This article describes the steps on how to copy SharePoint Sites to separate Site Collection from where Projects are located.
📢 For organizations that use Microsoft Project Online, to keep Project Online performing at its best, there are some limits as to how much data we can realistically store: 30,000 projects per Project Web App site. However, the project sites for these projects must not exceed 2,000 sites in one site collection. Moreover, for best performance with large numbers of projects organizations need to aim not having any project sites in the PWA site collection itself.
G.A. Suite functionality supports migration of a SharePoint Site into a separate Site Collection.
Please note: To use this functionality it is required to have the Projects and Sites located on the source PWA. If you have Projects on one PWA and the sites are located in different site collections, it will not be possible to use this functionality to migrate the Sites to the required site collections preserving their links to the Projects.
Please note: The limitation for using the feature of creating Subsites in different Site Collections is that the target PWA (where the projects were migrated to) should be in Project Server Permission Mode. If the SharePoint Permission Mode is used, the option would not be available. When the sites are uploaded to the target PWA, G.A. Suite uploads the sites to the site collection specified in the EPTs 'Site Creation Location' section of the project that the migrated site is connected to. The 'Site Creation Location' section is available only if the PWA is in the Project Server Permission Mode. If the site collection is not specified in the EPTs 'Site Creation Location' section, the sites will be uploaded to the same PWA where the projects are located.
The simplest way to check which Permission Mode is used is to open PWA (Server) Settings in your PWA. If you can see Security section in the list of available settings – your PWA is in Project Server Permission Mode. If not – then SharePoint Mode is on.
Please note: Before copying SharePoint Sites, the Tenant Administrator should navigate to the SharePoint admin center -> Active Sites -> Select the site in question -> Open the Settings page -> Click Edit under the "Custom script" setting. Select "Allowed" and save the changes. This will allow the account you are using in G.A. Suite to copy site templates, custom forms, views, etc. With this option set to "Blocked", the copy may fail. For more details, please refer to this article.
There are two scenarios how sites can be moved to a different Site Collection using G.A. Suite.
1. SharePoint Sites can be moved together with the Projects during PWA data migration (but to a different Site Collection). If you are migrating the data from one PWA to another but you would like to move your sites to a different Site Collection (not the same PWA where the Projects are located), this scenario will the best decision.
Also, if you already have a PWA where the Projects are located (besides the source PWA where the projects and sites are located initially) this scenario will also work for your case.
Please note: In the first scenario it is required to upload Site templates to the target PWA where the projects are located and to the site collection where the sites will be migrated before the upload of SharePoint sites will be launched.
If the site templates are present on the target PWA where the projects are located and on the site collection where the sites will be uploaded, G.A. Suite will resolve the site templates by EPTs and set the correct site template for each site, according to the target PWA (where the site templates are specified in the EPTs of each project).
2. SharePoint sites can be moved and stored in a different Site Collection separately. If you do not plan to migrate the Projects and you just need to move the sites to a different Site Collection, and you do not need to preserve their links to the Projects, then the third scenario will be the best solution.
Please note: In the second scenario, as the sites are moved to a separate Site Collection, their links to the projects will be lost. It will be needed to update the connection of the SharePoint Sites to their Projects manually.
Also, please note that in the second scenario all sites in the target (new) Site Collection will be created using the default site template Project Site. As there are no projects on the PWA where the sites will be copied to, G.A. Suite will not be able to resolve site templates by EPTs and set the correct site templates for each site, according to the source PWA.
SCENARIO 1 - Copy SharePoint Sites with Projects
Step 1 - Set up Project Sites creation location
The Project Site creation location setting in Project Online is located in Enterprise Project Type.
To specify the URL of the Site Collection in which you would like Project Sites to be created perform the following:
1. Navigate to the Project Online PWA where Projects are located >> PWA (Server) Settings >> Enterprise Project Types:
2. On the opened page click on the Enterprise Project Type name to open it for edit:
3. On the opened page find the 'Site Creation Location' section. In the "Location URL" provide the URL of the Site Collection, where you would like the Project Sites to be located.
Save the change:
4. Repeat the steps for other Enterprise Project Types if needed.
Step 2 - Copy SharePoint Sites and Projects using G.A. Suite
The process requires:
- 2 PWAs added and licensed in G.A. Suite:
- PWA URL, to which Projects will be copied and where the Project Site Creation Location was set up must be specified as 'Target' during upload in G.A. Suite.
1. To start the process, visit the G.A. Suite web site at https://gas.fluentpro.com and log in with your account.
2. On the G.A. Suite Home Page click on the environment where Projects and Project Sites are currently located. Click Change Management and select Copy option.
3. The Copy page will be opened.
To launch the copying process, click on the Copy now option.
4. Copy now window will be opened. Review and edit the required information here by clicking on the pencil-like button next to each section.
- Source location - check that the source PWA URL is correct.
- Notification Email - specify the email, where the notification will be sent on completion.
