Saane: Migrating from OpenText and Legacy File Systems to Microsoft 365

Overview

A modern, governed home for organisational content

Saane was an asset management company, where documents and records needed to be well organised and protected.

Saane's documents and records were spread across an OpenText content management system and legacy file systems. Both had served the organisation for years, but they were costly to maintain, difficult to use remotely and disconnected from the tools people used every day.

Saane chose Microsoft 365 as its future platform for content and collaboration. Moving there was an opportunity to do more than copy files. It was a chance to rethink how information was structured, who could access it and how it was governed.

Konsolute carried out a discovery of Saane's existing content and then delivered the migration. Alongside it, we implemented information architecture, information governance and security controls in Microsoft 365, so content arrived in a structure designed for how Saane works.

The challenge

Years of content across systems that didn't connect

OpenText and legacy file systems had accumulated large volumes of content over many years. Some of it was critical, some was duplicated, and some was no longer needed. Folder structures and permissions had grown organically and no longer matched how the organisation was organised.

Migrating that content as it stood would have carried the same problems into the new platform. Metadata, version history and permissions in OpenText also needed careful handling to preserve context and protect sensitive information.

Saane needed to:

Our approach

Discover first, then migrate into a designed structure

We started by understanding Saane's content before moving any of it. Discovery findings shaped the target architecture, governance and migration plan.

<strong>Discovery.</strong> Konsolute analysed the content held in OpenText and the legacy file systems, including volumes, structures, metadata, permissions and owners. We worked with stakeholders to identify what was active, what was redundant and what needed special handling.

<strong>Information architecture.</strong> Using the discovery findings, we designed a Microsoft 365 information architecture of sites, libraries and metadata built around Saane's teams and processes. Content would land somewhere that made sense to the people who used it.

<strong>Information governance.</strong> We defined how information should be classified, retained and managed in Microsoft 365. Governance rules were agreed with Saane and applied as part of the new environment, rather than added later.

<strong>Security.</strong> Access was redesigned around the new structure, replacing permissions that had accumulated over time with a clearer model. Security controls were configured so that sensitive information is protected appropriately in its new location.

<strong>Migration.</strong> Content was migrated in planned phases, mapping OpenText and file system content to its destination and carrying across relevant metadata and permissions. Each phase was validated before the next began, and redundant content identified in discovery was not carried across by default.

Result

Organised, secure and ready for collaboration

Saane's content now lives in Microsoft 365, within an information architecture designed around how the organisation works. OpenText and the legacy file systems no longer have to be the place people go to find information.

Information governance and security were built into the new environment from the start. Content is classified, retained and protected according to agreed rules, and access reflects current roles rather than historic folder permissions.

Because discovery came first, the migration moved what mattered and left redundant content behind. Saane gained a cleaner, better-governed platform for collaboration, accessible from wherever its people work.