Discovery

Volume

File count, size, total storage and the volume of all versions — not only the current file size.

Age and activity

When files were last changed, and on file shares when they were last opened: how much nobody has touched in years.

Structure and attention points

Folder structures and depth, file types, large and version-heavy files, and the files that need attention before they can move.

What a Discovery job finds

Discovery reads the source from the SMART Migration server and records every file it finds in the reporting database. Depending on the source, it can identify:

the file count, the file size and the total storage volume,
the version count, and the total volume including version history,
file age and activity, and on file shares the last accessed date,
file types, and the files that need attention,
folder structures and depth,
SharePoint sites, document libraries and their metadata columns,
OneDrive content,
large files and version-heavy files.

The run's report goes to its folder in Nextcloud Files, its counts to its Run History row, and the file-level data into the reporting database behind the Power BI report — one row per file, keyed on the file's unique ID.

The Discovery report: what changed since the last run

Every Discovery run leaves an Excel workbook (.xlsx) in its run folder, listing every file the run found. Its StatusInBI column compares each file with what the BI tables already hold:

New — found for the first time. On a source's first Discovery, every file is New.
Modified — found before, and changed since.
Unchanged — found before, and not changed since.

Only the New and Modified files are written to the BI tables; the report lists the unchanged ones too. Run a Discovery again and filter StatusInBI on New and Modified: that is exactly what has changed in the source since it was last discovered. An incremental run reads only the files changed since the last successful run, so its report lists only those.

Run History counts the same way: a Discovery run's Files, Volume, Versions and Version volume are its New and Modified files together. Rest the pointer on the run's title: its card shows the three apart — Unchanged too — with their total.

Run a Discovery job

On the Jobs tab, open New Job and pick Discovery.
Give it a title and a source: a library URL, a OneDrive user or a file share. A Discovery job has no destination.
Save it and set it to Ready. The SMART Migration server claims it on its next call.
When it has finished, read the counts in Run History and the full picture in the Power BI report.

Run the same Discovery job again whenever it helps: with other filters — a size or a date range, on the Source step under Advanced Settings — to see one slice of the source, or with the same settings later on, to see how the source changes as time goes by. Each run keeps its own Run History row and report, so the runs can be compared.

To discover a source again and again without reading all of it each time, switch on Incremental (only files changed since the last successful run), under From Date: the first run reads everything, and every run after it only the files created or modified since — so a daily Discovery keeps the Power BI report in step with the documents at little cost. See Incremental runs: only the files changed since the last run

For a whole tenant, a site with all its libraries or every OneDrive, let an Import job create the Discovery jobs: Import jobs by scanning SharePoint or OneDrive

Step by step, from one library to every site and OneDrive: Which jobs to create first

Turn discovery into decisions

The Power BI report turns the discovery data into the decisions a migration plan is made of:

Decision	What discovery shows
What to migrate	The content that is in use, by library, owner and age
What to clean up first	Old, unused and oversized content, and the file types that need attention
What to archive or leave behind	Content nobody has opened or changed in years
Where .url links save most	The libraries that take most SharePoint storage, versions included: replacing their files with links to Nextcloud frees the most
Where it goes	Libraries that belong together in one Team Folder, and those that belong apart
How to plan the waves	Volume per library and per group, and the version history that comes with it
How long it takes	The volume including versions, which the migration speed is measured against

Each file Discovery finds stays in the report with the status Discovery Report until a migration handles it, when the same row turns to Test Migration or Migration — so the report shows what is still to go as the waves proceed. Discovery run again turns a migrated file back to Discovery Report when it has been modified since.

How each file is followed through the migration: Follow every file from discovery to migration

From the report straight to a job: export the files you picked to a CSV file for a File List CSV job, or — under development — let a Dynamic BI data query job pick them from the BI data each time it runs, by any criterion the data holds. Read more in Migrate a list of files from a CSV file and Pick files with a Power BI or SQL query

How the volume becomes a timeline: Estimate volume and duration

From discovery to migration

A job's mode can be changed later, so a Discovery job becomes the migration job for the same source: open it, switch the mode to Test Migration or Migration, add the destination, and set it to Ready again. Its earlier Discovery runs stay in Run History.

Discovery on the trial

The free trial includes Discovery. Each trial job handles the first 250 files and folders of its source — enough to see how the Power BI report shows your own content before you commit to anything.

See also