Best practices for migrating Jira and Confluence to the cloud

The Atlassian Cloud migration of Confluence or JIRA environments should not be underestimated. Over the years, countless pages and areas have accumulated that you must transfer to the cloud. Your teams have established the most varied workflows and have probably also come up with individual solutions to make their work even easier and more efficient. In addition, you are probably using countless apps from the Atlassian Marketplace on your system that support workflows or provide important data in Jira or Confluence. Read our best practices for migrating to the Atlassian Cloud now.

Our best practices for migrating to the cloud

Migrating a Jira or Confluence system used daily to the cloud can be a real challenge for your IT department and system administrators.

Over the past year (2021), we have already migrated several Jira and Confluence systems from Server / Data Center to the cloud and developed the following best practices for migration. We have divided our best practices into 6 phases:

Phase 1: Detailed preparation and analysis

Why do you want to switch to the cloud and what do you want to achieve with it?

No migration is like another. As mentioned above, every system has various individual characteristics and customisations. This makes it necessary to first determine all relevant facts as to why a switch to the cloud should be carried out.

We will examine the following points in more detail beforehand:

Defining the qualification criteria for migration to the Atlassian Cloud

A key step in our best practices for migrating to the Atlassian Cloud is to define the qualification criteria for your systems. This ensures that no unpleasant surprises arise during the project.

For what reason do you want to switch to the cloud?

There may be numerous reasons relevant to your company. We have briefly summarised some of the most common and currently most important ones here for you:

1. The cloud has been introduced company-wide, and Atlassian systems such as Confluence are part of it.
2. Is cost the decisive factor? – On-premise or Data Center systems can be very expensive and involve high administrative effort.
3. The IT infrastructure is no longer managed internally but directly managed by the system provider.
4. Restructuring and “Get fit for the future” – The cloud is part of your future strategy.

These four points already give you a guideline. In particular, the cost factor is relevant or even decisive for many companies. With the Atlassian Cloud, the administrative effort for your IT infrastructure is much easier to manage. It is directly managed and maintained by Atlassian in the cloud. This leaves more time to focus on other important matters. In addition, you only pay for what is actually used, and scaling the environment can be flexibly implemented from one day to the next.

Your requirements – for the cloud and for existing instances

The cloud has many advantages, but also some disadvantages and is still a very young system. This means that you cannot use all currently used functions and apps in the cloud. Here, you either have to initially do without them or look for alternatives.

In addition to apps and integrations, there is a whole handful of other requirements that you will probably have to meet.

To make it easier for you to get started, we have summarised the most relevant requirements for Confluence here:

The most common requirements and questions

1. What does your strategy for a migration look like?
   1. Direct – All data, integrations, apps and users move to the cloud.
   2. Step by Step (Phased Approach) – Only parts of your existing instances are migrated at a time. For example, based on projects or departments.
   3. Start fresh – All new! No data is carried over and the cloud instance is set up from scratch.
2. Continuation of apps, integrations and individual programming. Analyse here which apps are already available in the cloud, for which alternatives already exist and which are no longer available.
   1. Are there must-have apps that must be available in the cloud?
   2. Are all apps also available for the cloud?
   3. Are there technical limitations of the Atlassian Cloud?
3. Transfer of existing functions and individual customisations to the cloud.
4. The number of required users must be available in the cloud.
   1. The Enterprise Cloud is currently (as of 2021) only available with 20,000 users.
   2. A high number of users leads to longer project durations
5. Compliance, security and data protection regulations must be feasible.
   1. Can the server location be freely chosen?
   2. Are there legal requirements that must be met (GDPR, GDPR)?
   3. Is the system used globally or only locally?
6. Migration of existing data
   1. Can the existing Jira or Confluence structure be cleaned up and streamlined beforehand?
   2. Do all existing data need to be migrated?
7. External systems need to be connected to the Atlassian Cloud.
   1. Are integrations already available, or do they need to be programmed first?
   2. Do the providers of these external tools offer interfaces?
8. What is your estimated budget for the migration?
   1. A migration involves a lot of time. Therefore, costs will not only be visible in monetary terms.
   2. Can I save costs by switching to the Atlassian Cloud? – You can get an initial assessment with the Cloud Savings Calculator
   3. Are external partners needed?

With this plugin you can clean up your existing Confluence instance beforehand.

Pro tip: For large or complex server instances, a phased approach is undoubtedly the recommended strategy for migration. Small changes made step by step allow everyone on your team to gradually get used to the new system without causing confusion and/or risks.

