How to Develop a Successful Migration Plan to Magento 2?

Migration is an unavoidable part of growth and development for every company, no matter how big or small. Whether it comes from the need for more capability and features or a safer platform, migration plays a major role and needs to be implemented flawlessly. The key to a successful migration is careful and thorough planning. You can learn more about migration and all it entails here.

In the meantime, let’s get to a short seven-step guide on how not to tank your migration to Magento 2. Use these guidelines to make sure that no mistakes are made during the migration process.

Phase 1: Go over the current state of your site and its extensions

You can’t just start the migration out of nowhere; you have to go over the extensions and add-ons that you acquired while building your business. In order to make the process easier, let’s skim through the following questions:

• What is the current range of extensions you are using?
• Do you need to proceed with all of them to the new version? Chances are, there are a few outdated extensions you don’t need anymore.
• Is it possible to install all of these extensions on the Magento 2 technology?
• How much extension data should be transferred to the new site?

Phase 2: Create a new store on Magento 2 and get it ready for migration process

You cannot migrate from the previous platform to Magento 2 without, well, Magento 2 store. It doesn’t take much to prepare it:

• Create an exact match of your structure from your store while constructing Magento 2 hardware system.
• Learn about the requirements of the Magento 2 system in order to choose the proper tool for the migration process, and install it.
• Customize the data migration tool to the specifics of your business. For example, if you don’t need to migrate some data or migrate only some parts of it, then the migration tool will require proper setup.

Phase 3: Test

No matter how confident you are about your migration process, it’s always smart to practice how to do it from beginning to end.

Don’t forget to do the following when performing migration for the first time. Make a copy of your store to the testing server. Move your store to a product-similar environment. Finally, check for any bugs or discrepancies that could have appeared, and it’s always better to do it several times.

Phase 4: Execute migration

First things first, check your internet connection so the chosen tool for migration can easily access data of both Magento 1 and 2.

The next step is to pause everything that’s going on in your Magento 1 store. However, if you need, you can leave some features, such as managing new purchases or shipping. Make sure that all of these features aren’t accessible until the Magento 2 store is all set and ready to use.

If you can, just pause all the activities for the time of the migration process. If you can’t do that, there shouldn’t be new data added to the database and no changes to the existing data. Otherwise, it’ll lead to mistakes throughout the process of data transfer.

After that, you’ll need to transfer such parts of the store as settings and the site’s pages. Some of the info you’ll need to transfer manually, such as media files, while you can use a migration tool to copy all the databases at once.

The next step is to check your extensions. If there’s some data that needs to be transferred, make sure that Magento 2 technology is adaptable for these extensions.

Last but not least, index the indexers on the new platform all over again.

Phase 5: Alternate if necessary

If you want to change the structure of the site pages while you are migrating the store anyway, you need to approach this carefully.

No doubt that it’s high time to make the necessary changes while you are migrating the store anyway, but make sure to check for any mistakes and errors because it will complicate the next step of the process.

For instance, if you delete some products from the Magento 2 store, they can still be bought on the previous version, which will create errors when running the migration software.

Phase 6: Update incremental data

Even though you’ve already stopped most of the activities, there still could be some order processing going on. Or else, your customers could have left new reviews or changes information in their profiles. You need to move that information as well, and you can do it with the help of incremental updates.

Incremental migration is a process that involves moving data that was only added or changed recently.

You can also test your new store after making incremental changes. In this way, you’ll be able to see any new bugs or glitches that could have appeared.

Phase 7: Start your store on Magento 2

Once you move all the data from Magento 1 to Magento 2, there’s nothing more to do than go live. It takes only a few more steps to sell on the new site. Firstly, put your previous store in maintenance mode. Secondly, stop using the migration software. And finally, change the settings of your DNS load balancers since you’ve got new hardware. Now you can start selling on your new Magento 2 store and be even more efficient in leading your business.

Sum up

That’s it. Do your homework and ensure that you’re not only addressing the short-term issues in your current environment but picking a new community platform with a compelling roadmap that can grow with your business.