Cloud migrations fail when teams treat them as a weekend DNS flip. This checklist walks product and platform teams through discovery, target architecture, security, migration strategy, data movement, testing and cutover — aligned with how KodeBuilder executes AWS migrations for SaaS, e-commerce and logistics products. Use it internally or share with migration partners before work begins.
1. Discovery and Application Inventory
You cannot migrate what you have not cataloged. Document every workload before choosing a strategy.
2. Target AWS Architecture Design
Design the landing zone and application topology before moving production traffic. For a scoped first wave, see AWS migration planning and implementation.
3. Security, Identity and Compliance
Security belongs in phase one — retrofitting IAM and encryption after cutover is painful.
4. Migration Strategy per Workload
Pick the lightest strategy that meets reliability goals — not everything needs refactoring on day one.
5. Data Migration and Synchronization
Data is usually the longest pole — plan exports, replication and validation early.
6. Networking, DNS and Cutover Planning
Traffic routing changes need runbooks, TTL awareness and communication plans.
7. Testing, Observability and Validation
Prove parity before switching production — functional, performance and security.
8. Post-Migration Optimization and Operations
Migration day is not the finish line — stabilize, optimize and document.
AWS Migration Project Plan: Phases, Owners and Exit Criteria
A checklist says what must be true. A project plan says who does it and in what order. Use this outline to turn the checklist above into a plan. Durations depend on how many applications, databases and integrations move, so set dates after discovery rather than before it.
| Phase | Main activities and owner | Exit criteria |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Assess | Inventory applications, data, dependencies and current costs. Owner: Engineering lead with application owners | Every workload has a migration strategy and an owner |
| 2. Design | Target accounts, network, security baseline and infrastructure as code. Owner: Cloud architect | Landing zone reviewed; access and logging agreed |
| 3. Pilot | Move one low-risk workload end to end, including rollback. Owner: Migration team | Pilot runs in production; runbook updated from what went wrong |
| 4. Migration waves | Move grouped workloads; replicate and validate data. Owner: Migration team with application owners | Each wave passes functional, performance and data checks |
| 5. Cutover | DNS switch, final data sync, monitoring and hypercare rota. Owner: Engineering lead and operations | Agreed health metrics hold through the hypercare window |
| 6. Optimise and close | Right-size, set budgets, decommission old servers, write lessons learned. Owner: Operations and finance | Old environment retired; cost baseline recorded |
Keep a single risk and decision log across all phases. Most delays come from late dependency discoveries and data validation, not from the AWS build itself.