Implementing Microsoft 365
What to expect when we’re implementing Microsoft 365
Welcome
This document explains the next steps in your Microsoft 365 migration and setup now you have confirmed your purchase with Neuways.
We aim to provide relevant information so that you know what to expect from your Microsoft 365 migration project. This enables you to plan the project into your business schedule.
We will require information from your IT department for configuration purposes and advanced preparation in order to minimise potential disruption.
Thank you for choosing Neuways to support your migration to Microsoft 365.
What happens next?
Here is what you can expect to happen between confirming your order with Neuways and having your Microsoft 365 solution up and running.
Request for Information
Step 1 – Confirmation of Licenses and DNS Details
Your dedicated engineer will have requested your license requirements and which domains you would like to be used in Exchange Online. If you have already provided these to Neuways as part of the sales process, your engineer will confirm them with you.
Step 2 – Set up of Microsoft 365 Tenant
Please note, this name cannot be changed at a later date and what you choose here will be displayed if and when you take advantage of SharePoint Online, for example:
https://[tenantname].sharepoint.com.
The name you choose must be unique and not already exist within Microsoft 365.
Your support engineer will also need your domain control panel details at this stage, to verify with Microsoft that you own the domains you will be using for emails.
During this stage, your support engineer will verify which mailboxes will continue to be ‘shared’ and which users require access – you should have been asked to provide this information during the scoping phase. If this has not been provided, your support engineer will help you define this information.
Migration
Step 3 – Copy Mailboxes
Step 4 – Additional Copy Runs
Step 5 – Change Email Routing
We now need to change the routing of your emails. This is done by updating your domain’s MX record. Essentially this sends a prompt to the internet, which informs email servers of the correct location to send emails.
As this change will take a little time to replicate across the internet, we recommend that we do it towards the end of the day. At this point, nobody will be able to send or receive emails until they are connected to Exchange Online which may cause some disruption to the business and end users so careful planning between you and your support technician is essential.
Step 6 – Installation and Reconfiguration
If the licensing you chose includes Microsoft applications, we will take the opportunity to install Microsoft 365 whilst at the same time creating your new Outlook profile – which connects to Exchange Online.
OneDrive will be configured to sync data from the Desktop, My Documents, and Pictures folders. This ensures that your data is accessible through the Microsoft portal, adding data continuity should your PC be stolen or suffer a hardware fault.
This is the stage where the most end user disruption will occur.
The following impacts will need to be managed:
- Any Outlook rules will need to be exported and imported into the new profile
- Emails will need to be downloaded if cached mode is enabled. The length of time for this will be impacted by mailbox cache period, internet connection, size of mailbox, and how many shared mailboxes are attached to the primary account.
- Company phones will need to have their settings updated to connect to Exchange Online. We recommend using the Microsoft Outlook app for this.
- Please note, shared mailboxes will not be accessible via mobile devices.
- Signatures will need re-adding (unless you have opted for a cloud-based email signature manager).
- During the downloading of cached mail, performance will be impacted, we recommend that users access mail via https://outlook.office365.com until Outlook has fully synced.
Post-Migration
Step 7 – Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA)
We strongly recommend that multi-factor authentication (MFA) is enabled for all email accounts at this stage. This additional layer of security ensures that if a user’s credentials are compromised, their email account cannot be easily accessed.
MFA is included in your Exchange Online licensing as standard but will require that users to have a company mobile device, or have agreed to use their own mobile for this purpose. This includes installing the Microsoft Authenticator app and linking it to the user’s company 365 account. Once set up, a user will be prompted to authorise access to their account after entering their password.
It is important to note that users moving to the latest versions of Office will not be adversely affected other than learning new features and getting used to the visual improvements that Microsoft make to their major updates. In fact, having the latest Office software ensures that all the new features that comes with Microsoft 365 will be fully available and work as Microsoft intended.