Nine months – that sounds like a relatively long time at first. But many of us can sing a song about how the days and weeks fly by in busy working lives, and before you know it, another quarter has gone by.
Nine months – this is also the period of time that the Atlassian Server product line has left before the manufacturer switches off the light in February 2024 and stops supporting this deployment option. So the time cushion for affected customers is no longer really thick and comfortable Moving their systems to the Atlassian Cloud to plan and carry out.
Because such a cloud migration is not just any project. Thorough preparation is essential in order to rule out imponderables and surprises as far as possible and to create the conditions for a smooth process.
Cloud migration made (easier) easier: A thorough evaluation ultimately saves time, nerves and costs
Migrating to the cloud is a change that requires a careful approach. Customers get the best that Atlassian has to offer: a platform that evolves with the business, seamless integration with teams’ favorite tools, modern technologies and features that are up to date, performance and speed. But the cloud differs significantly in parts from on-premises environments.
Features vary, some apps don’t exist for the cloud (yet) or work differently, security and compliance become a shared responsibility. Thorough preparation and careful evaluation are therefore important.
It’s like moving: There is a different floor plan and a different room layout. Furniture and fixtures have to be bought new, while others have to be disposed of. Perhaps you are also toying with the idea of hiring a professional moving company. Yes, all the planning and preparation feels like a lot of work, but it pays off when the move finally succeeds. As with so many projects: If you are well prepared, you can avoid some (nasty) surprises and often reach your goal more efficiently.
apps and integrations
The apps, integrations, and customizations that a company uses are essential to the productivity and efficiency of teams. And often this is the most time-consuming and complex part of migration planning. You have to name the apps that you definitely need in the cloud. You need alternatives in case an extension is not available as desired. You should go through the security requirements for your apps and understand the migration paths for each individual extension.
security and compliance
A move to the cloud does not change the requirements, but the approach to these topics does. Moving from your own servers to the cloud means that responsibilities shift: While your own IT teams previously had to carry the entire burden, the responsibility is now shared between your company and Atlassian. This prospect is tempting for most organizations as it significantly reduces their administrative and technical burden. But at the same time, there are multiple security and compliance requirements that make shared responsibility a more complex issue that needs to be fully discussed and coordinated prior to a migration.
user management
Before the project, the team needs to consider user migration and the setup of identity and access management in the cloud. This is where you should involve the company’s IT teams early on to fully understand the current solutions and compliance requirements. This close coordination can also help to implement a compliant IAM strategy in the cloud.
Performance
Evaluating the volume and type of data is critical because the more data there is to migrate, the more complex the project becomes and the longer it can take. Cleansing and tidying up the data before a test migration can speed up the process and eliminate friction.
product differences
The on-premises and cloud products show some significant differences. A list of functional differences will help your team prepare for the transition and give you the information needed to educate all teams about the upcoming changes.
Migrationsteam
A migration project is teamwork. And this team should be as cross-departmental as possible, gathering input from all affected stakeholders to plan the move, choose the right strategy and tools, and ensure technical support for the test and production migration.
How Atlassian is making cloud migrations ever easier
If your team has successfully evaluated these core areas of a successful migration and has concrete plans on the table, the transition has already taken much of its complexity away. And based on extensive feedback from thousands of customers who have already migrated, Atlassian is continuously improving the process and the tools available:
scalability and reliability
Atlassian has invested heavily in migration tooling to increase speed, performance and overall success rate. For example, the Jira migration assistant now makes it possible to migrate all data at once – as an alternative to switching project by project. Migration customers also have the option of preloading users, groups, attachments and inactive or archived projects and areas before the actual migration, which can reduce migration downtime by 80 to 90 percent.
user experience
The Atlassian teams focus heavily on using the migration tools as intuitively as possible. For example, identifying invalid or duplicate user email accounts in Jira has been a common challenge. This has now been solved with additional functions that allow potential problems in the user base to be uncovered and fixed with just a few clicks before the migration.
Enterprise Success
Last but not least, Atlassian is constantly optimizing the enterprise migration process by automating parts of the process in order to reduce the time required and offer clear orientation. For example, there has recently been an early access program to automate the assessment that evaluates the type and scope of the data to be migrated. This allows the system to make recommendations for testing and cleaning up the instance.
These are just a few of many more ways Atlassian simplifies migration. The official Atlassian Migration Program shows all help, innovations and upcoming tools and best practices; it’s worth a look!
The future is up!
Atlassian will end support for its server products in February 2024. So use the remaining time and find out about moving to the cloud. Or, even better – simply try them out: with ours Cloud Migration Trial you can test the cloud and its advantages yourself and gain initial experience without affecting your existing productive system.
Have you made your decision to go to the cloud and want to find out if your business is ready to make the switch? Then we recommend that you browse through our short cloud quiz to click: In only eleven questions it turns out whether and how “ready for migration” you are! It is also worth finding out more about data protection in the cloud before migrating. Together with the data protection expert Thomas Rosin, we have given you some information and a practical one here Flight plan with all steps compiled.
Further information
Podcast: Migration to the Atlassian Cloud – Best Practices and Answers
Here’s what you need to know about purchasing your Atlassian cloud licenses
Start well prepared in the Atlassian Cloud – with 16 questions about the optimal migration strategy
Easily move to the cloud with the Atlassian Migration Program