SharePoint State of the Union, Part 2: Planning your upgrade

By Eric Riz

September 25, 2012 —  (Page 2 of 2)
For those on SharePoint 2010, you still have some work to do before your upgrade, though it may be the smallest amount versus an upgrade from a previous version. Begin cataloging your current environment in order to prepare for your upgrade to 2013. I suggest creating a preliminary list of the components that make up your environment to use as a checklist once you perform your upgrade. Be sure to list the servers, service application databases, Web apps and site collections, databases, customizations, large lists, and views. Double-check each as you perform your trial upgrade and then again in your live environment. As the SharePoint 2013 trial versions are now available, you are welcome to set up a test environment and run some initial trials.

Regardless of which version you are currently on, focus the conversation not just on what is being used technically, but also on how SharePoint is being used from a practical business perspective. For example, if your SharePoint environment is being used heavily for document management, ensure that you have reviewed the data needs and amount of information currently in your database.

Each department typically has an individual who “owns” the data; try to meet with these people and get a sense of the information, type of data and how it is currently being used. You may find that it is beneficial to cleanse the data before it is upgraded into your new version. This is a good time to review your data needs across the organization and ensure that information is being used the right way by the right people. This means reviewing your taxonomy and content type configuration, and moreover their usage. What tags are being captured when documents are uploaded and how does that information benefit the business daily? Remember that if you are going to make a change, now is the time to begin those conversations while the business is forward-thinking on its next generation of SharePoint.

In the next and final article in this series, we will discuss additional steps in your State of the Union exercise, including training, governance and adoption of your environment, regardless of whether you are on an upgrade path.

Eric is the EVP of Systems Integration for Concatenate, a software firm focused on maximizing SharePoint through product innovation and systems integration based in Toronto. You can reach Eric by e-mail at ericr@concatenateinc.com or on Twitter at @rizinsights. Read his other SharePoint thoughts on his blog at www.ericriz.com.



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