Plan and Communicate

Change is disruptive to any organization. To ensure that the impact was minimal, ISM provided a dedicated project manager to provide oversight and management of the migration process. The project manager created a communication plan and a formal project plan, including risk assessment.

The plan included scheduled communications to ensure that users were well-informed and prepared for change throughout the project. The plan also included ongoing management of user communication, including training, status updates, and clear information about why the change was happening and how the change would impact them.

Evaluate and Prepare

Following a formal project kickoff, the ISM migration team performed a Current Environment Audit to assess the customer’s pre-existing infrastructure. The audit included:

• a complete assessment of migration readiness for all aspects of the migration, including network topology
• Active Directory
• application integration for mail routing
• gateway anti-malware
• supporting on-premises infrastructure

The audit results included a list of deficiencies that ISM and customer support staff mitigated before Office 365 implementation and migration.

Implement and Migrate

Before migration, ISM configured an Office 365 tenant for the customer, including initial service configuration for Exchange Online. Aligning with the formal project plan, we established synchronization using Azure AD Connect and performed initial configuration for users and applications within Office 365. We migrated the pre-existing environment using Microsoft tools and CloudMigrator from CloudM.

The migration was performed using a phased approach, beginning with a pilot to test migration processes and user impact. Upon completion of the pilot phase, we deployed Office 365 apps to users, migrated all Exchange mailboxes to Exchange Online.

Test and Support End-user device remediation and desktop consulting services were provided during the post-migration phase. Supported configuration requirements were documented for end-user devices and Outlook client access to ensure that all users could take advantage of the Office 365 implementation.

ISM provided the customer with ongoing Office 365 end-user support and subscription management to maintain a reliable and worry-free Office 365 experience for the entire organization.

Results

With careful planning and clear communication throughout, there was minimal business disruption during the project. This enabled city employees to be more effective, reduced administrative tasks, and created a foundation for effective communication with business partners and city residents.

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