Magento 2 Migration Like The Big Boys
Prepararing for a migration from Magento 1 to Magento 2
As we mentioned above, some huge British websites have completed the migration.
One thing to bear in mind is that moving to Magento 2 is not an upgrade, but a full-scale replatforming exercise. Magento 2 bears many similarities to 1.x versions, both in the front end and the admin area, but it is fundamentally a different platform, with wholly new coding structures and database architecture.
As such, any transition to Magento 2 requires careful planning and execution. In this article, I’ve attempted to set out a basic road map for those merchants now looking to make the transition in a measured and sensitive way.
Take stock of what you have
The first step in the transition process is to conduct an assessment of your current installation. This should incorporate a functional definition of your operations, highlighting any areas that are specific to your organisation (custom extensions, integrations and workflows), areas where the Magento platform could be improved to meet your needs (and generally be more efficient) and areas where you would like to add additional functionality.
If you’re planning on moving to a new agency, you’ll need to create a more comprehensive functionality specification, especially if you’re planning on making big changes to the store.
The next part of this assessment is to identify all third-party extensions or custom modules that you have installed in your existing Magento store. If any internal records have not been kept to date, you can get an idea of the third-party extensions you’re using by going to system > config > admin > advanced > disable module output in the admin area. Your developers or agency should confirm your list of what extensions you use, by checking both community and local code pools for modules.
All third-party modules should be listed, along with the functionality they provide and whether or not they are in active use within your eCommerce operations. This is particularly important since not all third-party extensions are currently available for Magento 2 and some extension providers are taking the opportunity to ‘retire’ some older, less popular extensions. It’s worth pointing out that existing licenses for Magento 1.x extensions are not valid for Magento 2 stores, so licensing costs will need to be added to the overall project costs.
Another part of this initial assessment should be to identify any new business requirements that could be impacted by a move to Magento 2. If you have soldiered on without implementing a fully responsive design in your existing Magento store, for example, the transition to Magento 2 would provide the perfect opportunity to rectify that. Since Magento 1.x themes aren’t transferrable to Magento 2, you may as well get any desired front-end improvements in the spec to save time.
The other thing to consider is that this represents a good opportunity to improve your product catalogue setup – we’ve seen merchants who have taken the opportunity to restructure their core product data, with a view to removing things they don’t need, adding new attributes for merchandising and changing how they use attribute sets to support more specific products.
When you’ve selected a partner like Fusionsoft to support the migration, they’ll perform an initial discovery which will cover your existing store and the migration process in a lot more detail. For your free audit Get In Touch or call 01895 255 633 to speak with our team.
Start using the system early
The technical architecture of Magento 2 is very different from Magento 1 and it’s important that this is fully understood by the relevant members of your team. Any developers or technical users within your team will need time to properly understand the new Magento framework.
I’d suggest getting your team comfortable with the system, the new processes and the way the extensions you’ve selected to work with early on – this will help to reduce the overhead around this once you’ve launched. Fusionsoft offer Magento 2 training to help you success with your business online.
The other big consideration is going to be the data migration, which is likely to be managed via an agency if you’re using one. Magento have a data migration tool available that allows the transfer of standard and custom tables, but requires mapping and testing to ensure data comes across in the correct way. Data manipulation might be required if you’re changing the extensions you’re using too. This is a big part of the project and it’s important that you have your team setup to QA all aspects of this.
It can often be difficult to get operations staff to conduct formal testing of an eCommerce platform – with team members assuming the agency will take ownership of this. Staff are busy with their day to day workload, and they are not professionally-trained testers, so they see little point in carrying out tedious, repetitive tests that, to them, reflect very little of how they actually use the system. Comprehensive testing is critical, however, and this should be conveyed to all those involved in the testing stage. Testing a key part of a project like this and the plan should really be factored into each stage of the project, depending on how it’s being managed.
As with most things, the success is going to come down to detailed preparation. By taking the time to fully understand the new platform, to carefully assess current functional requirements and platform configuration, and to test the transition site thoroughly, the move to Magento 2 can be a positive and professional experience, leading to ongoing support and commitment for the platform throughout the organisation.
Article taken from the Econsultancy website. Images copyright Osprey London
