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Home-Start Northampton and Daventry – Microsoft 365 Tenant Merge

Home-Start Northampton and Home-Start Daventry are part of a wider charity network supporting families with young children through volunteer-led, practical, and emotional support. Following their merger into a single organisation serving West Northamptonshire, they needed to consolidate systems and data to support a unified service while maintaining strict safeguarding, confidentiality, and operational continuity.

Challenges

Following the merger of two charities, there were multiple Microsoft 365 environments in use.

This created challenges around:

  • Separate email systems, file storage, and user identities
  • Lack of a single, central platform for collaboration
  • Complexity around permissions and access control
  • Risks around data duplication and inconsistent structures
  • Continued access to systems that no longer aligned with the new organisation

The goal was to bring everything together into a single, secure environment without disrupting frontline support services.

Home Start West Northants case study image

Solution

We designed and delivered a structured tenant-to-tenant migration into a single Microsoft 365 environment.

The focus was on simplifying the IT estate while maintaining security and continuity.

This included:

  • Consolidating users, email, and data into one tenant
  • Aligning permissions and access across the new organisation
  • Migrating SharePoint, OneDrive, and Teams data
  • Implementing a standardised structure for files and collaboration
  • Ensuring security and safeguarding requirements were maintained

The result was a single platform supporting the merged organisation.

Implementation / Process

We followed a phased migration approach to ensure minimal disruption and full control.

  1. Discovery & mapping – identified users, data, mailboxes, and dependencies across both tenants.
  2. Planning & structure design – defined a new unified environment aligned to the merged organisation.
  3. Migration staging – moved data, mailboxes, and services in controlled phases.
  4. Permissions alignment – ensured users had the correct access in the new environment.
  5. Validation & testing – confirmed data integrity, access, and functionality.
  6. Cutover & cleanup – finalised migration and removed legacy tenant access.

This approach ensured continuity of service throughout the transition.

Results/Benefits

The merged organisation now operates from a single, consistent platform.

  • One unified Microsoft 365 tenant
  • Improved collaboration across teams and locations
  • Simplified IT management and administration
  • Consistent security and access control
  • Reduced risk around data duplication and legacy access
  • A scalable platform to support future growth

Key Takeaways

  • Tenant merges are critical following organisational change or mergers
  • Planning and structure design are key to long-term success
  • Data and permissions must be carefully aligned
  • A phased approach reduces risk and disruption
  • A single tenant simplifies collaboration, security, and management

Bringing multiple Microsoft 365 environments together? Our Office 365 Business Support and Cyber Security services help organisations consolidate systems while protecting users, data and access.

For more information about our services, please call us today on 01604 790979

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