The migration scoping phase incorporates project initiation, planning and a risk assessment. During this process the approach and dates for the email system migration will be agreed by both parties; sometimes this is out of hours to minimise business disruption. Any identified risks will be captured and documented. There are two pre-defined migration strategies; one of which must be chosen as the approach to facilitate the migration.

Standard Migration
A standard migration involves switching all users and mailboxes to the Active Mail service at the same time. The Active Mail platform is configured ahead of time with all users, contact and distribution list information and end users are informed on how to log into the Active Mail system via Outlook Web Access. DNS TTL's for the MX records are lowered to give greater control over the MX record reconfiguration and switch over to Active Mail. Once the MX records have been switched to Active Mail, data is exported from the legacy email system using one of three methods. The final step in the migration workflow is the configuration of all the Outlook clients to use Active Mail.

Phased Migration
A phased migration involves moving groups of users to the Active Mail system in manageable blocks. Mail routing using sub domains, address re-write rules and forwarders need to be created during the Active Mail configuration phase in preparation for this method of migration. This type of migration is inherently more complex than a standard migration but does allow for a granular migration of data and users. When mail forwarding for individual users has been created data migration on an individual basis takes place.