⛈️ Jira Cloud Migration Giving You Nightmares? Rest Easy by Moving in Phases

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Disclaimer: This is not a health advisory. If you have insomnia, please consult a doctor (or WebMD for a quick, though possibly inaccurate, diagnosis).

Cloud, cloud, cloud – it’s the talk of the town! With the Jira Data Center support ending on March 28th, 2029, the pressure is on for teams to complete their move to Jira Cloud before things get… complicated.

Some teams are already losing sleep over the idea of migrating everything at once using the lift-and-shift strategy. Add the frightening prospect of onboarding your users all at once, and it can become the stuff of nightmares.

Good news though - you can choose a phased migration strategy and move to Jira Cloud gradually, in smaller, more manageable steps. No all-nighters needed!

In this guide, we’ll walk you through best practices for a phased migration to Jira Cloud. This includes keeping your Data Center instance in sync with Jira Cloud using Backbone Work Sync for Jira.

More of a visual learner? Sign up for our upcoming live session on December 15th at 3 pm CET.

What Should I Watch Out for During a Phased Migration?

If you’ve decided to migrate in phases – great choice. Here are a few essentials to keep things running smoothly:

• Don’t delete your Jira Data Center projects. Keeping them available ensures users still have access to historical work items and data.

• Freeze the projects on the Data Center instance. Make them read-only so you don’t lose updates during migration.

• Use the Jira Cloud Migration Assistant to move projects step by step. 

• Tell your users where to work next. Once a project is migrated, notify them and add a banner for clarity. Here's how you can set one up.

• The final piece: keep everything in sync with Backbone Work Sync until the entire migration is complete.

Keep Your Data Center and Cloud Instances in Sync Using Backbone

Why sync at all? Because phased migrations come with a few inherent risks:

• Keeping the DC projects running mean users might run into outdated information.

• In this hybrid model, some projects might get migrated before others, meaning users must work across two systems.

• Users might have to switch between two instances to find the most recent updates.

Backbone Work Sync helps you avoid that confusion by keeping work items aligned across instances during your migration.

Here’s how to get started:

1. Install Backbone Work Sync from the Atlassian Marketplace on both the Jira Data Center and Jira Cloud instance.

2. Set up a one-way sync from Cloud → Data Center (or the direction that fits your workflow), as described in this help article.

Backbone gives you complete control over what you want to sync - work item types, fields, workflows, comments, attachments, worklogs, and even JSM assets. And if you only want to sync a subset of work, you can use JQL filters like status = "In Progress" or date-based rules to narrow it down, as explained in this help article.

A quick demo video below shows just how easy the setup process is.

Pair Existing Work Items Automatically Across Instances

There’s more. Backbone can automatically pair your original and migrated work items with only a few clicks. No manual detective work required. It’s a huge time-saver, especially for larger projects.

Here's how you can pair work items.

Switch Easily Between Instances

Once the Jira work items are paired, Backbone adds navigation links so you can jump between your Data Center and Cloud work items instantly. These appear in the Backbone Work Sync panel and make cross-instance navigation painless.

You can maintain as many syncs as needed, across as many projects as required. When every project is finally migrated to Jira Cloud, just turn off the syncs, clean up your old Data Center projects, and enjoy your fully Cloud-powered setup.

Skip the Sleeping Pills, Go for Backbone Work Sync Instead

Backbone Work Sync for Jira supports your phased migration. It helps you minimize the risk of data loss, prevent downtime, and ensure your changes stay aligned between Cloud and Data Center. With everything in sync, you can migrate at your own pace - without sacrificing productivity or your sleep.

Simplify your migration journey using Backbone Work Sync for Jira →