A Microsoft 365 consolidation and digital workplace transformation at extraordinary scale!
When the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia came together to form Adelaide University, two established digital ecosystems needed to operate as one while continuing to support teaching, research, administration and student services.
PlanB Consulting provided architectural leadership, migration strategy, information architecture, governance design and technical delivery across the Microsoft 365 estate. Over approximately 18 months, PlanB worked alongside university stakeholders to consolidate more than one petabyte of information and establish a modern, governed digital workplace for the new university.
Bringing separate environments together without interrupting the work of a new university
The technical scale was substantial, but the larger challenge was creating a coherent experience for people moving into a newly formed organisation.
The engagement was not simply about moving data.
It needed to establish the collaboration, governance and information foundations required for Adelaide University to operate as a unified institution from an unmovable go-live and continue evolving its Digital Employee Experience.
More Than a Migration
The engagement was not simply about moving data. It needed to establish the collaboration, governance and information foundations required for Adelaide University to operate as a unified institution from an unmovable go-live and continue evolving its Digital Employee Experience.
The program brought together a significant Microsoft 365 estate
Migration leadership combined with future-state digital workplace design.
PlanB developed and guided the migration strategy across Exchange Online, OneDrive for Business, SharePoint Online, Microsoft Teams and shared resources.
Rather than recreating the two legacy environments, PlanB helped design a modern SharePoint architecture aligned to Adelaide University’s organisational structure.
The Collaboration Hub formed one of three central pillars within Adelaide University’s Digital Employee Experience, alongside the Staff Portal and Services Hub. Together, these channels were designed to provide staff with a connected and consistent way to access information, collaborate with colleagues and obtain university services. PlanB played a leading role in defining and designing it as the primary collaboration layer.
PlanB designed and implemented an automated provisioning framework using Azure, SharePoint and Power Automate so the future-state environment could be sustained at scale.
“This project was not simply about migrating data. It was about creating the digital foundation for an entirely new university. Every decision, from information architecture and governance through to user experience and collaboration design, was focused on enabling Adelaide University to operate as a single institution from day one.”
A platform designed for one institution and its future
University mergers demand more than the movement of data. They require organisational alignment, governance, information architecture, stakeholder engagement, and precise technical execution while critical services continue to operate.
PlanB helped Adelaide University bring together complex Microsoft 365 environments while also designing the collaboration experience for the future institution.
Consolidating more than one petabyte of information while creating the collaboration, governance and user-experience foundations for Adelaide University.
“Bringing together two established universities required more than a complex technology migration. We needed a digital workplace that could support Adelaide University as one institution from day one. PlanB brought the architectural leadership, technical experience and practical delivery focus needed to help us navigate that complexity and create a strong foundation for collaboration, governance and future innovation.”
