Practical guide · Projects and transitions
Migrations and office moves: what stays outside the cadence, and how we prepare for it
A tenant migration or an office move does not fit inside a service billed per user, per month. This guide explains why that work stays separate scope, and how a monthly cadence - where one already exists - actually prepares that project rather than ignoring it.
The decision to make
This guide helps you understand who actually carries out a migration or a move, and what the monthly starting-state record can hand that project to help it start faster.
Why a migration does not fit inside the monthly cadence
A migration project has a concentrated timeline, higher risk, and a one-time effort very different from a recurring review. Trying to absorb it into a per-user monthly rate would make the service unpredictable for both sides. The right approach is to scope and price it separately, before the work begins.
What an existing starting-state record gives a migration project
Where monthly management already exists, the maintained starting state - who owns which groups, which guests still matter, which licences are actually used - becomes a migration project’s first discovery step, already done. That shortens scoping and makes the quote more accurate.
- Group and workspace owners already identified
- Active guests already separated from forgotten ones
- Real licence usage already known
An office move has its own M365 checklist
A new address changes the network reality behind Conditional Access, may require a new number or a redirect inside Teams Phone, and physically moves the Wi-Fi access points that call quality depends on. These items deserve planning before the transition date, not discovery after it.
Tenant merger or consolidation follows the same logic
Combining two Microsoft 365 tenants after an acquisition or merger touches identity, licensing, groups, and data for both organizations at once. It is its own category of migration, with its own scoping, never a silent extension of an existing monthly management relationship.
What this means for your decision
This site does not carry out migrations or moves inside the Essential or Plus plan at $39 or $49 CAD. Where monthly management is already in place, it hands a project team a documented starting point instead of a blank page. Without an existing relationship, a first starting-state review can still be scoped on its own, before migration is even discussed.
A simple matrix for assigning the work.
| Situation | Owner | Cadence | Useful evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Small recurring tidy-up | M365 owner | Current cycle | Checklist completed in scope |
| Tenant migration or merger | Separate specialist project | One-time scope | Plan and quote confirmed |
| Office move | Leadership + project | Before the transition date | Dependency list confirmed |
Decision checklist
What should be true before considering this area under control.
- The team understands the difference between recurring upkeep and a one-time project
- The monthly starting state, where one exists, is current before scoping begins
- The new network and phone address is planned before the move
- A tenant merger is scoped as its own project
- No migration is assumed to be included in the published monthly rate
Next step
See how a starting state gets built before a project ever needs one.
Service onboarding explains how that first starting state is established. Then compare CAD levels to see what the monthly cadence actually covers.