Description #

The In-Place Archive is Microsoft Exchange’s solution to long-term storage of email data. In-Place Archiving in Exchange Server helps you regain control of your organization's messaging data by eliminating the need for personal store (.pst) files and allowing your employees to store messages in an archive mailbox. Archive mailboxes are designed so that users can store historical messaging data outside their primary mailbox.

Our goal is to help you move the archive mailboxes from your mailbox database to Microsoft 365 using the Exchange Management Shell and the Exchange admin center (EAC) in your on-premises organization. The project will be considered completed once all archive mailboxes have been safely moved and placed at the destination Microsoft 365 mailboxes.

IT Partner responsibilities #

1. Discover and assess In-Place Archives from the source tenant.
2. Perform pre-stage migration.
3. Assign the licenses.
4. Start and control the final In-Place Archive migration.

Client responsibilities  #

1. Provide a dedicated point of contact responsible for working with IT Partner.
2. Coordinate any outside vendor resources and schedules.
3. Configure all network equipment, such as load balancers, routers, firewalls, and switches.
4. If Microsoft Outlook or other desktop email clients are used to connect to Microsoft 365, deploy email software on client workstations.
5. Perform changes to internal and external DNS, as required.
6. Assist with identification of high-risk users (top executives and VIP users, users with 50 GB mailboxes or larger and/or 30 GB deleted folders or larger)
7. Recreate a new Outlook profile on all client workstations if the desktop Outlook version is used.
8. Inform users about upcoming changes and provide the necessary information.

Additional cost items not provided by the project #

1. Informing users about upcoming changes.
2. Customer team training (could be added as an additional service).
3. Desktop software settings.

Upon completion of the project, we will provide a project closeout report. This document will indicate the final project status, including acceptance criteria matching, outstanding issues, and the final budget. If you require more extensive documentation, it can be provided for an additional fee. 

Prerequisites #

1. You must have global admin level access to the source Microsoft 365 tenant.
2. You must have global admin level access to the destination Microsoft 365 tenant, with Exchange Online licenses available.
3. You must have access to your email domain DNS zone.

Plan #

The plan may vary depending on your needs.

1. Kickoff meeting.
2. Pre-migration source system health check.
3. Email migration start.
4. Verification of email migration.
5. Final email migration.
6. Post-migration tasks.

Success criteria #

1. Users can access Exchange Online on their desktop PCs, mobile phones, and tablets from any place, any time.
2. In-Place Archive data has been migrated to the appropriate mailboxes.