Organization-Wide Email Platform Migration

Coordinating a transition to a new communications environment designed for better collaboration

The Challenge

A national professional organization needed to transition from a legacy email provider to a cloud-based communications platform that would better support collaboration among its board and committees.

The existing environment included nine mailboxes and 20 aliases serving individuals, leadership positions, committees, and other organizational functions. The migration also required determining how those accounts should function in the new environment—whether as individual accounts, shared mailboxes, distribution groups, or aliases—while preserving historical email and existing communication channels.

The project grew to include two new distribution groups and 11 new aliases, along with a legacy e-list containing potentially important historical data that must be preserved before the old system is retired.

My Role

I have primary ownership of the migration, from assessing the existing environment and designing the new account structure through implementation and user rollout.

I inventoried existing mailboxes and aliases, mapped them to the appropriate destinations in the new environment, established administrative roles and licensing requirements, and developed the migration sequence. I also coordinated technical requirements and DNS changes with outside providers and worked with organizational leadership and users to resolve questions that affect how the new system will operate.

Because the transition affects people as much as technology, I developed a migration timeline, account and alias mapping, a series of user communications, and a Quick Start Guide to prepare users for the change and minimize disruption.

The Result

The migration is currently in progress. The new environment is being structured to provide clearer account management, improved collaboration, and a more sustainable communications system while preserving the organization's existing email and historical information.

Skills demonstrated: Project ownership · Digital migration · Systems planning · Stakeholder coordination · Vendor coordination · Change management · User communications · Documentation · Problem-solving