Over the years, we have carried out several document management migrations to M365 SharePoint. We have also been contacted by several clients who had migrated to SharePoint and were not getting the most out of it. In this article we are going to summarize the 5 most common mistakes we encounter when a client wants to migrate their document management to SharePoint, and we will detail how to avoid them.

At Revertís we adapt SharePoint to each client. Make no mistake, the intention is not to force your teams to change their working method, but rather to adapt SharePoint to your needs so you can work more effectively.

At Revertís we do not have a SharePoint implementation model that we copy and paste for every client. Each client is different. Some are organized by departments, others by clients or projects. We must find the model that best fits your business.

1. Replicating the structure of our file server in SharePoint

Whether your files come from a file server, from Dropbox, or from any system, we almost always find a vertical folder structure. Users with experience in office software (I include myself in this group) have gotten used to having our folder tree well organized. On many occasions, to reach our file we have to “open” four or five folders.

SharePoint allows you to use a flatter structure for documentation. In addition, we can create “weaker” links between groups of documents so that when there are changes in our organizational structure, it is much easier for us to reorganize document management.

This concept clashes a lot with most users. Younger people are more used to working with these concepts. It is similar to comparing a CD collection with Spotify. We keep CDs at home, neatly organized on a shelf, while younger people search the complete music collection for what interests them and create shortcuts to get to what they like.

2. Migrating all files ot SharePoint without debugging

A very common mistake we encounter is migrating all files wholesale. Implementing SharePoint is the ideal time to carry out a cleanup. Really, how many times do we access a file that we haven’t opened for more than 5 years? Time is not the only criterion. Files from people who left the company years ago are on our servers taking up space; technical sheets for obsolete products, etc. We find that no one wants to take responsibility for “deleting” this data. It has to be done. If it is really problematic, we move this data to a “storage room.”

Removing duplicates is also a good alternative to avoid overloading our SharePoint. And, as you can imagine, keep an eye on photos and videos. We come across 25 almost identical photos and videos of products that are already on mass-distribution platforms. SharePoint lets you open a folder and save links of interest to the videos.

In the end it’s like when we move house. We take the opportunity to throw away things we don’t use.

3. Define the structure of Our SharePoint before starting to Migrate

Just as we don’t start building a house without plans, we don’t start the migration of our document management without having a Group Site structure in SharePoint.

This work is essential but does not limit the ability to make changes in the future. Don’t think that once SharePoint is organized, changes are difficult. On the contrary, SharePoint allows you to adapt to changes in your company quickly without loss of information.

It is also a good time to define our SharePoint style: corporate colors, folder structure, and document libraries.

We are often contacted by clients who have migrated their entire file server to a group site. Sometimes for security reasons: the current file server was showing signs of failure. Most of the time it is due to lack of knowledge of the tool.

4. Change management

Adapting to SharePoint is a change for users. You need to plan a training program. It’s not many hours, but it’s important that the end user feels they master the tool. If the user understands and controls the concepts of Group Site, document library and how to search, it’s a big step toward a successful implementation. Providing quick access to information (without opening 5 folders) also helps product acceptance.

Depending on the size of your company, it is not necessary to migrate all departments at once. In small structures, this can be done without issue. In larger companies, it is advisable to proceed by projects or departments and roll out SharePoint progressively. Once one team has been migrated, the other departments will come asking when their change will happen.

5. Permission management in SharePoint

SharePoint allows full control over access to documents: read, edit, delete. It’s easy to fall into the temptation of adding too many controls. It is more advisable to create several group sites or document libraries before granulating permissions within a folder structure. Over time you can then consolidate.

Above all, at the beginning, it’s better to use simple security groups and gradually add the restrictions that seem appropriate.

Controlling our documentation toward the outside is important as well. You must manage what we allow our users to share externally.

I always get a lot of criticism when I explain that the HR department must be involved in this area. We all understand that when a new employee joins, Human Resources knows whether a phone line will be provided, where their workstation will be, whether they have a car. And access to data?

Without expecting them to become IT specialists, HR should be able to explain to the IT team what kinds of data new members should have access to. In my view, M365 licenses should be treated the same as loaned equipment. In the end this new employee will have access to our know-how. Isn’t that the most important thing in our company?

Bonus

Once document management has been migrated, I invite the members of the IT team to explore what they can do with metadata. SharePoint allows you to add various metadata to documents and organize views of the documentation based on that metadata.

With good metadata management, some experts say you can reduce by up to 30% the time our staff spends searching for information. It is difficult to demonstrate 30%, but from experience it is true that access times are shortened.

Before migrating your document management, don’t hesitate to contact us. Revertís can help make it a success. It always takes much longer to modify later than to start off on the right foot.

As experts in Dynamics AX solutions for all its versions and experts in Dynamics 365, we present this article with the aim of giving you a much simpler view than you can imagine about the advantages and the process to migrate to D365 in the cloud.

First of all, you will get direct and immediate access to your data, from anywhere. Simple, Immediate and Efficient, just by opening your favorite browser (Chrome, Edge, Opera, Firefox, etc…).

