SharePoint Migration and Intranet Replacement – West Midlands Combined Authority

To help WMCA meet their objectives, the project was broken down into two main phases.   The first phase was where we carried out the SharePoint migration, and the second phase involved creating the new intranet.

Migrating several terabytes of data from SharePoint Server 

WMCA had several large SharePoint on-premises sites containing many terabytes of files. To undertake a migration of this size we broke this one large migration down into many tranches, allowing different departments to move to Office 365 at their own pace, giving the migration schedule maximum flexibility. We used the ShareGate migration tool to complete the migration as it offers high reliability when moving large volumes of files.  

WMCA also had several, aging InfoPath forms which were quickly and easily recreated as PowerApps forms embedded into SharePoint lists. 

Creating a new intranet  

Alongside the WMCA client team, Bridgeall designed and built an intranet that focusses not only on communication but also aids users in their day-to-day working activities. The solution was designed around the following principles: 

• Enable frictionless two-way communications between leadership and the workforce.
• Give users easy access to frequently undertaken tasks and processes.
• Promote the progress of the WMCA Goals and strategy.
• Create a single point of access to all web enables applications, systems, and tools.
• Provide a starting point for automated processes and workflows in use by the organisation.
• Provide enough help and support content to reduce the time lost by users being stuck with a task. 

To adhere to these principles, we created the following solutions: 

• A new site structure which was mapped to activity and how people work rather than mapped to how the organisation was structured.
• A Viva Connections dashboard with selected news and task-based content to act as a homepage within Teams. Extending the reach of the intranet from SharePoint into Teams to increase uptake.
• An automated workflow that sends all users an adaptive card within a Teams chat every time a priority news article is published.
• A feedback form which can be used for both collecting general feedback from users all year round and used occasionally to survey the users with more specific questions.
• A help site with how to guides for all common tasks and information on how to get IT, HR and mental health support. Covering all aspects of support for users.
• Replaced all Nintex workflows with friendly and initiative Power Apps interfaces and workflows, integrated into SharePoint sites and libraries. 

As a result of our efforts the team was able to realise the following benefits:  

• The migration was successful with no loss of data and very few bug fixes in UAT.
• With the workflows being replaced and the on-premises servers being decommissioned WMCA stands to realise on-going savings by making the most of their Office 365 licenses.
• A diversified intranet which acts as a starting point and helpful resource for all common tasks undertaken by users, and a communications platform for the leadership, communications and strategy teams to reach the workforce via both SharePoint and Teams.
• The solution contained a wealth of support content for assisting users with their day jobs alongside a help centre, policy hub and strategy hub. Over time the help and task base content will be grown to incorporate even more tasks and user guides to eventually become a concise encyclopedia of working aids and support for all users within the organisation.