Run a migration project in six phases

Find out exactly what you have, who uses it and what it depends on, then decide whether and how each piece should move. Every later phase is built on what you learn here.

Turn the assessment into an approved project: agreed scope, a schedule people can follow, named owners, a budget, a risk log and a plan for keeping everyone informed.

Decide exactly where everything lands, how it gets there and how you will prove it worked. A good design means the Execute phase is following steps, not making decisions.

Prove the design works with a pilot, then copy data in waves while preparing users. By the end, the target holds validated data and people know what will change for them.

Switch users and traffic from the old system to the new one in a controlled, timed sequence, with a clear decision to proceed and a tested way back.

Stabilise the new environment, hand it to the people who will run it, switch the old system off safely and record what you learned. A project is not finished until the old system is gone and someone else owns the new one.