The answers to these questions will also quickly mean a shift in your approach to the migration. Depending on how complex your requirements are, it is advisable to bring in an external Atlassian partner for the migration.

Migrate to the Atlassian Cloud now

User Management in the Cloud

User Management in the Atlassian Cloud works somewhat differently than on Server or Data Center. Therefore, you should start dealing with it early on.

On Server and Data Center, each user needs access to each system.

On Server or Data Center, you can implement this function with Atlassian Crowd and thus provide Single Sign On.

In the cloud, on the other hand, it is sufficient to create one access per user to be able to access all systems and log in.

When adding new users, you can also determine access permissions. This means, for example, which products (Confluence, Jira, JSM, Bitbucket, etc.) can be used by whom.

Another security measure you can use in user management is to only allow users to access your systems who have accounts created under your managed domain.

You can find more information on efficient user and permission management here.

Before you move on to Phase 2 of the best practices, make sure you have considered the following points:

1. Timeline: Depending on the complexity, the migration to the cloud can take between 1 and 12 months.
2. Risk analysis: Note that on-premise and cloud differ in many respects and can have an impact on your business. You can find more information on the differences here: Cloud vs. Data Center / Server.
3. You have decided on a migration strategy
4. App assessment: You have examined the features and apps you need and checked whether they are available in the cloud.
5. Open a MOVE ticket, to receive support from Atlassian and simplify the migration. (Only required if you are carrying out the migration without an external partner)

Phase 2: Planning

In this phase of our best practices for migrating to the Atlassian Cloud, the focus is on planning the project in detail and creating all the necessary tickets and tasks.

The more detailed your approach here, the more streamlined your migration will be in the end. Additionally, you can specify in the roadmap how much time you invest in each phase.

Our best practices for planning the migration

1. License planning: Discuss with your team which licenses are required for the cloud.
2. Project planning:
   1. Determine how much time is required for the migration to the Atlassian Cloud and create a project and schedule.
   2. Determine and organise your project team. This can consist of an internal team as well as an external Atlassian partner.
   3. Create a cloud test environment. Here you will receive access to a Confluence test environment and a Jira test environment.
3. Sign up for a free cloud migration licence and request your cloud site URL for your target instance. For example: companyname.atlassian.net
4. Determine your migration method: Direct, Step-by-Step, Fresh Start.
5. Determine the scope of your migration: The assessment phase already gives you a precise overview here. However, it is important to determine exactly how extensive the data to be migrated is and which of it needs to be transferred.

Pro tip: To ensure that your migration to the Atlassian Cloud does not stall, a concrete schedule for the individual phases is important. Of course, these should also be adhered to.

Phase 3: Preparation and testing

In this phase of the best practices for migration to the Atlassian Cloud, all necessary steps are taken to ensure a smooth transition. That is, the focus here is primarily on preparing all stakeholders, your data, and the systems.

To make your migration as easy as possible, you should create a workflow or project plan. This accurately reflects the individual steps and phases.

Atlassian Cloud Migration Best Practices – The Preparation

Preparation is, as they say, half the battle. Therefore, ensure that all relevant factors and requirements for the migration have been considered. In our previous migrations, we found that an analysis and qualification of the complexity of the existing Jira or Confluence instances constitute a large part of the work.

Best practices for preparation for a smooth migration

Communicate your migration strategy and plan with all stakeholders

Together with our customer, we communicate our jointly developed strategy. Specifically, this means how the migration will proceed. This ensures the uninterrupted use of actively used systems. And which steps are taken to make the transition to the cloud as easy as possible for all users after the migration.

Migration of the apps in use

Analyse die eingesetzten Plugins und hinterfrage konkret die Nutzung. Teilweise können Plugin Funktionalitäten mit Standardfunktionalitäten der Cloud ersetzt werden. Der Cloud Migration Assistant hilft dir bei der Analyse und zeigt dir die Nutzung der jeweiligen Apps an. Sofern ein Plugin ersetzt werden soll, erstelle dir einen Plan zur Vorgehensweise. Pro Tipp: Um Confluence Plugins zu suchen und ggf. zu ersetzen hilft dir folgendes Plugin → Plugin

Bei Apps die migriert werden sollen gilt es nun pro App den Migrationspfad zu analysieren. Teilweise gibt es vollautomatisierte Migrationspfade welche von Atlassian über den Migrationsassistenten angeboten werden, jedoch bleibt es meist nicht aus, dass ein Großteil der Apps und der zugehörigen Daten manuell migriert werden muss. Lege dir auch hier einen detaillierten Plan zurecht wie du mit den zu migrierenden Apps verfahren möchtest um am Ende eine erfolgreiche und ganzheitlich Migration zu erreichen.