-
Source credentials - Provide specific credentials, if needed, and validate them. Multi-factor Authentication for Office 365 users is also available. For more details refer to this article.
Please note: By default G.A. Suite uses the credentials which were provided, when adding PWA to G.A. Suite. These credentials are stored and may be found on the Credentials Manager or Credentials page. If for some reason you would like G.A. Suite to use different set of credentials, use this option.
You can add multiple credentials to perform the operation and add more account to the accounts list.
In case of any issues with an account (permissions or access lost; password expired) during G.A. Suite operation processing, another one will be used to successfully complete the operation. Also, using Multiple credentials option makes G.A. Suite performance faster. - Target location - select the target PWA where you would like to copy your Projects to (or where your Projects are already present, if you have a separate PWAwhere the projects are located and where the site collections are set as required in the EPT site creation settings of each project).
- Target credentials - provide target specific credentials if you need to use different credentials from the ones provided in the Environment Settings.
- PWA Configuration - click on the pencil-like button to select the configuration you need to upload to the target PWA now, if required. This option can be skipped in our scenario.
- Project Plans - This option can be skipped in our scenario.
- SharePoint Sites - click on the pencil-like button and click on the Selected option. Click on the number link.
5. Allow a few minutes for the sites to be loaded to the SharePoint sites window.
You can filter the sites by the modified date, select either of the options from the 'Modified' drop-down list.
6. Select the Root PWA Site only. This step is very important, as the Root PWA site contains Site Templates, users and groups, site settings etc., and all this information needs to be uploaded to the target PWA before the subsites so that it is applied during the upload of the subsites to the target Site Collection. Click 'Add Selected'.
7. On the next step click 'Save' to confirm.
8. Click Copy Now to launch the copying process
As the root PWA site is copied to the target Site Collection, follow the same steps selecting the target site collection where you would like to copy your SharePoint Sites to:
1. On the G.A. Suite Home Page click on the environment where Projects and Project Sites are currently located. Click Change Management and select the Copy option.
2. The Copy page will be opened.
To launch the copying process, click on the Copy now option.
Copy Now page will be opened, perform the following:
- Target Location - select the target site collection where you would like to copy your SharePoint Sites to;
3. In the SharePoint Sites section click on the pencil-like button and click on the Selected option. Click on the number link.
4. Allow a few minutes for the sites to be loaded to the SharePoint sites window.
5. Select the Root PWA Site only. Click All button next to the site name.
6. In the window that is opened select the Solutions (Site templates) only. Site templates need to be uploaded to the target site collection before the subsites so that it is applied during the upload of the subsites to the target Site Collection.
Click 'Add Selected' to confirm.
7. Next, click 'Add Selected' on the SharePoint Sites page.
8. On the next step click 'Save' to confirm.
9. Click Copy Now to launch the copying process
As the root PWA site is copied to the target Site Collection, follow the steps below:
1. On the G.A. Suite Home Page click on the environment where Projects and Project Sites are currently located. Click Change Management and select Copy option.
2. The Copy page will be opened.
To launch the copying process, click on the Copy now option.
Copy Now window will be opened, perform the following:
- Select the Target Location - the target PWA where you would like to copy your Projects to (or where your Projects are already present, if you have a separate PWA where the projects are located and where the site collections are set as required in the EPT site creation settings of each project).
In the opened 'Copy now' page, 'Project Plans' section, click on the pencil-like button and choose 'Selected' radio-button and click on the number link under it.
(If you are using a PWA where the projects are already present, this step can be skipped, you can proceed to selecting the SharePoint sites). 
3. As you click on the number link, the Project Plans window will be opened and all Projects from the source PWA will be loaded to this window at once. You can filter the projects by 'View' or by 'Modified date' if needed using the filters on the top of this window. When the required filter is selected, the projects list will be loaded from the PWA into the Project Plans page according to the selected filter.
4. As the Projects are loaded, select the ones you plan to move the Target PWA.
Please note: If you need to select the projects from different Project Center views, it is also possible. Select the required view, check the checkboxes of the required projects. Then open the next view and select the projects that you need to include to this operation from this view as well. You will then see the total number of the selected projects by clicking on the Selected button that shows the number of projects that are currently selected for the current operation.
The Total Items button allows reviewing all projects that are loaded to the Project Plans screen.
Also, the projects can be additionally filtered out by the Project name, % Complete, Type, EPT, Modified fields, using the button next to each field. You can provide the filtering criteria there to get faster to the projects you need.
As soon as the required projects are selected, please click 'Add selected' button.
Click Save to save the selection.
5. Next, in the SharePoint Content section select 'For Selected Projects' checkbox and click Save.
(If you are using a PWA where the projects are already present as a target PWA, then click 'Selected' option and choose the required SharePoint sites).
6. Provide the email on completion. As the copy process is completed, a notification will be sent to the provided email with the copy status.
