need to move data from legacy systems to more robust and scalable platforms like SharePoint becomes essential. This process involves careful planning, execution, and validation to ensure data integrity and minimal disruption to business operations.

This article provides a curated set of questions and answers to help you prepare for interviews focused on SharePoint Migration. By understanding these key concepts and scenarios, you will be better equipped to demonstrate your expertise and problem-solving abilities in this specialized area.

SharePoint Migration Interview Questions and Answers

1. Describe the process of planning a SharePoint migration project.

Planning a SharePoint migration project involves several steps to ensure a smooth transition and minimal disruption to business operations:

• Assessment of Current Environment: Conduct a thorough assessment of the existing SharePoint environment, including architecture, content, customizations, and user permissions. Identify potential issues or areas needing special attention.
• Define Scope and Objectives: Clearly define the migration scope and objectives, such as improving performance, enhancing security, or consolidating sites.
• Choose the Right Migration Tool: Select a migration tool that fits the project’s needs, ensuring it can handle the data volume and specific requirements.
• Plan the Migration Strategy: Develop a detailed migration plan with a phased approach to minimize disruption. Define team roles and establish a communication plan.
• Test the Migration Process: Conduct a pilot migration to test the process, identify issues, and make necessary adjustments.
• Execute the Migration: Proceed with the full migration, monitoring the process closely and addressing issues promptly.
• Post-Migration Support: Provide user support post-migration and conduct a review to evaluate success and identify improvement areas.

2. How would you handle custom solutions during a migration?

Handling custom solutions during a SharePoint migration involves:

1. Assessment and Inventory: Inventory all custom solutions, including web parts, workflows, and custom code. Assess their complexity and dependencies.
2. Compatibility Check: Evaluate each solution’s compatibility with the target environment, identifying those needing modifications or replacement.
3. Refactoring and Redevelopment: Refactor or redevelop incompatible solutions, possibly moving to client-side code using the SharePoint Framework (SPFx).
4. Testing: Test all custom solutions in a staging environment to resolve issues before migration.
5. Documentation and Training: Document changes and provide training to ensure a smooth transition.
6. Migration Execution: Migrate custom solutions in phases, starting with less critical ones to identify issues early.

3. How do you handle large data volumes during migration to avoid throttling issues?

To handle large data volumes during a SharePoint migration and avoid throttling issues:

• Batch Processing: Break down the migration into smaller batches to distribute the load and reduce throttling risk.
• Throttling Limits: Stay within SharePoint’s throttling limits by understanding maximum requests and concurrent operations.
• Off-Peak Hours: Schedule migrations during off-peak hours to reduce throttling chances.
• Retry Logic: Implement retry logic in migration scripts to handle throttled requests.
• Use Migration Tools: Utilize specialized tools with built-in throttling management mechanisms.
• Monitor and Adjust: Continuously monitor the migration process and adjust the strategy as needed.

4. How would you ensure data integrity and consistency during a migration?

Ensuring data integrity and consistency during a SharePoint migration involves:

• Pre-Migration Planning: Conduct a thorough assessment of the existing environment, identifying data to be migrated and planning the process.
• Data Validation: Validate data pre-migration to ensure completeness and accuracy, checking for anomalies or corruption.
• Migration Tools: Use reliable tools that support data integrity checks, including incremental migrations and error logging.
• Testing: Perform test migrations in a staging environment to identify issues and validate the process.
• Post-Migration Verification: Verify data completeness and permissions post-migration, using scripts or tools for comparison.
• User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Engage end-users in testing to validate data meets requirements and identify overlooked issues.
• Monitoring and Support: Monitor the new environment post-migration and provide user support to address issues.

