Template
Software migration checklist
Decision owner: <name or role>. Current system: <system and plan>. Target: <system and plan>. Planned cutover: <date>. Last reviewed: <date>.
Use this with the software migration guide. These are prompts to adapt, not confirmation that a product can perform the move. Leave untested items unresolved.
1. Inventory and scope
| Item | Migrate, archive or exclude | Owner | Evidence or open question |
|---|---|---|---|
| Records and custom fields | |||
| Attachments and comments | |||
| Relationships and identifiers | |||
| History and timestamps | |||
| Roles, guests and administrators | |||
| Integrations and automations | |||
| Reports and saved views |
For every exclusion, record who accepts it and how the information will remain available if needed. Apply your organisation's retention and deletion requirements.
2. Export and import rehearsal
- Prepare a non-sensitive sample with ordinary and awkward cases.
- Preserve an untouched export and record how it was obtained.
- Map each required field and record any transformation.
- Reconcile counts, then inspect values, dates and linked records.
- Open attachments and reconstruct one real workflow.
- Record missing content and the person responsible for resolving it.
Result: <meets / partly meets / does not meet / unresolved>. Evidence: <source, test and date>. Follow-up owner and date: <details>.
3. Access and handover
- Test daily tasks as an ordinary member, guest and administrator.
- Check that restricted roles cannot see or change the wrong information.
- Test one integration, including retries and failure notifications.
- Have a second administrator follow the setup notes.
- Record who owns each connection and receives its errors.
4. Cutover runbook
| Step | Owner | Start condition | Completion evidence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Notify the team and confirm the change window | |||
| Pause writes or define the source of truth | |||
| Transfer and reconcile final changes | |||
| Run essential workflow and permission checks | |||
| Approve resumption or trigger rollback |
Person authorised to pause: <role>. Rollback triggers: <observable conditions>. Latest safe rollback point: <condition>. How new target records are preserved: <steps>. Recovery rehearsal result: <evidence and date>.
5. Review and retirement
- Assign an owner for first-period issues.
- Resolve or explicitly accept each remaining gap.
- Confirm retained exports can be read outside the old workflow.
- Check notice, renewal and access terms before cancellation.
- Confirm ongoing administration and support ownership.
Outcome: <go / revisit / stop>. Reason: <details>. Accepted trade-offs: <details>. Approver and date: <details>.
Keep overlap and internal effort in the software cost estimate. Use the evaluation scorecard for a comparison of your pilot observations.
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# Software migration checklist Decision owner: <name or role>. Current system: <system and plan>. Target: <system and plan>. Planned cutover: <date>. Last reviewed: <date>. Use this with the [software migration guide](/buying-guides/software-migration). These are prompts to adapt, not confirmation that a product can perform the move. Leave untested items unresolved. ## 1. Inventory and scope | Item | Migrate, archive or exclude | Owner | Evidence or open question | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Records and custom fields | | | | | Attachments and comments | | | | | Relationships and identifiers | | | | | History and timestamps | | | | | Roles, guests and administrators | | | | | Integrations and automations | | | | | Reports and saved views | | | | For every exclusion, record who accepts it and how the information will remain available if needed. Apply your organisation's retention and deletion requirements. ## 2. Export and import rehearsal - Prepare a non-sensitive sample with ordinary and awkward cases. - Preserve an untouched export and record how it was obtained. - Map each required field and record any transformation. - Reconcile counts, then inspect values, dates and linked records. - Open attachments and reconstruct one real workflow. - Record missing content and the person responsible for resolving it. Result: <meets / partly meets / does not meet / unresolved>. Evidence: <source, test and date>. Follow-up owner and date: <details>. ## 3. Access and handover - Test daily tasks as an ordinary member, guest and administrator. - Check that restricted roles cannot see or change the wrong information. - Test one integration, including retries and failure notifications. - Have a second administrator follow the setup notes. - Record who owns each connection and receives its errors. ## 4. Cutover runbook | Step | Owner | Start condition | Completion evidence | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Notify the team and confirm the change window | | | | | Pause writes or define the source of truth | | | | | Transfer and reconcile final changes | | | | | Run essential workflow and permission checks | | | | | Approve resumption or trigger rollback | | | | Person authorised to pause: <role>. Rollback triggers: <observable conditions>. Latest safe rollback point: <condition>. How new target records are preserved: <steps>. Recovery rehearsal result: <evidence and date>. ## 5. Review and retirement - Assign an owner for first-period issues. - Resolve or explicitly accept each remaining gap. - Confirm retained exports can be read outside the old workflow. - Check notice, renewal and access terms before cancellation. - Confirm ongoing administration and support ownership. Outcome: <go / revisit / stop>. Reason: <details>. Accepted trade-offs: <details>. Approver and date: <details>. Keep overlap and internal effort in the [software cost estimate](/tools/software-cost-calculator). Use the [evaluation scorecard](/tools/software-evaluation-scorecard) for a comparison of your pilot observations.