Hey Community!
We have so many customers who are eager to move from our (Atlassian) Server products to our Cloud products. We know migrating data from one tool to another is never easy, and we want to leverage this community to help other customers see success in their migrations. I'll be posting a series of discussion threads to get your expert advice on how to help others succeed in migrating their data to the Cloud.
We want to set them up for a successful right out of the gate, and would love your advice, tips, and tricks to ensure a successful migration to Cloud.
So discussion topic #1: What would be your advice to customers planning a migration from Atlassian Server to Atlassian Cloud? Who's successfully migrated already, and can share pointers on how to be successful?
Permission checks!
Since the UI and features are little bit different from on prem version. I would recommend to check user permissions and make any system design changes at this time.
Strategise... by assessing your existing landscape of Atlassian applications you can determine if there is anything that needs to be done prior to migrating and avoid those nasty pitfalls.
"You may also need to consider if your Atlassian applications are stable and performant, if you need to upgrade your instance to a later version that is compatible with a migration to the Cloud, and you may need to understand how your applications are currently configured." - snippet taken from Cloud Migration: Strategy Not Tragedy
Prepare and then test. Atlassian will provide a test site that you can practice your migration on. This will allow you to fine tune and correct issues prior to the actual migration. Here is some great information about how to test your server to cloud migration.
Draft the checklist items, gather the supporting documents and resources, identify the appropriate time zone for migration and SLA.
I'd recommend reviewing app usage and the availability of critical apps on Atlassian Cloud. Make sure that you do not have any apps that are "doing the same thing" but also, there are some features in Atlassian Cloud that were not available on the Server version that could replace an app with native functionality.
Historically speaking, (focused on Jira) Jira has sometimes become a wild west playground for some teams. So you'll want to make sure that you are aware of any external integrations with the system that might not have been documented.
Apps have been the biggest pain points from the migrations that I have encountered.
Head over here for some videos! Atlassian Cloud Migration Videos
This video was one of the first ones: Assessing your apps for Cloud migration
Familiarise yourself with the differences. There is more to the change than just picking up your data and moving them over to a different host.
Take the time to assess which cloud plan is right for you. Different to the server/DC platform, different plans offer different features. Make sure you know what you need before doing the actual migration. Make use of free evaluation cloud licenses to try things out while your server maintenance is still active.
Also, involve your users early and often. Prepare them for the change once you are going to migrate. There are UI differences, but also an increasing gap in available features. Provide training and documentation.
And - especially when you use several apps, consider your Atlassian stack as business critical or have some significant customisations in place - involve a Solutions Partner in your migration.