Moving 100+ People to Notion: What Migration Strategy and Notion Plan You Really Need

A comment in a Notion community group on Facebook last week stopped me in my tracks:

"Hey everyone! Quick question for the group. We're a 120-person company moving from Confluence to Notion. My boss is pushing back on Enterprise because of cost and thinks we can just grab Business licenses and figure it out on our own. Do we really need the onboarding training or is that overkill? Would love to hear from anyone who's done this before!"

I've seen this movie before. It doesn't end well.

Here's what usually happens: A growing company buys 100+ Notion licenses, sends a Slack announcement, maybe records a quick Loom video, and expects everyone to just... start using it. Within weeks, the workspace becomes a chaotic mess of duplicated pages, unclear ownership, and people asking "Where do I put this?" in five different channels. Six months later, leadership wonders why adoption failed and whether they should try another tool.

The problem isn't Notion. The problem is treating a 100-person migration like you're setting up a personal productivity system.

Migrating and onboarding 100+ people to Notion successfully isn't about buying the right plan. It's about strategy, structure, and understanding that this is a change management project, not just a tool swap.

Can You Do This on Your Own?

Yes. But.

If you don't have someone on your team who deeply understands Notion—and I mean someone who knows how to architect databases, design for scale, think about permissions, and facilitate adoption—you're setting yourself up for a painful experience.

Here's what we recommend: Hire a consultant if you don't have a strong internal Notion champion or expert.

Why? Because consultants who specialize in team migrations have done this dozens of times. We know:

• How to structure workspaces that scale beyond the initial setup
• How to onboard teams in phases without overwhelming people
• How to migrate content from tools like Confluence or Asana without losing critical context
• How to design systems that people actually want to use
• How to identify and empower internal champions who will sustain the system long after we're gone

At NotionFlows, we've guided teams through migrations from Confluence, Asana, and other tools. The companies that succeed aren't the ones with the most Notion features—they're the ones who treat migration as a strategic process, not a weekend project.

That said, if you're determined to do this yourself, what follows is the framework we use. It's not quick, it's not simple, but it works.

Phase 1: Strategic Planning

Stop. Before you build anything, answer these questions.

Most teams skip this phase and jump straight into creating pages. That's a mistake. The teams that succeed are the ones who spend serious time on discovery and definition before touching Notion.

1. Why are you moving to Notion?

This isn't a philosophical question. This is the foundation of everything.

Are you moving because:

• No one uses your current tool and you need better adoption?
• Your current tool is too rigid and you need flexibility?
• Information is scattered across five tools and you need centralization?
• You're scaling and your current setup can't keep up?

The "why" determines what you build and how you measure success. If you're moving from Confluence because "no one uses it," but you recreate the same rigid structure in Notion, you'll have the same problem.

In our client work, we've seen teams migrate from Confluence specifically because they wanted a more flexible, collaborative space—but they needed to fundamentally rethink how documentation flows, not just copy-paste pages into Notion.

2. Who are your users, and what are their roles?

Not everyone in your company needs the same level of Notion access or expertise.

This is how we think about user types:

Builders: The people who will architect and maintain the workspace structure. These are your database designers, your template creators, your system thinkers. You need 2-5 of these people, depending on company size.

Champions: The advocates. These are people across different teams who are excited about Notion, will help their teammates, and will surface problems early. You need at least one per team.

Admins: The gatekeepers. These are the people managing permissions, workspace settings, and ensuring security and compliance standards are met. Usually 1-3 people.

Everyday Users: Everyone else. They need to know how to find information, create basic pages, and collaborate. They do not need to understand database relations or advanced formulas.

Here's the reality: Not everyone needs to be a full workspace member. Depending on your use case, some people might only need guest access to specific sections. This is where the Business vs. Enterprise question becomes less about features and more about how you structure roles and access.

3. What's your timeline?

If your answer is "as fast as possible," slow down.

