The 90-Day Migration Checklist: From Decision to Go-Live

Every migration starts with optimism. The team is aligned, the decision is made, the vendor contract is signed. Then reality sets in: who actually owns this? Who makes the call on the redirect mapping? What does "sign off on the catalog" actually mean? Who notifies the agency running your current platform?

Migrations don't fail dramatically. They drift. Decisions get delayed. Reviews get pushed by a week because someone is on leave. And then you're not going live in 90 days, you're going live in 140 days, and everyone is burned out.

This checklist is designed to prevent drift.

Days 1–15: Discovery and Decision-Making

Week 1

• Assign your internal migration owner. This is not a committee. One person owns the migration on your side. They have authority to make decisions and unblock issues.
• Migration Squad kickoff call. Introductions, current platform overview, initial scope discussion.
• Provide data access. Read-only API access to your current platform, Google Search Console access, analytics access.

Week 2

• Discovery assessment delivered. The Migration Squad delivers: product count and complexity analysis, URL inventory, app/integration inventory, data quality report, and a written migration scope with fixed price.
• Scope review and approval. Your team reviews the scope. Open questions are resolved. The scope is approved in writing.
• Team roles defined. Who from your team owns catalog review? Who owns theme review? Who owns payment and integration testing?

Days 16–45: Build Phase

Week 3

• X3 tenant provisioned in sandbox
• Product catalog import begins
• Customer record import begins
• Historical order import begins
• Redirect map draft delivered for your team's review

Week 4

• Catalog review checkpoint. Your merchandising team reviews 10% sample of imported products. Attribute mappings, variant structures, images, prices, HSN codes.
• Theme build begins (concurrent with catalog work)
• Payment gateway configuration (Razorpay/PayU/Stripe depending on your setup)
• GST rules configured

Week 5–6

• Redirect map approved by your team
• Email trigger templates customized
• Loyalty program reconfigured and historical data imported
• Integration testing: shipping partners, accounting software, ERP
• Theme review checkpoint. Your design team reviews the storefront theme on mobile and desktop. Feedback incorporated.

Days 46–75: Validation Phase

Week 7

• Full end-to-end test run: place orders through every payment method, trigger every email type, test checkout on mobile, test B2B order flow if applicable
• GST invoice generation verified for domestic and export orders
• Performance testing: page load times, checkout speed, mobile Core Web Vitals

Week 8

• Your team conducts user acceptance testing (UAT). Minimum: 5 test orders per payment method, catalog browsing across all categories, customer account creation and login, loyalty point earn and redeem test.
• UAT sign-off document signed by your migration owner
• Go-live date confirmed

Week 9

• Rehearsal cutover: dry run of the complete go-live process — DNS change simulation, post-launch checklist execution, monitoring setup verification
• Any issues found in rehearsal resolved
• Rollback plan documented (your old platform remains accessible as rollback option for 48 hours post-launch)

Days 76–90: Go-Live and Stabilization

Go-Live Day

• Migration Squad on call from 10 PM the night before
• DNS cutover at agreed time (typically 2 AM Sunday)
• Post-launch checklist execution: checkout verification, payment gateway confirmation, email trigger test, inventory sync verification, analytics tracking confirmation
• Go/no-go decision point at 4 AM — if any critical issue is unresolved, rollback is available

Days 1–14 Post-Launch

• Daily Migration Squad check-ins
• SEO monitoring: 404 rate, organic traffic stability
• Performance monitoring: TTFB, Core Web Vitals
• Order processing verification: orders flowing correctly through OMS, fulfillment notifications sending

Day 30 Post-Launch

• Migration retrospective with Migration Squad
• Old platform decommission (or maintenance mode)
• Handoff to X3 support team for ongoing operations

The Most Important Thing on This List

It's the internal migration owner. Every migration that goes smoothly has a single person on the client side who has authority, has context, and shows up to every checkpoint. Every migration that drifts has a committee. Pick your person early, give them real authority, and protect their time for this project. The checklist is the map. They're the navigator.

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