Migration readiness checklist

Most migrations that go wrong were planned without a full picture of what was being moved. Go through this list before you ask anyone for a timeline. Every “I don't know” is a risk to resolve first.

System inventory

• Every service, cron job and scheduled task, including the ones nobody remembers adding.
• Every integration: who calls you, whom you call, with which credentials.
• Versions of the language, framework, database and operating system.
• Where configuration and secrets live today.

Data

• Data volume per store, and how fast it grows.
• Records that must move, records that can be archived, records that can go.
• The checks that prove the data arrived intact: counts, totals, samples.
• Personal data and where it is allowed to live under GDPR.

Traffic and SEO

• A full list of public URLs and the pages that bring organic traffic.
• A redirect plan for every URL that changes.
• Peak traffic periods to avoid for the cutover.

People and process

• Who signs off each stage, and who can stop the cutover.
• Key users who will test the new system on real tasks.
• The rollback plan, and the conditions that trigger it.

If more than a few answers are missing, start with a migration assessment: one to two weeks that turn this list into a plan with risks, a target architecture and a timeline.