As an IT professional, when considering any type of migration, you need to have an overriding benefit for that migration. Fundamentally, is the Juice worth the Squeeze?
When you migrate files to SP, you need to do a few things to ensure that the Juice IS worth the Squeeze.
What is the first and most fundamental need of users in file share or SP? Retrieve-ability . Users need to be able to find what they put in, quickly and easily.
With efficient use of Metadata, SharePoint makes retrieve-ability much more efficient than a file share. However that comes at a cost. The user must fill in that metadata. Users HATE filling in metadata.
When it comes to users, they love unmanaged data. A user would rather throw their documents/data in to a single spot and bitch about not being able to find anything, than filling in a few columns of data.
Even more than bitching about not being able to find anything, users love folders. Users would rather save a copies of the same document to 50 different folders, than save a single document and add a couple of columns of data.
It all comes down to basic human nature. People have a very hard time with delayed gratification. The getting a delayed benefit of retrieve-ability against filling in a few columns of data NOW is not seen as something that is practical. Even when shown actual real-time data showing that the time it takes to retrieve a single document using metadata is 2 to 3 times faster than navigating even a known folder structure, filling in metadata is seen as a waste of time.
BUT what is the overall reason you are migrating to SharePoint? Most of the time it is because the decision makers see that data showing time savings of 2 to 3 times and WANT that productivity increase. Along with other added benefits such as in place records retention, easier collaboration and file sharing.
At primary issue, however is that users rarely WANT to do any type of migration. They are typically TOLD to do the migration from management. Most often, users must do the migration work in addition to their their normal workload. This means that no one wants to do the migration, it interferes with their typical day, and the migration isn't just a little bit of work. It is a LOT of work. Migration software can only go so far, user interaction is required at some point.
So you end up in this loop:
- Users are forced to examine their folder structures and come up with a site design with libraries and security models for their documents.
- Metadata is agreed upon and added as content types to libraries.
- Pilot migration occurs, users realize the amount of work needed for migration.
- Users push back on metadata, demanding that the folder structure just be picked up and moved in to SP.
- SharePoint Team pushes back, because they know that moving from one unmanaged data storage system to another unmanaged data storage system will do no one any good, and will likely be worse than when they started.
- Management sides with users, because, they don't know any better.
- SP Team does what they can by breaking up folder structure as best they can based on user need in to sites/libraries.
- Post migration users complain loudly about not being able to find anything.
- Management comes to SP to find out why users can't find anything.
- SP team responds to management by saying they should have used metadata
- Management creates project to look in to metadata usage.
- Repeat at step 1.
This whole rinse/repeat process is why SharePoint consulting is so much better than SharePoint salary work. Getting paid by the hour means that however many cycles you want to roll through, it all pays the same, and I'm guaranteed income for a very long time. As a salaried company person, you get frustrated at the repeat cycle of user bull crap. You get sick of the constant battling with users over the cost/benefit of metadata over folders. You get tired of spending hours of your time spinning you wheels, doing it wrong KNOWING you will need to redo the work, then having to swallow your resentment as the same users come back to you saying that SharePoint sucks, and you KNOWING that it is the unmanaged data that sucks.
I imagine it is a lot like an internist that spends a lot of time treating a patient who's root cause of all of their medical issues is their obesity. They spend time and effort coming up with diet plans and arranging nutritionists and other professionals to help this person out, but having the patient just go out and eat the same crap they have been eating in the past. Eventually that doctor just says, screw that guy. That is what your SharePoint people eventually say, and they leave to become consultants.
Rant over. Time to meet with users about how to migrate their folders to metadata... Again.