Überprüfe, ob deine Server oder Data Center Version unterstützt wird

Eine Migration in die Cloud ist derzeit nicht mit allen Versionen von Jira und Confluence möglich. Überprüfe deshalb, welche Version in deinem Unternehmen derzeit genutzt wird, und ob diese mit der Cloud kompatibel ist.

Hier findest du weitere Informationen zu unterstützten Version: für Jira, für Confluence.

Bevor du also mit der Migration starten kannst, muss du deine Systeme zunächst auf eine unterstützte Version aktualisieren.

Räume dein System auf

Ganz nach dem Motto, was nicht mehr gebraucht wird, muss weg. Ganz so drastisch musst du natürlich nicht vorgehen. Und mit “weg” meine ich hier nicht ab in den Müll, sondern archivieren, Duplikate entfernen oder Inhalte zusammenlegen.

Best Practices für die Migration in die Atlassian Cloud: Archivieren und aufräumen

Confluence

• Daten aus vergangenen und abgeschlossenen Projekten archivieren. Zum Beispiel nach Zeitraum (Älter als …), nach Projektpriorität, Kunde, Budget etc.
• Confluence Projekte, Bereiche und Seiten: Viele Inhalte werden oftmals nur einmal geschrieben, nie wieder beachtet, sind veraltet oder doppelt vorhanden.
  Unser Best Practice: Jede Abteilung und Team sollte Ihren Bereich überprüfen und redundante Inhalte löschen oder zusammenlegen.
• Bilder, Videos und andere Inhalte: Ähnlich wie bei Projekten und anderen Daten, können grafische Assets archiviert oder gelöscht werden.

Jira

• Projekte: Daten abgeschlossener und alter Projekte sind womöglich nicht mehr nützlich. Analysiere, welche davon archiviert werden können.
• Custom Fields: Deine Teams lieben individuelle Felder. Für so ziemlich alles. Allerdings blähen sie Jira unnötig auf, es gibt Duplikate und Jira wird unübersichtlich. Lösche unnötige und lege Duplikate zusammen.
• Issue Types: Ensure that the number of issue types is manageable and that projects use similar workflow structures. This way, you won't have to create or assign too many during a migration.
• Workflows and Schemes: Remove duplicates or merge similar workflows. Often, your users create additional ones without first checking whether an existing one can be used.

In our Guide for a well-maintained Jira System, you will find further best practices for managing your Jira system.

Confluence & Jira

User Profile: Both in Jira and in Confluence, a large number of user profiles accumulate over a few years. These include profiles of former employees, external partners, freelancers, etc. Analyse which users are active or regularly work for your company. Delete the rest. This is also important to determine which user tier you need for the Cloud.

Before you proceed with the migration, we strongly recommend that you thoroughly review your existing systems.

Access permissions for anonymous users

You can skip this step if only registered users are allowed to use your systems.

Not all content is visible only to registered users and is made available to the public. This can include features of a Jira Service Desk or parts of Confluence.

If you and your team, for example, use Confluence as a knowledge base or help centre, it will probably be made available to the public. Here, your customers can then obtain all information about specific issues. However, these areas must be configured so that they can also be viewed by unregistered users.

Before migrating to the Atlassian Cloud, check the access permissions for anonymous users and then configure the settings in the Cloud.

You can find the configuration here: Settings → Schemes → Permission Schemes. Then click on Permissions for the permission scheme of the project for which you want to enable or disable anonymous access.

User tier for the Cloud

To ensure that all your users can fit in the Cloud at the end, you need the right user tier. We proceed as follows in our best practices for migrating to the Atlassian Cloud:

1. Analysis of active users: How many users are currently active? That is, how many employees need access to the system.
2. Do you work regularly with external partners? If so, how many?
3. Does your company intend to grow? If so, create a buffer.
4. When in doubt, choose the higher user tier.

Pro tip: You can calculate your monthly cloud costs here: Jira, Confluence.

Your strategy for migrating your users to the cloud

As mentioned above, not all users always need to switch to the Atlassian Cloud at the same time. You can proceed step by step (e.g., by department or project) or migrate all users simultaneously.

However you decide, communicate your plans to your team and employees. This allows them to get an early picture of the new system and prepare accordingly.

Pro tip: In our best practices or during our migration, we present the changes to users in a presentation and provide initial tips. What changes and new features are there? How does the switch work? What happens to the old system? When will the old system be shut down? Additionally, we provide a short guide and training materials for the cloud.

