Purpose

The Council currently retains more than 60 terabytes of un-structured data
(Word documents, Excel spreadsheets, PowerPoint presentations,
Pictures, Videos, etc.), this is estimated to be made up of between 15 and
30 million individual documents. Many of these documents have been
migrated to or are stored on the Council’s current SharePoint estate or are
held in associated shared file stores. These documents are generally
unmanaged, lack retention or ownership information and include many
duplicates and documents versions. This situation exposes the organisation
to material information governance risk, constrains digital productivity,
and significantly limits the safe and effective use of modern data,
automation and artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities.
Findings from the ICO review highlighted a requirement for stronger
corporate controls over the management, retention, accessibility and
protection of digital information. The SharePoint architecture directly
addresses these issues by providing a governed enterprise document
management platform with defined ownership, standardised information
architecture, automated retention and records management capabilities,
improved access controls, enhanced auditability, and strengthened
resilience and recovery arrangements.
A decision is sought for approval to undertake a council wide migration of
SharePoint content into a single, governed modern SharePoint
architecture. Delivery will be commissioned through the Council’s Strategic
IT Partner, Version 1, who will provide the specialist migration capability
via Intelogy (building on Intelogy’s previous support in developing the
SharePoint architecture). The programme will deliver a compliant, secure
and scalable collaboration platform, aligned to the Council’s approved
SharePoint Migration Strategy and Global SharePoint Architecture.

The total cost is estimated to be between £1.5m and £1.8m over two years
based on two separate assessments by Version 1 and Intelogy. This
represents a time limited invest to save programme which materially
reduces regulatory, operational and financial risk while improving
productivity and enabling future digital transformation, including the
responsible use of AI across council services.
Budget provision for this expenditure has already been identified in both
2026/27 and 2027/28. This decision is to modify the approach to a delivery
vehicle considered to be more cost effective for the Council.
It is important to note that Version 1 will not duplicate the specialist
migration activities undertaken by Intelogy. Instead, Version 1 will provide
critical governance, assurance and platform accountability functions that
cannot be separated from their role as the operator and supporter of the
Council’s Microsoft 365 environment. This includes responsibility for
ensuring that all migrated content complies with the Council’s agreed
SharePoint architecture, that migration activities are safely integrated into
the live tenant, and that the resulting services are fully supportable within
the Council’s operational model. Version 1 will also oversee service
acceptance and transition into business-as-usual support, mitigating the
risk of additional cost, rework, or service instability arising from the
migration programme. For the avoidance of doubt, accountability for the
overall delivery outcomes of this work will sit with Version 1.
This approach ensures that specialist delivery capability is combined with
retained platform accountability, providing a proportionate and costeffective model that avoids duplication while maintaining appropriate
governance, risk control and long-term value for money.

This approach delivers the following benefits:
• Maintains a single point of accountability for the live SharePoint and
Microsoft 365 platform, avoiding fragmented responsibility between
delivery and support.

• Provides architectural assurance and governance, ensuring all
migrated content aligns to the Council’s approved SharePoint
standards and does not recreate existing compliance risks.
• Ensures safe integration with the live environment, reducing the risk
of disruption, rework, or technical issues during migration.
• Enables controlled transition into ongoing support, ensuring the
migrated estate is fully supportable and does not create additional
long-term cost or technical debt.
• Provides a compliant and efficient route to market, utilising an
existing contract to access specialist capability without the need for
a separate procurement exercise.
• Supports delivery at pace while retaining governance, combining
specialist migration capability with appropriate oversight, risk
management and assurance
While based on estimated effort, the proposal will clearly set out a
milestone payment schedule with all payments subject to LCC approval.
The work will be subject to quarterly reviews of progress with a clearly
articulated escalation route for any issues that may arise.

Decision

Commission the migration of Legacy SharePoint Sites and File Stores to a
Modern SharePoint Architecture via Version 1 using Intelogy

Alternative options considered

1. Do nothing
This option would retain the current mix of legacy SharePoint sites and
unmanaged file stores. This option was rejected as it:
• Leaves the Council exposed to ongoing data protection, FOI and
records management risks.
• Allows continued growth of duplicate and poorly organised data.
• Limits the ability to use modern tools, including automation and AI.
• Increases long-term cost due to inefficiency and technical debt.
2. Partial or incremental migration
This option would migrate selected services or areas only. This option was
rejected as it:
• Creates inconsistent standards across the organisation.
• Fails to address the wider compliance and governance risks.
• Limits the overall benefits of the new SharePoint architecture.
• Maintains unnecessary complexity in how information is stored and
managed.
3. Commission Intelogy via Version 1 (recommended option)
This option commissions a specialist provider (Intelogy) to deliver the
migration through the Council’s Strategic IT Partner, Version 1. This option
is recommended because it:
• Enables delivery at pace using proven specialist capability.
• Maintains a single point of accountability for the live SharePoint and
Microsoft?365 platform.
• Provides assurance that the migration meets the Council’s agreed
standards and is fully supportable.
OFFICIAL – SENSITIVE
• Ensures safe integration with the live environment, reducing risk of
disruption or rework.
• Builds on existing work, avoiding duplication and reducing cost and
delivery risk.
4. Deliver using existing Version 1 Product Team only
This option would extend the current Product Team to complete the
migration without additional specialist support. This option was rejected as
it:
• Would require significant scaling of the team, increasing overall cost.
• Is less suited to large-scale, repeatable migration activity.
• Would take longer to deliver the full programme.
• Reduces capacity available for other key transformation programmes.
5. Undertake a full commercial, competitive tender exercise
This option would involve running a full procurement process to select a
supplier from the wider market. This option was rejected as it:
• Would delay delivery and prolong existing data and compliance risks.
• Would require additional procurement activity to build upon the
analysis and specification development that has already been
undertaken; while this will introduce further effort, it is not expected
to deliver proportionate additional benefit in the context of the
requirement.
• Introduces higher delivery risk due to lack of familiarity with the
Council’s systems.
• Could result in more complex contractual and delivery arrangements,
potentially reducing clarity of accountability and increasing
management overhead.
• Is not expected to deliver materially improved overall value for money.