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Defense Case Study
Client Profile
Client Type: Unmanned Vehicle Integration Consulting for the Navy
Employees: Approximately 25
Client Relationship: Long-term client of Bayside Networks
Challenge
Migrate client from Commercial Office365 to Government Cloud Microsoft Office365.com (GCCH)
Every company that works with the DoD is facing increasing pressure to comply with the CMMC (Cybersecurity Maturity Model Certification) security standard (link). Most recent contracts with the DoD already require compliance with some aspects of the CMMC or related aspects. Compliance with CMMC is a complex process that imposes work process and technical requirements at just about every point where data is processed or stored.
One way a DoD contractor’s CMMC compliance level is determined is with a CMMC score which can be done in a self-assessment or by another party. A contractor’s CMMC score is becoming part of every contractor’s competitive posture, and a satisfactory score can often be an outright requirement to win or retain certain types of business or work with the DoD.
A key part of a contractor’s CMMC score is the security of where they store sensitive (CUI) data. Fortunately, Microsoft offers a specialized version of their widely used Office365 computing platform known as Office365 GCCH (link). Office365 GCCH is a special version of Office365 to help DoD contractors and other parties better protect sensitive data, and expedite compliance with the CMMC and related standards, for their work with the DoD and related agencies.
To improve their CMMC compliance level, our client asked us to move all the data in their current “Commercial Office365” tenant over to the Microsoft Office365 GCCH platform. This migration included: email, calendaring, SharePoint data, Teams messaging history, and all other aspects of their commercial Office365 account.
Bayside Networks has a long history of migrating Office365 for clients for a range of scenarios. Some of the scenarios that can require an Office365 migration include:
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Moving to Microsoft’s Office365 GCCH platform, used primarily by defense contractors
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When another company is acquired (or sold) and data for both companies needs to be merged (or split).
Background
Goals for this client’s Office365 GCCH migration included:
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Improve the client’s CMMC score
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Minimal disruption during the migration process
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Leave client with the ability to administrate and manage their new Office365 tenant on their own after migration to GCCH without extensive outside assistance.
Solution
Migrating an Office365 system from to a new account is a delicate process. Just about every migration process involves moving email data and services to a new account, and in some cases documents need to be migrated as well.
Key concerns for a migration include:
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How much downtime will be required for the migration
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What parts of my data will not be transferred
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What other impacts can be expected as a result of migrating to a new Office365 tenant.
We start work on a Office365 migration project with an assessment of the client’s current O365 tenant. After the assessment, we write a project plan document (we call these documents PDN’s – Project Design Notes) to describe all aspects of the work necessary to complete the project, along listing caveats and risks that may be relevant.
For this migration, it was large and complex enough to break into a few different phases. Phases are a point within the overall project where we can review progress with the client, ask them to review results, and provide feedback before continuing work. For this project, an early phase was for Bayside to copy all email to the new account, gather “counts and total sizes” of the data on the source and target tenants, and then ask the client to review the data for accuracy before the project proceeds further.
When we eventually reached the point within the project where it was time to “turn on the new tenant” and switch all the users over, the client had good visibility that all their data had transferred properly and it was time to make the switch!
Like many things, the hard work was in the preparation, and the “actual event” of switching over was mostly a non-event. Everyone knew what to expect on “switchover day” and users were able to reconfigure their devices on their own to point to the new Office365 GCCH tenant. We also had staff on stand-by to provide any needed support or help with any last minute troubleshooting.
Outcome
The migration project was a success. The client also quickly established the ability to administer their new Office365 GCCH tenant just as they had done in the past their prior tenant.
This client continues on as a valued Bayside Networks client, and is a wonderful client reference for our firm. Interestingly they recently (late 2024) referred another defense contractor to us to migrate their commercial Office365 over to Office365 GCCH as well. The new client that was referred to us approved their migration project which is underway as I write this document.
A Successful Partnership
This project is just one example of our long-term relationship with this client. We continue to work on a wide range of projects and provide ongoing support.
Want to learn more?
Contact us for more information about this project or the client’s experience with Bayside Networks. We’d be happy to connect you with them for a reference.