Summary

IDH is a Netherlands-based organisation working to transform markets towards more sustainable and inclusive trade. IDH partnered with Content Formula to migrate its document estate from Citrix ShareFile into SharePoint. An earlier phase using a third-party migration tool had shown the estate was more complex than an off-the-shelf route could handle, so, working alongside IDH's IT partner, we built a custom migration tool and transferred the estate in five validated batches over a five-week period, landing content in a properly structured Microsoft 365 environment rather than replicating the old one.

The challenge

Migrations of this kind often start with an off-the-shelf tool, and this one did. An earlier phase using a third-party migration tool made one thing clear: IDH's content estate was more complex than a generic route could reliably handle. What was needed was not another tool. It was a method that could be overseen end to end, with Content Formula managing execution alongside IDH's IT partner.

The migration itself was genuinely complex. ShareFile's folder structure did not map cleanly onto how SharePoint should be organised, so the destination environment had to be properly architected before any transfer could begin. The volume of data also exceeded initial estimates, which meant the scope had to adapt while the project was in flight. Migrations rarely fail on the transfer itself. They fail on unmapped structure, unvalidated batches and unclear handoffs, and this project had to get all three right.

IDH needed a partner that could:

• design and build a custom migration tool capable of handling the complexity of IDH's content estate
• coordinate the migration across three parties (IDH, its IT partner and Content Formula) with clear handoffs and timing
• ensure migrated content landed in a well-structured SharePoint environment rather than replicating the problems of the old one
• validate each batch of data quickly and respond to issues as they emerged

If a migration is proving more complex than the tools you started with can handle, talk to our team about a properly planned approach.

Why build a custom migration tool?

The simplest route is usually an off-the-shelf migration tool. In this case, the earlier phase had already shown that the complexity of IDH's estate was beyond what a generic approach could handle reliably. Building a custom solution gave us control over the variables that decide whether a migration succeeds: where content lands, what happens to permissions and metadata, and how quickly issues can be identified and resolved.

The process was designed around IDH's specific constraints, with each party owning a clear part of the sequence. IDH's IT partner prepared the data in Azure Blob storage. IDH provided a content mapping file defining where everything should land. Our custom tool then executed the transfer into SharePoint against that mapping. Separating preparation, mapping and execution in this way is what makes a three-way migration workable: everyone knows what they own and when the handoff happens.

The migration ran as five batches of departmental data over a five-week period, with QA validation completed within 24 hours of each transfer. This included a final batch to handle surplus data.

What was delivered

The solution was a purpose-built migration that treated the move from ShareFile to SharePoint as an opportunity to improve the content environment, not just replicate it. The key components:

• A custom migration tool developed specifically for IDH's environment, supporting folder, library and site mappings defined by the IDH team while maintaining permissions and core file metadata. In practice, this means content arrived where people expect to find it, with access rights intact, rather than needing to be reorganised after the fact.
• Five batches of departmental data migrated and QA validated, with Content Formula overseeing execution across each batch. Validating within 24 hours of each transfer meant issues were caught while they were still easy to isolate and fix, not discovered weeks later across the whole estate.
• Close three-party coordination between IDH, its IT partner and Content Formula throughout, aligning on preparation, timing, handoffs and issue resolution. Migrations of this scale stall when ownership is unclear; keeping the sequence explicit kept the project moving.

If you're planning a migration of your own, explore our approach to content migration and planning.

Why it mattered

For IDH, moving away from ShareFile was never just a technical transfer. It was an opportunity to improve how content is organised and governed within Microsoft 365, which meant the destination environment mattered as much as the move itself. Staying on a platform that no longer fits carries its own cost: content becomes harder to find, govern and consolidate with every month that passes.

The decision to build a custom migration tool rather than rely on a third-party solution reflected both the complexity of IDH's estate and the lessons of the earlier phase. It gave us the control needed to map content accurately, adapt to scope changes in the moment and validate results with confidence.

If you are planning a move into Microsoft 365, or one that has proved harder than expected, the route IDH took, custom tooling, batch validation and clear ownership across parties, is a workable one for most organisations.

Want to know more about the team behind projects like this? Learn more about Content Formula.

Read more Content Formula case studies.