SE Migration FAQ

If you have any questions not included in this document please write into our Service Desk. We will respond as soon as we can and include those questions here if applicable.

UPDATE: What is needed from your Agency (SPOCS & Web Editors)

With help from other teams within Tyler Tech, we have made this migration as easy as possible overall and with as little time commitment from your agency as possible. There are just a few action items we need you to complete:

1. Notify Tyler Oregon's Web Team of any custom development on the site.
   1. ASAP, please send in a log of any custom development added to the site by your team and/or by someone outside of Tyler Oregon.
   2. For more information about what is considered customer development see this section.
2. Check in and publish any pages you wish for the Oregon Web Team to be able to QA in the new site.
   1. This is not required. Feel free to leave any pages checked out or unpublished as you wish. They will be that way in the new site.
   2. However, note that the Oregon Web Team won't be able to see those unpublished updates to check for matching content between the sites.
3. Attend Crosswalk Training & return a signed Letter of Acceptance after.
   1. Have at least one person attend your groupings Crosswalk Training on the date found here.
   2. After, send in a supplied Letter of Acceptance saying you attended.
4. Run User Acceptance Testing (UAT) on your site & return a signed Letter of Acceptance after.
   1. After Tyler Oregon's Web Team has completed our testing you will receive an email asking you to complete UAT.
   2. A UAT checklist will be provided to follow and test the functionality of the new site.
   3. If you are unable to finish UAT please reach out and we will setup a meeting to help.
   4. Note: UAT is not a check for your sites content, but that the site functions and its User Interfaces work as expected.
   5. Once you are happy and UAT is passed you will send in a Letter of Acceptance that approves the SE site to replace your current production site.

UPDATE: Will we be able to add/change content on our website during the migration window?

YES!! Thanks to help from our Tyler Tech CMS Team, we now have a new solution in which we can allow site updates during the migration period.

On the Friday of your migration groups start date, we take a backup of your current Production site. We will use that backup to create the new SE site and begin our testing there. Once we are happy, we will reach out to your team to do some User Acceptance Testing and approve the functionality of the site.

When you are happy and sign the Letter of Acceptance, the next Tuesday will be the new sites deployment (will will deploy at 5pm). On the Monday prior, we will run a content update. This will bring the new SE sites content up to date with your current Production site, including updates made during your migration period.

This means your team can continue to work as expected without tracking your changes. We would only ask that you don’t update it at all on the Monday prior and the Tuesday your site launches. Since anything added after the content update will be missed.

Do we need to do a redesign/refresh on our site for the migration?

During our previous migration into SharePoint 2016, and for some time after, we required that sites move to be on the V4x template. This was done in preparation for this migration to SharePoint SE. Migrating a single template makes the process simpler and removes possible pain points for our Web Team and your agency's web team. So as long as your site is on the V4x template no changes are required. 

What do we need to do in preparation for the migration?

The main requirement of this migration is that all sites to be migrated be on the V4x template. The large majority of the E-Government sites within our SharePoint environment have already moved to this template in preparation for the migration. If your agency is one of the few on the older V4 template, Tyler Oregon has already been in contact with your SPOC and plans are being made to facilitate the migration. If you are worried or unsure that your site is on V4x please write into our Service Desk and we are happy to help confirm. 

We are also asking for a log of any custom development (scripts) added to your site beyond anything created by Tyler Oregon. This is so we know to double check that that developments functionality is still working in the new SharePoint SE environment. For more information about what we mean by custom development please see this question. If you have something that you think is custom development, but you are unsure, please include it in the log just to be safe.

What happens to our existing site during the migration?

Your existing SharePoint 2016 site will stay right where it is. All pages and content will still be accessible for all visitors just like it is currently. Once it is time for your site’s migration, the site will be placed on read-only to keep from any content being updated. This is to guarantee that no updates made by your team to the site or the site's content will be missed by the migration. The public will continue to see the site working as expected during this time. 

Tyler Oregon's Web Team will migrate the site to the new location and then run thorough Quality Assurance on all pages and functionality. We will compare it to the SharePoint 2016 site to ensure that the sites match, and all expected functionality and content were migrated successfully. When our team is done with QA, we will ask your team to run your own internal User Acceptance Testing (UAT), to test the site fully, ensure it is running as expected, and sign-off within the scheduled timeframe.

Once our team, and your team, sign off on the site working as expected, we will replace the SharePoint 2016 site with the new SharePoint SE version and your team will be able to make updates again. Visitors should see little to no interruption during this time. 

What ‘custom development’ needs to be logged prior to the migration start?

If your agency's web team has added, or contracted out to add, additional functionality to your site, we request you log that information into this document and supply it to Tyler Oregon before the beginning of Q3 2025. 

This does not include custom HTML or CSS, only additional scripts added to the site by anyone outside of Tyler Oregon. If you are unsure if a feature of your site should be included, please include it to be safe and we will be sure to check its functionality. 

Will any other updates/upgrades be happing during the migration (Bootstrap, jQuery… etc..)?

No, in order to keep the migration as simple to manage as possible we will not be upgrading or updating any 3rd party plugins or libraries during this time. While the security and functionality of these services are important, we will be prioritizing the migration through its completion. After the migration is complete, we will turn our attention back to the assets available within our SharePoint environments.

How long will the actual site migration take?

We are expecting about 14 days total for an average site's migration. We expect the actual migration of the site and its contents to take approximately 1 week. After the content is migrated, and passed testing from our web team, UAT begins, the length of UAT is solely dependent on your team's availability and communication. The quicker UAT is performed and completed, the quicker the migrated site can be launched and the shorter the window necessary to have the site on read-only without access for updates.

What will UAT (User Acceptance Testing) entail? 

We will provide a UAT checklist for agencies to check the functionality of their site, we just request for an official signed Letter of Acceptance from the agency SPOC before the site can go to production (live). These documents will include a checklist of items and functionality to test on the new site to ensure it is working as expected when made live. If you are unable to finish UAT or need assistance, please reach out and we will meet and work together to get through UAT.

We recommend having one Single Point of Contact (SPOC) assigned to get your site migrated quickly. As they will be involved in SharePoint SE training, UAT testing, signing off on release of site to go live.

Does the 2016 version get archived and is there a way to compare content between 2016 and SE?

We will maintain a backup of all 2016 sites for approximately 6 months after the final agencies are migrated. Only Tyler employees will have access to this server, so if you need something restored or downloaded, please reach out to the help desk with your request.

Do files/pages need to be checked in while doing the migration? At what point in the migration agencies need to ensure to check-in pages?

While not required, to ensure a smooth migration we ask that all files be checked in when not in use. This allows us to verify that page content matches during the QA process. 

Is there a way for agencies to check what pages are not checked-in without needing to go through page by page?

A site content inventory report can be generated to help identify pages and files that are currently checked out. You may request this report from the help desk.