A realistic timeline for a 100+ person migration is 3-6 months. Yes, months.

Here's why: You can't throw 100 people into a workspace on day one. You need to:

• Build the core structure
• Test it with a pilot group
• Iterate based on feedback
• Roll out to teams in phases
• Train and support each wave
• Monitor adoption and adjust

We worked with a 40-person team that took 3 months to fully onboard, bringing in small groups at a time as systems were built and tested. If you're working with 100+ people, expect the same phased approach—or longer.

Rushing this process is how you end up with a chaotic workspace and frustrated teams.

Phase 2: Architecture & Build

This is where most teams either succeed or create a mess they'll spend years trying to fix.

4. DIY or hire help?

You have two paths:

Path A: Do it yourself

• You need at least one person with deep Notion expertise who can dedicate 50-75% of their time to this project for several months
• This person needs to understand database design, permissions architecture, and change management
• They need executive support and the authority to make structural decisions

Path B: Hire a consultant

• A consultant brings experience from dozens of implementations
• They'll guide your internal team through discovery, design, and build
• They'll help you avoid common pitfalls and set up systems that scale
• After the engagement, your internal champions take over with a solid foundation

Neither path is wrong. But be honest about your internal capacity and expertise.

5. Plan some more (seriously)

Before you create a single page in Notion, map out the structure.

At NotionFlows, we use tools like Miro to visually design:

• Workspace hierarchy (what goes where?)
• Database schemas and relationships (how does information connect?)
• User roles and permissions (who sees what?)
• Automation flows (what should happen automatically?)

This might feel like overkill, but this is the difference between a workspace that scales and one that collapses under its own weight.

Here's an example: When migrating from Confluence, most teams have a massive, nested page structure. You could recreate that in Notion—but you'd be missing the point. Notion's power is in connected databases, not hierarchical pages.

Instead of:

📄 HR Policies
  📄 Onboarding Checklist
  📄 Benefits Overview
  📄 Time Off Policy

You might build:

🗂️ HR Database (with properties for Category, Department, Last Updated, Owner)
  • Filter view: Onboarding Resources
  • Filter view: Benefits & Compensation
  • Filter view: Policies

This shift from "pages in folders" to "structured data" is the migration mindset change that matters most.

6. What gets created in Notion?

You don't have to migrate everything. In fact, you shouldn't.

Start with:

• SOPs and process documentation (the information people reference regularly)
• Active project workspaces (not archived projects from 2019)
• Company knowledge base (onboarding resources, team structures, key contacts)

Leave behind:

• Old, outdated content no one references
• Highly technical documentation that lives better in GitHub or Confluence
• Content that's been replaced but never deleted

When we've worked with teams migrating from Asana / Confluence, we don't migrate every closed task from the past three years. We migrate active projects, set up new workflows, and use the migration as a chance to start fresh with better structure.

7. How will you build the workspace?

This is where your Builders come in.

Here's the process we use:

Step 1: Build the core structure

• Set up the workspace hierarchy
• Create the main databases (Projects, Tasks, Docs, People, etc.)
• Define properties and relationships
• Design key views and dashboards
• Set up permissions and teamspaces

Step 2: Test with a pilot group

• Invite 5-10 people (+ your Champions) into the workspace
• Have them use it for real work for 1-2 weeks
• Collect feedback on what's confusing, what's missing, what's working

Step 3: Iterate

• Refine the structure based on pilot feedback
• Create templates and documentation
• Prepare training materials

Step 4: Roll out in waves

• Invite teams in phases (one department at a time, or one use case at a time)
• Provide training and support for each wave
• Monitor usage and address issues quickly

This phased approach prevents chaos and gives you space to course-correct before everyone is in the workspace.

Phase 3: Rollout & Adoption

You've built the workspace. Now comes the hardest part: getting people to actually use it.

