NHSmail Migration Project Plan

The NHSmail migration project is a strategic initiative to replace the legacy NHSmail system with a modern, secure, and scalable messaging platform. The plan outlined below covers the purpose, scope, governance, timeline, risk management, and key deliverables necessary to achieve a seamless transition for all NHS organisations.

1. Project Purpose & Objectives

Provide a reliable, futureproof email service that meets current security and compliance requirements.
Minimise disruption to clinical and administrative workflows during the cutover.
Consolidate infrastructure to reduce operational costs and improve management efficiency.
Enable integration with emerging digital health tools (eprescribing, telehealth, data analytics).

2. Scope

The migration will affect all NHSmail accounts, including:

Patientfacing staff (clinicians, nurses, allied health professionals).
Administrative and support personnel.
Thirdparty contractors with legitimate NHSmail access.

Excluded items:

Personal email accounts not hosted on the NHSmail domain.
Legacy archival systems that are decommissioned before the migration window.

3. Governance Structure

Role	Responsibility	Representative
Project Sponsor	Overall accountability, budget approval, stakeholder alignment	Chief Digital Officer, NHS England
Programme Board	Strategic direction, risk escalation, benefit tracking	Senior executives from NHS Digital, Clinical Governance, Finance
Project Manager	Daytoday delivery, schedule management, issue resolution	Lead Project Manager NHSmail Migration
Technical Delivery Lead	Architecture design, integration testing, data migration	Head of Infrastructure Services
Change & Communication Lead	User communications, training, support model	Director of Communications
Risk & Compliance Officer	Risk register, regulatory compliance (GDPR, NHS Data Security), audit	InfoSec Manager

4. Timeline & Key Milestones

Phase	Activities	Start	End
Initiation	Business case finalisation, stakeholder signoff	01Mar2024	31Mar2024
Planning	Detailed design, resource allocation, risk register	01Apr2024	30Apr2024
Pilot	Migration of 5% of users (selected trusts)	01May2024	31May2024
Full Migration Phase1	Primary care & community services	01Jun2024	31Oct2024
Full Migration Phase2	Secondary & acute trusts	01Nov2024	31Mar2025
Stabilisation	Postgolive support, performance monitoring	01Apr2025	30Jun2025
Project Closeout	Final reporting, lessons learned, handover to operations	01Jul2025	31Jul2025

5. Migration Approach

Assessment & Inventory Catalogue all active mailboxes, distribution lists, and shared resources.
Data Cleansing Remove inactive accounts, archive redundant data, enforce naming conventions.
Hybrid Coexistence Establish a temporary trust relationship between legacy and new platforms to enable seamless mail flow.
Batch Migration Use a phased batch process based on organisational boundaries to limit impact.
Verification Conduct functional testing, delivery checks, and user acceptance in each batch before cutover.
Decommission Retire legacy services only after successful validation and signoff.

6. Risk Management

Key risks and mitigation strategies are captured in the table below.

Risk	Impact	Likelihood	Mitigation
Data loss during migration	High	Medium	Full backup of all mailboxes; run migration in readonly mode first; postmigration verification scripts.
User disruption (downtime)	Medium	Low	Schedule migrations outside peak clinical hours; provide realtime status dashboard.
Compliance breach (GDPR)	High	Low	Data Protection Impact Assessment completed; encryption in transit and at rest.
Insufficient training leading to errors	Medium	Medium	Mandatory elearning modules; onsite dropin sessions; 24hour helpdesk for first 30 days.
Technical incompatibility with legacy applications	Medium	Low	Early integration testing; maintain a fallback mailbox for critical systems.

7. Communication & Training

Effective communication is essential to maintain trust and ensure adoption.

Stakeholder Briefings Monthly executive updates and quarterly usergroup webinars.
EndUser Guides Stepbystep instructions, FAQs, and short video clips hosted on the NHS Digital intranet.
Change Champions Selected staff in each Trust act as local points of contact and provide peer support.
HelpDesk Expansion Additional support staff during migration windows, with a dedicated Migration Hotline.

8. Benefits Realisation

Upon completion, the project will deliver measurable benefits:

Improved email reliability target 99.9% uptime.
Reduced annual operating cost by up to 15% through shared services.
Enhanced security modern authentication, conditional access, and automated phishing protection.
Futureready platform enabling integration with AIdriven clinical decision support tools.

9. Acceptance Criteria

All active NHSmail accounts successfully migrated with no data loss.
Postmigration user satisfaction score 85% (survey conducted 30days after cutover).
Zero critical incidents related to email delivery in the 90day postgolive period.
Full compliance audit passed against NHS Information Governance standards.

10. Next Steps

Obtain formal signoff on the detailed project plan from the Programme Board (by 31Mar2024).
Mobilise the technical delivery team and commence environment setup (April2024).
Kickoff the pilot migration and capture lessons learned (May2024).
Scale the migration according to the phased schedule outlined above.

For further information, contact the NHSmail Migration Project Office at nhsmail-migration@nhs.net or call the dedicated line 08001234567.

Reference Files For **NHSmail Migration Project Plan**

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