As organizations have moved to Office 365, many – especially “legacy” SharePoint shops – have resisted the move to the “modern” UIs as much as possible. This is true for both end users and developers. We tend to stick with what we know, and historically the “modern” UIs may not have seemed compelling enough to make the switch. What this means is there is an impending “migration” on the horizon for many organizations which they may not realize is coming. While “classic” doesn’t have a known retirement date, Microsoft’s investments are in the “modern” UIs. As developers, what can we do to help facilitate organizational preparedness for this migration? This session will cover what it means to embrace the “modern” UIs and what you can do now to prepare. We’ll cover such topics as: · What still doesn’t exist in “modern” and might keep you in “classic” for the time being (a moving target!) · How to rethink your existing client-side solutions to be prepared for the SharePoint Framework (SPFx) · How to add functionality into list views using column formatting · Moving from “classic” team sites to “modern” team sites and what that means from a navigational and functional perspective

1. The Next Great
Migration:
Classic to Modern
Marc D Anderson

2. Marc D Anderson
• Co-Founder and President of Sympraxis Consulting
LLC, located in the Boston suburb of Newton, MA, USA.
Sympraxis focuses on enabling collaboration
throughout the enterprise using the SharePoint
application platform.
• Over 35 years of experience in technology professional
services and software development. Over a wide-
ranging career in consulting as well as line manager
positions, Marc has proven himself as a problem solver
and leader who can solve difficult technology
problems for organizations across a wide variety of
industries and organization sizes.
• Author of SPServices
• Awarded Microsoft MVP for SharePoint Server 2011-
2019

3. As developers, what can we do to help facilitate organizational preparedness for this migration? This session will
cover what it means to embrace the "modern" UIs and what you can do now to prepare. We'll cover such topics as:
What still doesn't exist in "modern" and
might keep you in "classic" for the time
being (a moving target!)
How to rethink your existing client-side
solutions to be prepared for the
SharePoint Framework (SPFx)
How to add functionality into list views
using column formatting
Moving from "classic" team sites to
"modern" team sites and what that
means from a navigational and
functional perspective
As organizations have moved to Office 365, many - especially "legacy" SharePoint shops - have resisted the move to
the "modern" UIs as much as possible. This is true for both end users and developers. We tend to stick with what we
know, and historically the "modern" UIs may not have seemed compelling enough to make the switch. What this
means is there is an impending "migration" on the horizon for many organizations which they may not realize is
coming. While "classic" doesn't have a known retirement date, Microsoft's investments are in the "modern" UIs.

6. Projects
Project A Project B Project C
Intranet
Home
Departments Offices

7. Projects
Project A Project B Project C
Intranet
Home
Departments Offices

8. Projects
Project A Project B … Project M
Intranet
Home
Departments Offices

9. Projects
Project C Project D …
Intranet
Home
Departments Offices

10. Projects
Project C Project D … Project Z
Intranet
Home
Departments Offices

11. Projects
Project C Project D … Project Z
Intranet
Home
Departments Offices

12. Projects
Project C Project D … Project Z
Intranet
Home
Departments Offices

13. Adapted from What is Modern SharePoint and Why Should I care? by Bob German

14. Build something better

16. What's missing from "modern" SharePoint
that's keeping you from moving from
"classic"? Showstoppers or just old habits?
https://twitter.com/sympmarc/status/996820552533803008
https://www.facebook.com/marc.d.anderson/posts/10211379026648280

17. What's missing
from "modern"
SharePoint that's
keeping you from
moving from
"classic"?
Showstoppers or
just old habits?
https://twitter.com/sympmarc/status/996820552533803008
https://www.facebook.com/marc.d.anderson/posts/10211379026648280 https://www.wordclouds.com/

20. •
•
•
•
•

24. Intranet
Home
Departments Offices
See: Whither a New Intranet on Modern Office 365?
https://sympmarc.com/2018/07/23/whither-a-new-intranet-on-modern-office-365/

25. See: Create a Modern Home Page for the Classic Root Site
https://sympmarc.com/2018/08/20/creating-a-modern-home-page-for-the-root-site-in-a-tenant/
# List all pages, and find the id of the modern page
Get-PnPListItem -List SitePages
# Change layout from "Article" to "Home" to remove top banner
Set-PnPListItem -List SitePages –Identity <id> -Values @{"PageLayoutType"="Home"}

26. See: Create a hub site in SharePoint Online https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/create-hub-site
# Register site as a Hub Site
Register-SPOHubSite -Site
https://tenant.sharepoint.com/sites/siteName

27. See: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/features/groupify/groupify-overview
https://techcommunity.microsoft.com/t5/SharePoint-Blog/Rolling-out-tenant-admin-tools-to-connect-existing-SharePoint/ba-p/188750

29. Branding
• It's a tough
discussion
sometimes
• Settle on a theme
rather than trying
to be pixel perfect
• Apply different
light branding
(theme-based) to
your Hub Sites so
it can cascade to
the associated
modern sites

30. Content Type Hub
• Unfortunately, the
Content Type Hub
doesn't give us all the
tools we need
• Rationalize the scope
of Content Type
usage
• Upsize or downsize
• Site Collection to
Content Type Hub
• Site Collection to
Hub Site
• More important in
the flat topology
model

31. See: Transform classic pages to modern client-side pages
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/transform/modernize-userinterface-site-pages

32. Custom Forms
• InfoPath or JavaScript -> PowerApps
• No automation from Microsoft, some
third party – but should there be?
• Change is hard: Time to rethink!

33. See: New Excel-like Format for Column Formatting
https://sympmarc.com/2018/08/21/new-excel-like-format-for-column-formatting/

34. See: Use view formatting to customize SharePoint
https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/declarative-customization/view-formatting

36. PnP: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/community/community

38. Resources for
Thought Modernize your classic SharePoint sites
What is Modern SharePoint
and Why Should I care?
Is It Time to Give Up
SharePoint Classic Sites?
Modernizing Your
Approach to Site Architecture in SharePoint
and Office 365
5 Simple Steps to Maximize
SharePoint Usability – “Modernify” Your
Classic SharePoint Sites