You can find more information on user migration for Jira and Confluence here.

[Add Cloud Migration CTA Here]

Phase 4: Testing the migration to the cloud

At the beginning of this guide, we already showed you how to set up a test system for Jira and Confluence. This is where it comes into play in this phase.

Before you go ahead and transfer all your data to a production system, you should test your requirements and the migration of your instance and data.

This ensures that all data is transferred and apps work in the cloud. When using new tools, errors and further questions always arise, which you can still resolve during the test.

The test is therefore another safety measure before you shut down your old systems.

This allows you to carry out your first test and test the cloud for functionality and integrity.

Atlassian Cloud Migration Assistant:

This helps you directly with the analysis of your apps. It gives you the ability to transfer selected areas of Jira or Confluence, migrate users, and shows you the status of the migration.

Recommendation:

We recommend that you only use this tool if your Jira or Confluence does not use individual programming or integrations. The tool is especially useful if your systems are “Out of the box”. In particular, individual customisations of your Server or Data Center instances can lead to errors in the Cloud or not work. These must then be transferred and configured individually.

We use this tool primarily for the transfer of generic data packages such as Confluence areas and pages or for Jira projects.

Pro tip: Contact us. We analyse your Jira and Confluence Server or Data Center instances and give you an assessment of which migration strategy is best suited for you. Learn more about Cloud Migration.

This is what you should pay attention to during the test migration:

Take your time and analyse the test migration. Check whether all areas/projects have been transferred completely. How does the user management look, were all groups created, were the permissions successfully taken over? Check the content of your pages and issues, especially the content which was generated using plugins. Carry out test migrations several times to develop a feel for the process and to gradually eliminate all possible sources of error.

Also migrate all apps and their contents on a test basis and ensure that they work as expected. Once you have excluded a large part of the possible sources of error, move on to a user-based test phase and define a person responsible from the business unit for each area or project. Show your testers the new test environment and give them some time to become familiar with it. Get feedback from your testers to crush any problems that may arise in advance or to give your migration the final polish.

Phase 5: Migration

Was your migration successful? Did no critical errors occur? If that is the case, you can finally begin with the migration from Server or Data Center to the Cloud.

For your team to be able to use the Cloud as they are used to from Server or Data Center, you still have a lot to do before Go-Live.

1. Carry out the production migration: That is, use the Atlassian Cloud Migration Assistant for Jira and Confluence.
2. Redirect users to the new Cloud site: Set up redirects here. That is, for example server.jira → cloud.jira.
3. Read Only for your Server or Data Center instances: This ensures that no further content is created on the old systems during and after the migration. This will then no longer be transferred to the Cloud.
4. Quality Assurance Test of the migrated data: Check here whether the migration was successful and the migration has transferred all data. In addition, you should ensure that a Post Mortem takes place in the event of a faulty transfer. This allows you to quickly find the reasons and errors.
5. Install or migrate apps: If the Assistant has transferred all data, it is now time to install and configure all used and available apps.
6. Integrations of other apps and software: Many apps offer direct integrations into the Atlassian Cloud. Make sure that these are also installed and configured.

Further best practices for migrating to the Atlassian Cloud:

1. Communicate possible downtimes, outages, and usage restrictions of your systems on the day of the migration. “Read-Only” should therefore definitely be communicated in good time.
2. Inform your users about the new system and that a switch is imminent.
3. If the migration does not proceed error-free as expected: Communicate the delay in good time with all internal stakeholders.
   

Pro tip: Create some templates for internal communication regarding schedule changes, success reports, or status updates already during the planning phase. This makes it easier for you to keep your team up to date.

Phase 6: Go-live & Post-Migration

You have accomplished the most difficult part. The migration was successful. In the final phase, it is still about letting all users loose on the new system, clarifying open questions, and conducting a retrospective.

For you, this means: Find out what worked well, where there are problems, and in which areas of your Atlassian Cloud you still need to work.

Pro tip: Make sure that your users feel comfortable in the Cloud, understand the system, and above all can use it. You achieve this mainly with training materials and guides.

So that you also know where the shoe pinches, you should best create a Service Management project to give users the opportunity to report emerging problems centrally. Inform your users that they can contact you at any time if there are problems.

What you must not forget: Inform your users that the old systems will be shut down shortly.

If you would like to learn more about planning the migration from Atlassian Server to Cloud, or learn more best practices for migrating to the Atlassian Cloud, get in touch with us!

Migrate to the Atlassian Cloud now