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SharePoint 2016 has brought the security levels of SharePoint closer towards SharePoint Online and has increased the connectivity. Now, it is possible to create a hybrid environment where both on-premises and online servers can work simultaneously. The new server can integrate on-premises farm with Microsoft 365 productivity experiences. There is new compliance feature that includes document deletion and in-place hold policies.
Read Also: How to Migrate SharePoint On-premises Content to Microsoft 365?
New features that are presented in SharePoint 2016
- The central administration is not available at each server, but the first server in a farm. To provision the central administration on additional servers, you can go to the page on Central Administration > System Settings as well as SharePoint Products Configuration wizard.
- There are new templates to create sites faster at SQL Server. It will save multiple rounds between SharePoint and SQL Server. The SPSiteMaster cmdlet will create site and site collections faster.
- While posting images and videos in a document library, it will show a preview by hovering the mouse over it.
- Older SharePoint servers did not support upload or download files more than 2,047 MB. But SharePoint 2016 allows you to upload or download larger files. You can fix their size in the SharePoint farm for each web application.
- The sites in SharePoint will be click enabled in mobile view. In mobile devices, the user can click on tiles and links to navigate other pages. You can also change the view from mobile view to PC view.
- The project managers can ask for more resources from resource managers. The new heat map functionality will show that which resource is spending more time.
- Sharing has been improved for folders, hints, members, invitation emails, one-click email to accept or deny the request for access.
To experience all these new features of SharePoint 2016, users need to upgrade to SharePoint 2016 and migrate their data. But the user needs to be vigilant as some loopholes would result in migration failure or data casualties. So, some important things that the user need to be kept in mind before going to perform migration to SharePoint 2016 are mentioned below.
- Auditing the Content for Migration Before proceeding to migrate your data to SharePoint 2016 or any other destination, you should know about the core content which needs to be migrated. You can follow the 80/20 rule which says 80 percent of the users would not use more than 20 percent of the content. So, before migration, analyze the content and decide on which data is to be migrated. It saves time, effort and any sort of confusion during the migration.
- Deciding on the Migration Strategy Decide on your migration strategy which can be manual, automatic or hybrid (mix of automated and manual). The manual strategy involves copying of data which is simple but becomes monotonous with a large amount of data. Migration with automated method uses some free utilities or third-party tools. The hybrid migration strategy is when some steps include manual methods, and the rest are automatic. Having a strategy ready beforehand is a wise decision to accomplish migration in minimal time.
- Making Security the Top Priority Data security must be taken seriously. Data security can be compromised when you follow the manual strategies for migration. This is an important point as the migration failure may hamper the migration quality as well. But professional solutions are found to give proper consideration for the security of data.
- SharePoint 2016 Migration Requirements One needs to be aware of the installation and configuration requirements of SharePoint 2016. Also, one should have enough system resources for migration. For instance, SharePoint 2013 is recommended as a bridge for the migration from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2016 (2 step migration). If a new SharePoint farm is to be created, then complete hardware requirements should be met. Also, all the audit and legal requirements should be considered before choosing SharePoint Online over SharePoint on-premises.
- Perform Post-migration Tasks It’s not just the pre-migration requirements, but the tasks after the migration are also crucial. If the tasks after the migration are not done well, there are chances of data loss and integrity compromise (especially in the case of manual migration). To ensure a complete migration, users must inspect the linkages, user rights, etc.
Upgradation to SharePoint 2016 migration seems an easy task but can become a failure if the above crucial points are avoided. Users can perform painless migration to SharePoint 2016 if all the stated points are taken into consideration. So, wisely take initial steps before migrating to SharePoint 2016. Also, try to find a good migration tool for effortless migration.
While talking about the automated solution for any migration, users can completely trust the Kernel Migrator for SharePoint. This tool provides migration between SharePoint 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019 SharePoint Online (O365) versions. It also facilitates One Drive, Google Drive and Office 365 migrations. All the migrations are smooth and error-free. The best thing is it offers direct migration from one version to another without any intermediate version. Go to the site to know more about SharePoint Migration software
Summary
The article discusses the necessary points that need to be considered before SharePoint 2016 migration to ensure a clean and seamless migration. These points are quite helpful and lessen migration time and the confusions in between. Along with that, a solution for automatic migration is recommended for all the users who are looking to perform a smooth migration from SharePoint 2010 to SharePoint 2016 or from SharePoint 2013 to 2016.