How user acceptance testing (UAT) can make or break your Atlassian Cloud migration

UAT is the secret sauce to a successful Atlassian Cloud migration. Here we take a look at why it’s so important, Jira-specific considerations, and top tips for testing like a pro.

You’ve assessed, planned, and prepped for migration, and now it’s time to test. Running a test migration, including UAT, before executing a production migration is a vital step not to be ignored. 

Part of the testing phase involves backing up your data, both your self-hosted instance and any data in the cloud already. And you’ll want to put together a step-by-step checklist of what needs to happen when, including detailed instructions, noting the owner of each task, timings, dependencies, and a mitigation plan. But no testing phase should be considered complete without user acceptance testing (UAT).

UAT is about putting real-life users’ needs front and centre – making sure the migration works for them. Your users know your system better than anyone, so letting them try out the target platform is ideal. Testing throws up all the bugs you need to address in advance, giving you the chance to fix them and avoiding any issues post migration, like data loss or reputational damage. 

Don’t overlook this part of the process and miss out on peace of mind, knowing everything is fit for purpose. UAT will also help make sure your organisation is ready for the changes migration will bring.

Who you include in your UAT plan will vary from organisation to organisation. Ideally you should make sure every major user type is represented and able to give their feedback. That said, you also need people who will provide useful, constructive feedback. Think about including members from specific teams with different user needs, a combination of infrequent or regular users and power users, and at least one appointed member from each team that will be using your cloud site.

Ask users to pay attention to any pain points, particularly in relation to what will change when migration happens. General things to consider include any new features, new URLs or bookmarks, changes to user administration, different apps they haven’t encountered before, and a new user interface if applicable.

Keep in mind, Atlassian cloud products are not identical to their Server or Data Center counterparts – the app architecture is especially different. And while there is portability, there might not be corresponding app equivalents. Where an equivalent does exist, functionality might differ too. User authentication is different too – there are unique email addresses, ‘organisations’, and managed domains to consider – and the user interface will take a minute to get used to.

For Jira specifically, you should check that your workflows are all doing what they should. If you have post-functions that depend on third-party apps to run, and those third-party apps haven’t been migrated, you’re going to run into problems. Test typical things like creating a new project, uploading attachments, and creating and editing issues to see if everything’s working as expected. And check that any links to other content – such as a Confluence page – are working too.

UAT should bring any bugs to the fore. But you won’t have the time or capacity to test everything, particularly rarer use cases. Focus on most-critical functions first and keep the following factors in mind.

• Be representative – use a sample set of users that are representative of your wider user base. Give them a generalised test plan so they know what to test and what to look out for.
• Use a service desk– if you're running a large testing phase, Jira Service Management can help. It can act as a dedicated portal to document feedback and take care of issues.
• Your apps, your way – check any apps or app data you’ve migrated are working the way you want it to.
• Test integrations and links – if you need to reconfigure links to other server products, don’t forget to re-test the functionality after the fact. And test integrations with other products too. If your UAT highlights gaps, such as something that doesn’t come included with Jira cloud that you need, ScriptRunner lets you add custom scripts to get the experience you need.
• Communicate clearly – documenting changes between your Atlassian Server and cloud sites isn’t just good practice. It provides the basis for training your people when migration takes place.
• Test product-specific functions – in Jira Software and Jira Work Management, make sure you test creating sprints, viewing boards, and adding issues. And in Jira Service Management, users should test viewing queues and checking their portal view.