8. Launch, train, and support

Adoption doesn't happen automatically. It happens through:

Training:

• Live workshops for each team or role
• Recorded tutorials for common tasks
• Office hours where people can ask questions
• Written guides and templates

Champions:

• Empower your Champions to support their teams
• Give them extra training so they can answer questions
• Create a private space where Champions can share tips and troubleshoot together

Feedback loops:

• Regular check-ins with teams
• Anonymous surveys to surface pain points
• Quick wins to build momentum ("Look, we automated this annoying process!")

Leadership buy-in:

• Executives need to use the workspace visibly
• If leadership doesn't model the behavior, teams won't follow

9. Measure and iterate

How do you know if the migration is working?

Track:

• Active users (who's actually logging in?)
• Page views and edits (which spaces are being used?)
• Support requests (where are people getting stuck?)
• Qualitative feedback (do people feel more organized? Less frustrated?)

The first 90 days after launch are critical. This is when you'll see what's working and what needs adjustment. Be ready to iterate quickly.

10. Plan for the long term

A successful Notion migration isn't a one-time project. It's an ongoing practice.

You need:

• Regular maintenance (archiving old content, updating templates)
• Continuous training (for new hires and new features)
• System evolution (as your company grows, your workspace should too)

At NotionFlows, we often set up 6-12 month adoption partnerships with clients for exactly this reason. The initial build is important, but sustained success requires ongoing support, iteration, and enablement.

The Real Answer to "Business or Enterprise?"

Back to the original question: Do you need Enterprise?

Honestly? The plan tier matters less than the strategy and structure you bring to the migration. Success comes down to how you implement, not which plan you choose.

That said, the decision between Business and Enterprise should be based on your organization's specific needs:

Consider Enterprise if:

• You need private teamspaces for sensitive work—like HR planning compensation discussions, Finance building confidential budgets, or leadership working on acquisition plans
• Your organization requires advanced security controls like SCIM provisioning, granular access policies, and custom data retention
• You need centralized management across multiple workspaces with organization-level controls
• Compliance standards demand features like SSO, advanced audit logs, and fine-tuned workspace permissions

Start with Business if:

• You're a growing company without complex security or compliance requirements
• Your teams can work openly without needing private teamspaces for every department
• You want to test Notion's capabilities before committing to enterprise-level features
• You have strong internal champions who can drive adoption without needing organization-wide administrative controls

The smart approach? Start with Business and scale to Enterprise as your needs grow. Many successful 100+ person teams run perfectly well on Business plans. You can always upgrade when you hit limitations around security, compliance, or administrative control.

Here's what actually matters more than your plan tier:

• A clear vision for how Notion will work for your team
• Strong internal champions who understand both Notion and your organization's needs
• A phased rollout plan that doesn't overwhelm your team
• Proper workspace architecture designed for how your team actually works

This is where a consultant who specializes in team implementations becomes invaluable—whether you're on Business or Enterprise. Notion's Enterprise training won't design your workspace for you. It won't map your processes, architect your databases, or ensure your rollout strategy fits your culture. A consultant brings experience from dozens of implementations to help you avoid the mistakes that sink migrations, regardless of which plan you choose.

How NotionFlows Approaches Migrations

When a company comes to us with a migration project, we use the Double Diamond framework:

Discover: We interview stakeholders, audit the current setup, and identify pain points.

Define: We design the workspace structure, database architecture, and automation flows—before building anything in Notion.

Develop: We build the system, test it with a pilot group, and iterate based on real usage.

Deliver: We train the team, roll out in phases, and provide ongoing support to ensure adoption.

Our goal isn't just to build a beautiful Notion workspace. It's to create a system that your team actually uses, that scales as you grow, and that reduces operational friction instead of adding to it.

If you're staring down a 100+ person migration and feeling overwhelmed, you're not alone. This is complex work. But with the right strategy, structure, and support, it's absolutely possible to pull off a successful migration that transforms how your team works.

Ready to migrate to Notion the right way? We'd love to help. Book a consultation to talk through your migration strategy and explore how we can support your team.