What Your Team Needs to Do
Mint Partnership | Masters Events | Common Threads
Individual calls with key stakeholders across all organizations. These aren't just about the migration itself; I'll want to understand how the business runs day to day, what tools people rely on, how teams collaborate, and where the pain points are. The migration is one piece of a larger picture, and these conversations help me see the full scope.
No preparation needed on your end.
I'll need access to the Microsoft 365 Admin Centre and the DNS management panel for all domains to audit the current setup.
An online form sent to every employee. This helps me understand who has an existing Google account on their work email address and what it's used for.
When the company claims its domains in Google Workspace, anyone who already has a personal Google account on a company email address will need to resolve it. The form tells me who's affected and how to handle each case. Preview the form
I verify the domains, prepare DNS records, configure Google Workspace, and set up security policies. Email continues to flow through Microsoft during this time; nothing changes for users yet.
Before rolling out to everyone else, Steve goes through the full account resolution process on his own account first. This is the pilot run: it lets us verify that everything works and refine the instructions before the wider rollout.
Everyone who has a conflicting Google account gets a personalized email with step-by-step instructions (and a video walkthrough) for resolving their account. The path depends largely on the person's situation:
Transfer: accept an invitation to move the account under the company's Google Workspace. All existing data carries over.
Rename: change the email on the personal account to a non-work address (e.g., personal Gmail), which frees up the work address for a fresh Workspace account.
I'll be available for direct support throughout this phase for anyone who needs it.
I switch each domain's email delivery from Microsoft to Google, one domain at a time. From that point forward, new email arrives in Gmail instead of Outlook.
Users don't need to do anything for this step. I monitor delivery on both sides and keep Microsoft 365 active as a safety net throughout.
New emails start appearing in Gmail. Outlook stops receiving new mail for that domain. Old emails are still accessible in Outlook until the data migration is complete.
Once email is switched, Gmail becomes the primary inbox. Users log in at mail.google.com with their work email and the password set during account setup.
Old emails are migrated from Outlook in the background and will appear in Gmail over the following days, organized by labels.
Existing calendar events are migrated from Exchange. New meeting invitations should be created in Google Calendar going forward. Existing recurring events from Outlook will carry over.
For the first week or so, it's worth checking both calendars to make sure nothing was missed.
Files from OneDrive and SharePoint are migrated to Google Drive and Shared Drives. New files should be created in Drive going forward.
Some file formats (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) will be accessible in Google Drive as-is, or can be converted to Google Docs/Sheets/Slides. Both formats work in Drive.
During the migration window, avoid editing the same file in both OneDrive and Drive to prevent version conflicts. When in doubt, use the Google Drive version.
Google Chat and Spaces replace Microsoft Teams for internal messaging. This can be a gradual transition; both can run side by side until everyone is comfortable.
Chat history from Teams doesn't migrate, so any important conversations or shared files in Teams should be saved or moved to Drive before decommissioning.
Short team sessions (~45 minutes) covering Gmail tips, Drive organization, Calendar features, and common "how do I do X in Google?" questions. These are optional and scheduled per team based on interest.
If Steve wants to take over day-to-day admin, he gets Super Admin access to the Google Workspace Admin Console. Given his background he'll likely be comfortable navigating it, but I'm happy to walk through the key settings together if that's useful. Alternatively, I can continue managing the admin side on an ongoing basis.