Migration from Dynamics AX to D365

This simple access implies a whole deployment of connection, availability and security technologies underlying the system. This entire system is transparent to the user and is directly managed by Microsoft. You will never again have to worry about your Dynamics AX infrastructure needs, communications, servers, opening VPN’s, remote desktop access, etc… Your data will be more secure than ever on Microsoft’s D365 platform and managed in the most optimal way possible, with no downtime.

It will avoid the entry into IT obsolescence. Until now, it was common to have to migrate Dynamics AX version every 4-6 years, acquire new servers and have to re-invest in infrastructure to upgrade to the latest versions of operating systems, Office, ERP’s CRM’s etc… D365 publishes periodic updates, two annual mandatory updates, through an exclusively technical, controlled and documented procedure that will involve a minimum investment of time. Nothing comparable to the complex process involved in a traditional version migration.

With D365 in the cloud, you will detach yourself from the traditional vision of technologies to have your accesses as a “commodity”, that is, as if it were the electricity or water of your establishment. You don’t need your IT staff to spend their time on the ERP infrastructure; Microsoft already does it for you. The TCO (Total Cost Owner) concept is obsolete, now we are talking about Pay Per Use. A more practical concept, directly included in the income statement and in the definition cost of each job or person. In short, a much simpler system, much less problematic and much safer than the traditional method of ownership based on management with own resources.

As a derivative, the implementation of D365 projects is also much more agile than in Dynamics AX. There is no need to provision or configure infrastructure (hardware, servers, disk arrays, communications, backups, etc…). In fact, the start-up is immediate, even faster than with Office 365. You don’t even need to download the program for local execution. Everything works directly in the browser, accessible from minute 1. This situation also greatly reduces costs, time, resources and the degree of possible complications in traditional ERP implementation and migration projects.

D365 offers you the same functionality that you have today in your Dynamics AX or CRM “on-premise”, even extended with the integration of the capabilities of Microsoft’s Power Platform. With Power Apps we put at your fingertips, whether on your smartphone, tablet or PC, applications specifically tailored to your users’ needs, to optimize access to your information. These users can then perform the specific functions they need to carry out, without having to access the D365 interface directly. This optimizes the consumption of access licenses and only has to customize the APP without having to interfere with the D365 application itself. All this, always accessing the same integrated D365 data, but from Power Platform.

You will work more “on-line”, with a more complete presentation and analysis of the information, with forms integrated in Excel that directly offer you groupings and/or counts of the records that you are visualizing in “table” format, with “Drill-Down” navigation possibilities, until you reach the last detail of each transaction.

Integration with Power BI

The integration with Power BI makes it possible to obtain compact analyses that are much more oriented towards the company’s efficiency, through the arrangement of indicators and dashboards. In any case, it is always possible to access the capillary detail of the information presented and export the results to Excel.

We can use the work areas to test the integration with Power BI reports and centralize in these areas the most commonly used options and operations. This avoids having to navigate through different menu options or even having to manage groupings by categories in the favorites menu.

In terms of customization, the D365 environment allows you maximum flexibility and the best adaptation and sharing of the view of controls, forms and screens that you create among the different users of your organization. Special mention should be made of the “views” section, which allows you to have different versions of the same entity, depending on the objective you want to achieve, hiding and/or highlighting more or less information with a single mouse click.

Migration from your previous version of Dynamics AX to D365

The migration process from your previous version of Dynamics AX to D365 requires very specific and perfectly measurable technical steps.

On the one hand, there is the migration/adaptation of the customizations that you have in your current version of Dynamics AX. This work is purely technical and it is decided whether to transfer each of the customizations or remove them in favor of the standard functionality in each case.

On the other hand, in REVERTIS we commit ourselves to migrate also all your current data. We understand that the information is patrimony of the company and we do not have to do without these historical data, unless the client considers more optimal and advisable to initiate a new installation with the minimal migration of teachers and alive balances. In the case of opting for a complete migration, we apply the procedures recommended by Microsoft and we guarantee that all your information will pass to the new environment correctly, as it can not be otherwise.

One of the most important aspects of the migration is the support we offer you from REVERTIS to make decisions about which customizations to keep and which customizations to discard. The goal is always to take full advantage of the new D365 standard functionalities. Going even further, REVERTIS can advise you on the possibility of using Power APP’s as a means of working with information by some of your employees, thus optimizing costs and access to use the Microsoft platform.

Finally, in your migration process, we consider in a very special way the training of your staff, as well as the different start-up simulations we perform, always with the aim of ensuring that the day of the implementation of the new platform, both the system and the information, as well as the users, are all perfectly prepared to ensure business continuity without interruptions.

And most importantly, once you are up and running on D365, you will never again have to worry and spend your time on Dynamics AX management, maintenance or investment in IT infrastructure, nor make additional investments or future migrations, thus avoiding technological obsolescence once and for all.

Do not hesitate to contact us to evaluate your migration from Dynamics AX to Microsoft’s definitive ERP platform: D365. We can give you access to a test environment or perform a demo and you will clearly see the advantages of migrating to this working model.