Prepare your Department for SharePoint

UConn faculty, staff, and students will be moving off of the Q Drive this year (2023) in favor of Microsoft SharePoint. Use this guide as a starting point for migration help from ITS.

Prereading: What is SharePoint?

Please review the following guides for a better understanding of SharePoint and why UConn is migrating to the platform.

https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26250641504 (includes video)

https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26264043728

If your group uses Microsoft Teams for file storage/sharing, your group is already using SharePoint.

Ask ITS for help

UConn ITS is here to help! ITS can answer any questions you have about the process, provide best practices, and help you migrate your data.

Task

Help from ITS

Self-Service (Moving data yourself)

Task

Help from ITS

Self-Service (Moving data yourself)

Data Migration from the Q Drive

  • Safest choice.

  • ITS performs a pre-migration scan to predict any issues during the migration process (ex. file name too long).

  • Creates a log of files transferred and any issue during migration.

  • Can migrate into an existing site.

  • Retains file metadata.

ITS recommends that departments work with ITS to utilize the data migration tool to ensure data safety.

  • Quick and easy if you do not have many files.

  • Can migrate into an existing site.

  • No log is generated.

  • Can take multiple days to upload if you have many files.

  • File metadata may be lost.

    • Metadata includes original author, creation date, etc.

When manually migrating data, files may be unknowingly lost and ITS may not be able to restore lost files (no log is generated).

Managing Permissions

(Permissions are not migrated from the Q Drive, only data is migrated)

The management of permissions is now handled by the SharePoint site owners; users do not need the help of ITS to add, edit, or remove others from a SharePoint site. Check out Manage Users in SharePoint for more information.

Will my data work in SharePoint?

https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26342785025

Create SharePoint site

https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26325975060

When will my data move?

ITS works with each data owner(s) (those who manage their group’s Q Drive permissions/data) to pick a migration date. This date is considered the cutover date.

Learn more about the cutover date here: https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26388136214

What information will I need to supply to ITS to migrate my Q Drive?

Faculty, staff, and students should schedule a meeting with an ITS staff member to schedule a migration of their department’s data. This is the time to ask any questions about SharePoint or the migration process. If all parties are satisfied at this meeting’s conclusion, a migration will be scheduled. Otherwise, a second meeting will be scheduled as well. Be prepared to answer the following questions:

Question

Note

Question

Note

Does your group ever share files with users outside of the university (externally)?

External Sharing is disabled by default. With external sharing disabled, you cannot collaborate on files/folders with non-UConn users.

You can send files to people outside of the university, but you cannot collaborate on them without External Sharing enabled.

Note: Members of UCHC and UConn Foundation are external. Enabling external sharing does not decrease the security of your site, but it is disabled by default.

https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/pages/createpage.action?spaceKey=IKB&title=Share%20SharePoint%20Files%20outside%20of%20the%20University&linkCreation=true&fromPageId=26277543981

Will you need to hide certain folders from certain users, or should all members have equal access?

https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26282393614

Do you have two SharePoint site owners in mind?

ITS requires that you have at least two site owners. Users can be promoted to Owner and demoted to Member at any time.

Do you have an existing SharePoint site that you would like the data migrated into?

If you need to create a SharePoint site, please visit s.uconn.edu/sharepoint and click on “Create Site” in the top left corner.

  • The name can be the same as your department name, or it can be more specific. The name can change at any time.

  • https://uconn.sharepoint.com/sites/yourURLhere -The URL cannot be changed without causing some issues, but it is possible.

If you have an existing site, do you want the Q Drive data to be added to a certain folder, or the root level of the site?

Do you have an existing team in Microsoft Teams that you would like to migrate your Q Drive data into?

If yes, do you have any folders in your Q Drive that match the names of a Teams channel?

Teams stores its data in SharePoint; if you are using Teams, you’re already using SharePoint. Learn more: https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26264043728

Folder name conflict: If yes, for example, the default Teams channel “General” will conflict with a folder named “General” in your Q Drive. This can be avoided by renaming the folder inside your Q Drive, or by migrating your Q Drive files into a folder in the SharePoint instead of the root (top) level.

Do you have a folder named “Forms” in the top-level (root) of your Q Drive?

This folder will need to be renamed as it will conflict with SharePoint.

Should each file/folder share need approval of a site owner? (Enabling this setting is uncommon)

Each time a SharePoint user shares a file/folder, a SharePoint owner will receive an email asking them to approve the share.

What is the current location of your Q Drive data?

Ex. Q:\WestHartford\ITS

Do you have a server/application accessing your Q Drive?

On-prem services will not be able to access SharePoint/OneDrive data. See https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26342785025 for more information.

Considerations:

Question

Note

Question

Note

Do you have a folder with more than 100,000 items inside of it?
(files, other folders, shortcuts, etc.)

In SharePoint, once a folder contains more than 100,000 items, the folder permissions cannot be modified. This means that individual access cannot be granted nor removed from the folder until it contains fewer than 100,000 items.

To alter access while the folder has more than 100,000 items, you must use User Groups. Learn more: https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26043253275

Do you have a large number of files in a historical, or archival, status (300,000 or more)?

(Files that you are keeping but do not access in your normal, day-to-day work)

You may want to have this data reside on a discrete SharePoint site. Learn more: https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26426540150

How do I access my SharePoint?

Once your SharePoint site has been created, there are multiple ways to access your files. If you are curious now, please take a look at the following guide: https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26284622325.

First Steps Help Guide

This guide is to be followed after the migration has completed. https://uconn.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/IKB/pages/26296877145

Related Guides