5. How would you handle metadata and taxonomy during a migration?

Handling metadata and taxonomy during a SharePoint migration involves:

• Assessment and Planning: Assess the current metadata and taxonomy structure and plan their mapping to the target environment.
• Mapping and Transformation: Create a mapping document for metadata fields and taxonomy terms, outlining transformations needed.
• Migration Tools: Use tools that support metadata and taxonomy migration, ensuring consistency.
• Custom Scripts: Use custom scripts for specific requirements not fully supported by tools.
• Validation and Testing: Validate post-migration that metadata and taxonomy are correctly migrated.
• User Training: Train end-users on changes to the metadata and taxonomy structure.

6. Explain how you would monitor and troubleshoot a migration.

Monitoring and troubleshooting a SharePoint migration involves:

• Using monitoring tools like SharePoint Migration Tool (SPMT) and third-party solutions to track progress and identify issues.
• Reviewing error logs and reports generated by migration tools.
• Verifying pre-migration assessments and preparations were completed correctly.
• Checking for network or connectivity issues affecting data transfer.
• Ensuring necessary permissions and access rights are in place for both environments.
• Validating customizations and third-party integrations are compatible with the new environment.

7. What steps would you take for a pre-migration assessment?

A pre-migration assessment for SharePoint involves:

• Inventory and Analysis: Conduct an inventory of the existing environment, identifying sites, libraries, lists, workflows, and customizations.
• Stakeholder Engagement: Engage stakeholders to understand requirements and expectations, gathering feedback on current pain points.
• Content Audit: Perform a content audit to identify redundant, outdated, or trivial content, reducing the migration load.
• Security and Compliance: Review security settings and compliance requirements, planning for data encryption and access controls.
• Infrastructure Assessment: Evaluate existing infrastructure to determine if it can support the migration process.
• Customization and Integration Review: Identify customizations and third-party integrations, determining compatibility with the new version.
• Migration Tools and Strategy: Select appropriate migration tools and strategies, planning for testing and validation phases.
• Backup and Contingency Planning: Ensure a comprehensive backup is taken before migration and develop a contingency plan for potential issues.

8. How would you validate the success of a migration post-migration?

To validate the success of a SharePoint migration post-migration:

• Data Integrity: Ensure all data is migrated accurately, comparing source and destination data.
• User Access: Verify user access permissions are correctly assigned in the new environment.
• Functionality: Test the functionality of the migrated environment, ensuring workflows and custom solutions work as expected.
• Performance: Assess the performance of the new environment, checking page load times and responsiveness.
• User Feedback: Collect feedback from end-users to identify any issues.
• Audit Logs: Review audit logs to ensure no security issues or unauthorized access occurred during migration.

9. What is your approach to creating a communication plan for a SharePoint migration project?

Creating a communication plan for a SharePoint migration project involves:

• Identify Stakeholders: Determine who will be affected by the migration, including end-users, IT staff, and management.
• Define Objectives: Outline the goals of the communication plan, such as informing stakeholders about the migration timeline and training opportunities.
• Develop Key Messages: Create clear messages tailored to different stakeholder groups.
• Choose Communication Channels: Select appropriate channels for disseminating information, such as emails, meetings, and intranet announcements.
• Create a Communication Schedule: Develop a timeline for communications, aligning with project milestones.
• Feedback Mechanism: Establish a way for stakeholders to provide feedback and ask questions.
• Monitor and Adjust: Continuously monitor the communication plan’s effectiveness and make adjustments as needed.

10. How would you handle minimizing downtime during a SharePoint migration?

Minimizing downtime during a SharePoint migration involves:

• Pre-Migration Planning: Conduct a thorough assessment of the current environment and create a detailed migration plan.
• Incremental Migration: Perform the migration in phases, allowing for continuous operation while parts of the data are migrated.
• Use of Migration Tools: Leverage specialized migration tools designed to handle large-scale migrations efficiently.
• Testing and Validation: Conduct thorough testing in a staging environment before the actual migration.
• Communication Plan: Keep stakeholders informed about the migration process, including timelines and potential impacts.
• Post-Migration Support: Provide immediate support post-migration to address any issues and monitor the new environment closely.