Moving to Jira Core from another system, best practices?

[Sean Clark]

Are there any best practices for moving from one platform to another?

We currently track everything in Basecamp and want to move over to Jira. We are a small team so I want to cause as little disruption as possible.

Do I move one project at a time and use 2 systems? Or mirror as much as possible and switch all at once? Do I ensure everyone is pre-trained or train them on the job?

It feels like an epic task but we need to do it now before we get any bigger.

Thanks for any ideas or advise.

[Ste Wright · Accepted solution]

Hi @Sean Clark

I mirror Pedro's advice - do it all at once.

Having two platforms can get messy if a user moves a story on one but not the other - platforms will begin to get misaligned and whilst this might be alright for the platform which is being decommissioned, it would not be ideal for the new platform to be out of sync when you move across fully. 

Moving all the data at once and having a date when all users move across to it means you can do a full data migration that day and know the data is accurate.

Here's some things we've done in the past in migrations:

1. Decide how to import your data - APIs might be an option (if on Server) - if on Cloud, the CSV import might be your best option.
2. Decide what data you need to import - do you need comments? Attachments? Or can some of these be left behind and concentrate on simpler data?
3. Decide how you will import the data - what field will represent which from Basecamp?
4. Design the basics for the team to continue to work from day one - I would suggest involving the team in this design for the base screens, workflows, issue types, etc you'll use. I involve the team so we don't have to heavily customise Jira to "look like the old platform" - each platform has it's own unique features, so make sure you're using those and not making the move to Jira feel like Basecamp 0.5, where users feel like they're "losing" a feature (which doesn't help with adoption). Get them excited upfront about what they're gaining.
5. Get to grips with it yourself first - then train the team. I would concentrate on the basics - creating and editing issues, creating a board, creating basic search filters, etc. If you don't want to make it too heavy, giving them the basics to operate within the platform will allow them to get started, and anything more detailed you can learn together later.
6. Direct users to this Community - there is a huge amount of detail here and users always willing to help new teams and users.

If you're a small team you'll be more adaptable than a large company. Keep it simple, move what you need and keep an archive of your previous platform in case users need to refer back to the "old data" for a reason. 

Ste

[Pedro Felgueiras · Accepted solution]

My best bet was to migrate every thing at a time. Will create less hassle between the coworkers.

Atlassian have a small document on how to import data from basecamp. 

https://confluence.atlassian.com/adminjiraserver/importing-data-from-basecamp-938847608.html

To make the training, I would think in crating a copy of the date on the basecamp, previously from the full migration and train all the people with that. With that they will be making examples with data they are familiarized, will be much easier, and they will understand it better. 

[Sean Clark]

Thanks guys, that Basecamp add on no longer exists, but I think we can handle it with a basic export.

We will do it in one hit as you suggest, and get the team involved in the move too.

Cheers

Sean