SharePoint in Microsoft 365 is a cloud-based service designed to help organisations securely share and manage content, knowledge, and applications. It facilitates teamwork and makes information easily accessible for distributed working groups. SharePoint provides a rich collaboration environment where people inside and outside an organization can work together securely. It provides a dynamic set of tools to help create and maintain an organisation's intranet. With the emergence of hybrid working, migration to SharePoint has become a priority for many organisations.
Auxilion SharePoint Support
Auxilion’s SharePoint support involves helping customers in the rollout of Microsoft 365. We use the customer’s Microsoft tenancy to access content in their cloud environments. Our team assists with the setup of the SharePoint environment, including Microsoft Teams. SharePoint and Microsoft Teams are highly integrated, with all Teams files stored in a SharePoint site.
Many organisations currently need support in transitioning to SharePoint. With the continuing move towards hybrid working happening across many organisations, the online collaboration enabled by SharePoint and Microsoft Teams is critical. Many employees need the ability to reliably access on-premise or network share areas remotely. This is a complex transition for most organisations.
Even before the rapid increase in hybrid working, many organisations were migrating workloads and processes to the cloud. This raises issues around security, data accessibility, and collaboration. Microsoft SharePoint can address many of these issues.
Security
Auxilion’s SharePoint support will demonstrate the security features available within SharePoint and how they can be leveraged. Our team will provide guidance on the best security setup for each customer. We will also provide support on governance. We will work with the customer to understand their security requirements and the protocols they need established in SharePoint.
Some customers require an intranet made available to those within the organisation. In some cases, customers need to store files which should be accessible to external users and must decide how to share content with them. Should content be made available to anyone with a link to the files? Should it be made available to people with certain email addresses? For how long should the content remain available? Auxilion can collaborate with the customer to establish and implement the right security protocols for them.
We can also provide guidance around facilities like sensitivity labels and retention labels. Sensitivity labels can be used to add an extra layer of protection to files. They can be used to ensure that, if a file is sent to a specific person, only that person can access the contents. Sensitivity labels mean that, if the user forwards the files on to others, they won’t be able to access the contents.
Collaboration
SharePoint provides organisations with great potential for online collaboration. Distributed teams can collaborate on a document with only a single live version. This means that there is only ever one “true,” up-to-date copy. There won’t be multiple versions of a file in circulation, which can create confusion and inefficiency. Colleagues can collaborate in real time and can see changes, queries or clarifications as they are being made.
You can implement restrictions on who can view the document or print it out. You can also stop sensitive documents from being shared. You can set it up so that people outside the organisation can view the document but can’t edit it, print it out or share it on. These facilities mean that SharePoint’s collaborative functions are highly secure. This is all part of SharePoint’s comprehensive governance infrastructure.
Governance
As part of Auxilion’s SharePoint support, we can provide training around governance and best practice. SharePoint provides strong governance infrastructure which customers can adapt to their specific requirements. Auxilion can provide guidance on implementing a governance structure for the customer or can implement it for them. If the customer chooses to implement their governance structure themselves, they can still depend on Auxilion’s support on an “as needed” basis.
Health Check
Auxilion can perform a health check for the customer. This involves a comprehensive assessment of the customer’s current settings, with a report and recommendations. We can provide recommendations for the customer to implement, or have our team implement them.
Discovery
Before any migration, Auxilion can conduct a discovery process for the customer. This involves going into the IT estate, assessing the whole environment, and documenting everything within it. We will produce a report on everything within the environment, including sites, subsites, content, and overall structure. We will also provide recommendations on how much should be migrated to SharePoint. If the customer requests that these migrations go ahead, our team will proceed with them, typically using a tool called Sharegate.
Development Requirements
There are some limitations to what can be migrated into SharePoint online with Sharegate. If there are custom web parts or custom applications within an environment, they can’t be migrated across and so must be recreated within SharePoint. This will require some custom development. Some older workflows also can’t be migrated and must be updated within SharePoint.
Power Automate is used to recreate these workflows within SharePoint. Information platforms may also need to be recreated using power apps. If there are reporting platforms within the environment, they can be recreated in SharePoint using a tool called Power BI.
So while not everything can be migrated using SharePoint, Auxilion can provide the tooling required to recreate or adapt assets that can’t be migrated. Part of the Discovery process is to identify what can be migrated and what will require different tooling or customisation.
Implementation Planning
After Discovery has been completed and a report and recommendations provided, Auxilion will provide a design document. This will detail the proposed migration process, including what needs to be migrated, any tooling and customisation requirements, and timelines. There may be multiple options in terms of approach. We can generally migrate classic-to-classic or classic-to-modern, depending on customer requirements. We offer design workshops to go through the different options with the customer.
Once a migration strategy has been established, we will provide a Statement of Work for implementation. We may also offer a proof of concept. If there are hundreds of sites and workflows, we can offer a small selection and document the process to give the customer a better idea of the overall migration process.
Subsequent Development
Once an organisation has completed a migration process to SharePoint, there are various options for continued development. As mentioned above, Microsoft Teams and SharePoint are highly integrated. Tools that are often used during a migration, such as Power Automate and Power Apps, will continue to provide value. They can be used to automate workflows and for functions such as sending notifications or changing permissions for certain assets. Power Apps can also be used to support lists and libraries within SharePoint and to support user interfaces.
Power Apps and Power Automate both come as part of an E3 license. Customers with that license can use them without further investment. The E3 license also provides access to other applications that can be effectively utilised with SharePoint Online. These include Microsoft Shifts, Planner and Viva. Auxilion can also help to implement Business Process Optimisation after a migration to SharePoint.
Even for customers already using SharePoint, Auxilion can provide guidance and training in how to utilise it more effectively. SharePoint offers huge potential and is designed to function alongside a range of other useful Microsoft applications. Designing an effective infrastructure around SharePoint will help to future proof your organisation and increase productivity across a range of areas.
If you would like to speak to a member of our team about Auxilion's SharePoint support, contact hello@auxilion.com.
