Schweizerischer
Nationalfonds
eDossier · From SharePoint 2016 to SharePoint Online
“Great expertise, fast and straightforward collaboration and a very pleasant exchange – thanks to SoftForge, we were able to complete a time-critical project successfully and on schedule.”
Customer & project
The funding organisation for scientific research in Switzerland
The customer
Schweizerischer Nationalfonds
On behalf of the Swiss Confederation, the Schweizerischer Nationalfonds (SNF) funds scientific research in Switzerland. The eDossier document management system plays a central role in the funding process: it manages the dossiers and documents and is directly connected to the mySNF and GA business applications. The existing system ran on SharePoint 2016 and comprised more than 4.5 million items with a data volume of around 2.2 TB.
The project
eDossier on SharePoint Online
With the impending end of support for SharePoint 2016, the business-critical eDossier had to be moved to a future-proof platform — without affecting existing workflows and interfaces. SoftForge modernised the application for SharePoint Online and re-implemented all actively used features: from the connection to mySNF and GA, to the dossier view, to the inbox. The SNF IT-ICS team was responsible for migrating the files and for the SharePoint infrastructure. SoftForge took care of development and supported deployment and testing.
Details
What has changed for the SNF
✕ Initial situation
A core business system at the end of its life cycle
eDossier was based on SharePoint 2016 and on technical components that are no longer available in SharePoint Online. A simple migration of the existing system was therefore not possible. At the same time, eDossier is indispensable for research funding: the mySNF and GA business applications access the documents it manages directly. The challenge was therefore to fundamentally modernise the technical foundation without affecting the established processes and interfaces.
✓ Solution
Modernised with as little custom code as possible
SoftForge modernised eDossier for SharePoint Online and replaced components that are no longer supported with cloud-ready solutions. Wherever possible, standard SharePoint Online features are used — including for navigation, search and the dossier view. This keeps the solution closer to the Microsoft standard and reduces the maintenance effort for future platform updates. Features that SharePoint Online does not cover out of the box were specifically re-implemented. These include, for example, the audit log for traceable documentation of access and changes. Implementation took place step by step: an integration environment was available from February, the pre-production environment from April and the production environment from May. This allowed the SNF team to test the new solution continuously and provide feedback early on.
Technologies: SharePoint Online · Azure Functions · SPFx
Customer benefits
On schedule, on a platform with a future
Go-live took place on 11–12 July 2026 — in good time before the end of support for SharePoint 2016. A hypercare phase followed immediately. Since September 2026, SoftForge has supported the solution under a support contract. For users, what matters most remained unchanged: the existing business applications continue to access the dossiers and documents as usual.
- Existing processes are preserved: mySNF and GA continue to access eDossier via the Document Service. Users see their documents as before and with their existing permissions.
- Less maintenance effort: Navigation, search and the dossier view use standard SharePoint Online features. Less custom code simplifies future platform updates.
- Proven workflows keep working: Batches of documents can still be dropped into the inbox by drag & drop. The documents are automatically assigned to the correct dossier and renamed according to the naming convention.
- Multilingual support is maintained: Categories and subcategories remain available in all four of the application’s official languages.
- Access remains traceable: A newly developed audit log records relevant access and changes on the new platform as well.
- Designed for the required volume: The new back-end architecture was designed for 120,000 dossiers and load-tested.
- Know-how stays with the SNF: Knowledge transfer to the SNF team laid the foundation for independent operation. SoftForge provides support as needed under the ongoing support contract.
Your project
Facing similar challenges?
Business-critical applications cannot simply be replaced — but they can be modernised in a targeted way. SoftForge helps organisations move existing line-of-business solutions onto a future-proof technical foundation without needlessly changing proven processes.