Latest Microsoft 365 Advisory Services topics

Migrating to and within Microsoft 365 can sometimes be a daunting task fraught with challenges, from data integrity to user adoption. That’s where the Sympraxis Approach comes in. This session of Ask Sympraxis digs deeper into migrations, focusing specifically on a redesign approach. If you’d like a broader overview of migrations in general, please visit our prior session What does migration really mean?. Redesign: Pros and Cons The consensus is clear: lift and shift approaches are a thing of the past. The redesign methodology offers a chance to rectify past mistakes, leveraging lessons learned to implement better practices and improve platform performance. By splitting the intranet between communication and team sites, organizations can reduce technical debt and align more closely with business needs. However, with pros comes cons and the redesign method requires more effort, testing, and collaboration. Despite the added workload, we believe the benefits far outweigh the challenges.

Feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of migration? Don’t worry, this session of Ask Sympraxis is here to assist you! Our discussion covered various aspects, ranging from the definition of migration all the way to potential speed bumps. Here’s a comprehensive breakdown of the key takeaways: Understanding migration Migration, simply put, involves moving content from one place to another. This process takes different forms, such as organizational mergers, acquisitions, divestitures, reorganizations, and transitioning to the cloud. However, keep in mind migration is not merely about relocating files; it gives you an opportunity to enhance and improve existing structures.

Microsoft Teams is constantly evolving to meet the changing needs of its users. In this session of Ask Sympraxis, we dive into several exciting new features and enhancements to boost your Teams experience. While we’ve provided a brief overview of what was covered, for in-depth information on these updates, we encourage you to watch the entire episode. Multi-Account Management The new Microsoft Teams allows you to seamlessly integrate multiple Microsoft accounts into your Teams workspace and quickly switch tenants.

Introduction to Microsoft 365 Groups When discussing Microsoft 365 Groups, we like to tailor our explanations to suit the audience. For example, these groups resemble familiar concepts like Active Directory security groups for IT professionals. In contrast, when addressing end-users, we liken them to distribution lists in Exchange - a unified permission entity providing access across Microsoft 365 apps. In either description, creating a Group not only grants you a SharePoint site but also sets the stage for various integrated services, such as Teams and Planner. Groups gives you a one-stop management for all the integrated apps. Keep in mind however, if you make a permission change at the group level, or at the app level, it goes to all the other apps as well. Groups encompass two permission levels: ‘owner’ which grants full management capabilities including adjusting permissions, while ‘member’ bestows only content control, such as adding, deleting, creating, etc.

In this episode of Ask Sympraxis we begin by looking at the home and start page experiences in Microsoft 365 through the lens of the Maturity Model. The journey begins at level 100, where some users have isolated site collections. These site collections lack interconnectedness. At level 200, this could include the utilization of the Microsoft Viva Connections Home Experience, which consolidates news and conversations from various sites, along with surfacing the SharePoint app bar navigation. At level 300, we witness the adoption of hub sites. Level 400 sees the usage of Home Site capability, declaring a site as the home site and surfacing it in Viva Connections. At level 500, multiple home sites emerge, catering to diverse task-based requirements and accommodating audience targeting.

In this session of Ask Sympraxis Derek, Julie, and Todd are joined by Andrew Connell, developer and SPFx expert, and Stefan Bauer, developer and designer, to discuss when and why to build custom Microsoft 365 code that extends its functionality, particularly in SharePoint and Teams. However, we only suggest extending the platform when the out-of-the-box solutions fail to meet 80% of your business requirements. From there, try some of the tried-and-true technologies that exist such as PnP Modern Search web parts or list/column formatting, which give you more configuration options. If neither of those achieve your business outcomes, then it’s time to build a custom developed solution.

This session of Ask Sympraxis focuses on different methods and steps you can take to empower users while you build your intranet and how to set up Microsoft 365. Not every suggestion will be pertinent to your organization, which is why we suggest starting with the Maturity Model and determining your current and desired levels! This session is also a great reference to come back to as your organization levels up in maturity.

Notifications vs approvals Before jumping headfirst into notifications and approvals in SharePoint lists and libraries, it’s important to note that there are crucial differences in their definitions and use cases. Notifications are often seen as routine and intuitive. They are a one-way form of communication. Approvals on the other hand, go both ways as they require a reply or action. The use cases for each differ as well. When it comes to thinking about the impact on your employees and/or on your projects, it’s important to note that notifications are deniable. It is possible for someone to miss a notification and therefore, you can’t necessarily hold someone accountable for it. An approval, however, requires an interaction and therefore there is no plausible deniability. With that said, that requirement of response can sometimes cause delays. Overall, we suggest you be very thoughtful before you pick a notification or approval given these different impacts.

As announced in September at Microsoft IGNITE, Microsoft Viva Connections will have new capabilities including Viva home. This new Viva home experience will surface all the Viva modules you’re licensed for, all the adaptive cards you’ve added to your dashboard, Yammer conversations, SharePoint news and navigation through the SharePoint app bar, frequent sites, and followed sites etc. One of the best parts is that all of this will be accessible through Microsoft Teams with minimal configuration. Viva home is an excellent place to begin your intranet journey, especially if you have had not had the time or skill set to make a SharePoint Communication Site to centralize your content across the tenant.

Do you still have videos saved in Microsoft Stream Classic? It’s time to migrate your videos to SharePoint! Originally Stream Classic, and before that Office 365 Videos, was a separate destination than content saved in SharePoint. However, as videos are essentially just another object that people need to interact with, similar to a document, bringing videos into SharePoint allows you to manage all your content in one location regardless of the file type. Now that videos will be stored in SharePoint document libraries, you’ll have more options on how you’re able to work with them. In this session we talk about stream migration and how to navigate your Stream classic migration to SharePoint.