Don't delete Sites/Projects before upload - select this option, if you don't need to remove projects and their sites selected for upload from the target PWA before upload. (Projects with the same name and/or project UID will be deleted if the check box is not checked. The projects and sites will be deleted in the same way as you delete them manually).
Copy Document Versions - select this option if you need to migrate the document version history.
Delete Document Versions Before Upload - check this checkbox if these documents already exist on the target PWA. It is not possible to overwrite document versions using G.A. Suite. To upload the document versions to the target PWA, it is required to remove the existing documents from the target PWA.
Please note: If this option is on, only the documents that are selected for upload will be deleted from the target PWA, all other documents will not be deleted.
Please note: To upload document versions, the document versioning should be enabled on the target PWA. On the target PWA, open the list or library that you want to enable versioning => select Settings => Library Settings => on the Settings page, select Versioning settings => set the settings as required => select OK. If the versioning is not enabled, the last version only will be upload by G.A. Suite.
7. Click Copy Now button to launch the copying process.
8. 'Copy' page will be opened. On this page, it is possible to review the status of the copy process and its progress.
SCENARIO 2 - Copy SharePoint Sites only without their links to the Projects
The process requires:
- 2 PWAs added and licensed in G.A. Suite:
- PWA URL, to which Project Sites will be copied must be selected as 'Target' in G.A. Suite.
1. On the G.A. Suite Home Page click on the environment where Projects and Project Sites are currently located. Click Change Management and select Copy option.
2. The Copy page will be opened.
To launch the copying process, click on the Copy now option.
3. Copy Now page will be opened. Review and edit the required information here by clicking on the pencil-like button next to each section.
- Source location - check that the source PWA URL is correct.
- Notification Email - specify the email, where notification will be sent on completion.
- Source credentials - Provide specific credentials, if needed and validate them. Multi-factor Authentication for Office 365 users is also available. Please note: By default G.A. Suite uses the credentials which were provided when adding PWA to G.A. Suite. These credentials are stored and may be found on the Credentials page. If for some reason you would like G.A. Suite to use different set of credentials, use this option.
- Target location - select the target Site Collection where you would like to copy your SharePoint Sites to.
- Target credentials - provide target specific credentials if you need to use different credentials from the ones provided in the Environment Settings.
- PWA Configuration - click on the pencil-like button to select the configuration you need to upload to the target PWA now, if required. This option can be skipped in our scenario.
- Project Plans - This option can be skipped in our scenario.
- SharePoint Sites - click on the pencil-like button and click on the Selected option. Click on the number link.
4. Allow a few minutes for the sites to be loaded to the SharePoint sites window. You can filter the sites by the modified date, select either of the options from the 'Modified' drop-down list.
5. Select the Root PWA Site only. This step is very important, as the Root PWA site contains Site Templates, users and groups, site settings etc., and all this information needs to be uploaded to the target PWA before the subsites so that it is applied during the upload of the subsites to the target Site Collection. Click 'Add Selected'.
6. On the next step click 'Save' to confirm.
7. Click Copy Now to launch the copying process
As the Root site is copied to the target Site Collection, follow the same steps:
- In the Homepage click on the PWA, where Projects and Project Sites are currently located.
- Select Copy option under the change Management section.
- To launch the copying process, click on the Copy now option.
- Copy Now page will be opened. On this page in the Target Location -select the target Site collection where you would like to copy your SharePoint Sites to.
1. Click on the pencil-like button next to the SharePoint Sites option and check the Selected check bow and click on the number link under it.
2. Allow a few minutes for the Sites to be loaded to the SharePoint Sites window.
3. Select the SharePoint Sites you need to upload to the selected Site collection. Click 'Add Selected'.
4. On the next step click 'Save' to confirm.
Copy Document Versions - select this option if you need to migrate the document version history.
Delete Document Versions Before Upload - check this checkbox if these documents already exist on the target PWA. It is not possible to overwrite document versions using G.A. Suite. To upload the document versions to the target PWA, it is required to remove the existing documents from the target PWA.
Please note: If this option is on, only the documents that are selected for upload will be deleted from the target PWA, all other documents will not be deleted.
Please note: To upload document versions, document versioning should be enabled on the target PWA. On the target PWA, open the list or library that you want to enable versioning => select Settings => Library Settings => on the Settings page, select Versioning settings => set the settings as required => select OK. If the versioning is not enabled, the last version only will be uploaded by G.A. Suite.
5. Click Copy now to launch the copying process.
On the Copy page it is possible to review the status of the copy process and its progress.
As the process is complete, open your target Site Collection and check if the sites were copied successfully.
Please note: SharePoint Sites in this scenario will not be linked to Projects in the new site collection. Only if there are Projects on the new site collection PWA, where the sites were copied, with the exact same names as their sites, G.A. Suite will be able to find these links and connect the sites to the corresponding projects.
If the Projects are located on a different PWA or have different names from their sites, the sites will need to be connected to their projects manually.