Jira migration checklist

Use this worksheet to plan and execute a Jira migration event.

Created by Jira rockstar Rachel Wright, this checklist is an excerpt from our newest workbook “The essential workbook for planning Jira migrations”, where her expert advice will help guide your migrations using industry best practices and insider knowledge.

The interactive Jira migration checklist includes comprehensive guidance for your migration from start to finish.

Jira Pre-Migration Checklist

Project Preparation

Determine goals and motivations

Why migrate? What are the benefits? What features or efficiencies are gained? What is reduced? What are the risks of not migrating?

Research deployment differences

What feature, pricing, capability, and app differences exist between Jira Cloud, Server, and Data Center?

Determine migration path

E.g., Jira Server to Jira Data Center, Jira Server to Jira Server (merge/consolidation), start fresh, etc.

Determine initial migration scope

Do you plan to migrate all data or some data?

Gather source application details

What is the source application’s URL, deployment type, and version? How many users are there? What are the known problems or challenges?

And more…

Application Preparation

Upgrade source Jira and apps, if needed.

Evaluate app compatibility

Are all apps needed in the target application? Are all compatible with the target application? What functional differences exist?

Evaluate connections, integrations, and customizations

Are all connections and integrations needed in the target application? Are all compatible with the target application? What customizations need additional research or special treatment? Do customizations work in a clustered environment (e.g., Jira Data Center)?

Back up source application

Develop and test a backup strategy. Back up the source application.

Archive unneeded source projects

Archive projects or export unneeded issues for long-term storage.

And more…

Migration Preparation

Determine user account strategy

If possible, record account differences.

Determine migration execution strategy

Decide whether to enlist help from Atlassian, a Solution Partner, or migrate on your own.

Create vendor access

Create application, server, and database access accounts for any migration vendors.

Determine timeline

Craft a high-level timeline of your migration process.

Build a communication plan

Including milestones and migration plans.

And more…

Migration Testing

Create rollback plan

Create, verify, and document a plan to handle an emergency rollback.

Develop launch plan

Refresh environment data

Update the staging environment configuration and data if needed.

Select and communicate configuration freeze window

Remember to communicate periods when the Jira configuration should not be changed.

Test launch plan and migration

Test the entire migration process in a staging environment.

And more…

During

Execute launch plan

Execute the steps in the launch plan previously developed tested, and refined.

Jira Post-Migration Checklist

Perform post-migration clean-up

Address any unneeded or duplicate settings or schemes.

Decommission source application

Start the decommissioning process. Prevent application changes, make data “read-only”, redirect visitors, disable login ability, and finally, take the source application offline.

Maintain staging environment

Keep the staging environment’s configuration in sync with production.

Create project templates

Prevent over-customization by creating templates for development, support, and task projects.

Revisit disaster recovery and backup strategy

Make sure the target application is regularly backed up. Use the Configuration Manager for Jira app to take periodic snapshots and quickly deploy the “last known good” configuration.

And more…

Download the complete Jira migration checklist to use as an everyday reference when performing migrations. And sign-up to get The essential workbook for planning Jira migrations!