Need to run SharePoint Server 2007 on 64-bit hardware.

Must upgrade to 32-bit hardware, then leapfrog to 64-bit hardware.

Must upgrade to 32-bit hardware, then leapfrog to 64-bit hardware.

Build out 64-bit environment on new hardware and then attach databases.

Build out new 64-bit farm and have users move information as needed.

Need to create a new URL topology in the SharePoint Server 2007 farm.

Will retain the old URL topology. Use stsadm –export/-import to move content around the SharePoint Server 2007 farm.

Will retain the old URL topology. Use stsadm –export/-import to move content around the SharePoint Server 2007 farm.

Will retain the old URL topology. Use stsadm –export/-import to move content around the SharePoint Server 2007 farm.

Will allow users to move content to new locations in the SharePoint Server 2007 farm. Dependence on old URLs is eliminated.

Cannot experience farm downtime.

Do not select this upgrade method if you cannot bring your farm entirely down.

Site collections being upgraded will be down for the duration of the upgrade. Outages can be planned and communicated.

Databases will be offline during the migration. Depending on the size of the database, users may experience longer-than-wanted downtimes.

Neither farm will experience any downtime using the user copy method.

Must experience the least amount of downtime as possible.

Will bring your entire farm down for the duration of the upgrade.

Will take upgrading site collections offline. All other farm services remain up during the upgrade process.

Will take all site collections offline while the database set is upgraded.

There is no downtime with the user copy method.

IT needs to upgrade some content while allowing users to copy over other content.

Will not work in a combined-method solution.

Will work with the combined user copy method, but you’ll need to document which content will be moved by which method.

Works well with the combined user copy method because the content to be moved by IT using this method can be clearly defined at the database level.

The user copy methods works with the gradual upgrade method but is better with the content database method.

We need our customizations to work in the new site collections at the time they are upgraded.

Will work only if all of the customizations in SharePoint Portal Server 2003 are mapped to features and site definitions in SharePoint Server 2007.

Is best suited to accomplish this purpose because the site collections can be upgraded on a scheduled basis.

Will work only if the features and site definitions are in place in the SharePoint Server 2007 platform to accept the customizations in the databases as they are upgraded.

Will require significant workflow and coordination to ensure that customizations are present when users copy their information into the SharePoint Server 2007 platform.

We need users trained at the time they start to work with the new technology in SharePoint Server 2007

Will require that everyone be trained (or have access to training) when the farm is migrated. The larger the number of users, the less training that can be accomplished on a per-user basis before the migration is executed.

Is ideal for mapping the timing of content upgrades and user education classes.

Can be mapped to the timing of user education classes, but the number of users will usually be rather large for a given database set.

Will require significant workflow and project management to map the timing of the user education with their efforts to copy information into the SharePoint Server 2007 environment.

We need to migrate several farms (Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server 2003) into a single SharePoint Server 2007 farm.

Will retain the current farm topology and will do nothing to help coalesce multiple farms into a single farm environment.

Will retain the current farm topology and will do nothing to help coalesce multiple farms into a single farm topology.

Will allow you to coalesce multiple farms into a single farm by simply attaching the databases from multiple farms to a single farm’s set of Web applications.

Is ideally suited for bringing multiple farms into a single farm topology.

We need to migrate our farm from SharePoint Portal Server 2003 to SharePoint Server 2007 while also migrating user accounts from one domain to another.

Will not achieve this goal.

Will not achieve this goal.

Will move content between farms and, assuming the Web applications are secured correctly, will move the content into the new farm and Active Directory.

Is ideally suited to achieve this goal, when worked in conjunction with other upgrade efforts, such as customization and training schedules.