Migrating Checklists to Jira Cloud

Migration is, obviously, a hot topic in the Atlassian ecosystem. Fortunately, there are a lot of resources to help you if you’re moving from Server/Data Center to Jira Cloud:

• https://support.atlassian.com/migration/docs/use-jira-site-import-to-migrate-from-server-to-cloud/
• https://www.atlassian.com/migration/plan/cloud-guide
• https://support.atlassian.com/migration/docs/use-the-jira-cloud-migration-assistant-to-migrate/

One of the steps to a successful migration is migrating apps and app data. This article will describe t how to migrate from Checklist for Jira on-prem to Issue Checklist Pro. We’ll look at each step in the process, and at the things that can go wrong if an important step is omitted.

Checklists in On-Prem vs Checklists in Jira Cloud

Checklists in Jira Cloud offer similar functionality to checklists on-prem, but in some cases achieve that functionality in different ways.

Checklist for Jira on-prem creates new custom field types, allowing you to create a custom field for each checklist you use. This means that you can use your checklists anywhere you can use a Jira field, including on create and transition screens. The checklist fields are indexed and include many indexing functions for advanced JQL searches. Checklist data is stored directly in Jira and will be exported along with other Jira fields. Each checklist can have multiple contexts that can be assigned to specific projects and issue types. This allows you to create one custom field (for example, DoD) with different checklist items for different projects/issue types.

Checklists in cloud are stored in an external database which is then rendered in the checklist UI on the Jira issue. There is no checklist custom field type, and the checklists have different configuration options than those available on-prem.  This approach means that less support is required from the Jira Administrator (by default, checklist permissions follow issue permissions: anyone who can edit the issue can create/edit checklists on the issue) and you can create limitless checklists without adding to your custom field count.

Preparing for Migration

In Issue Checklist Pro:

1. Install Issue Checklist for Jira Pro.
2. Navigate to Jira Settings > Apps and select Global Settings under Issue Checklist Pro.
3. Ensure that the Enable multiple checklists per issue setting is enabled.
4. It is also recommended that you disable the Save checklist data to Jira custom fields global setting during migration to avoid excessive notifications.

In Checklist for Jira Server/Data Center

1. Verify the scope of each Checklist Custom Field Context. Ensure that the Context is only marked as “All Projects” for checklists that you truly want to have on all of your Jira issues.
2. Some items will need to be verified/reconfigured post-migration. Therefore, you may want to prepare an inventory of:
3. Global items - Once migration is complete, you may want to create Checklist templates that include these items.
4. Checklist permissions
5. Checklist conditions
6. Checklist validators
7. Checklist post functions
8. Assigned checklist items - depending on the migration path you used, user IDs may or may not have been mapped from on-prem to cloud. Therefore, once users are set up in Cloud you will need to re-assign checklist items.
9. Follow the instructions on this page to create the export file.
   
   

Executing the Migration

This import process will load all checklist data files created by the Checklist for Jira Export feature and copy them to the Issue Checklist app.

1. Use the Checklist for Jira Export feature to generate the files that will be loaded into Issue Checklist.
2. If you have more than one Checklist Definition applied to the same project/issue type, you will need to enable the Enable multiple checklists per issue global setting. Navigate to Jira Settings > Apps and select Global settings under the Issue Checklist heading. Use the toggle to Enable multiple checklists per issue.
3. Navigate to Jira Settings > Apps and select Import under the Issue Checklist heading.
4. Select the Checklist for Jira Server tab.
5. Locate the files generated during the Checklist for Jira Server export process and drag them to the upload area. Alternatively, you can also click the area and select the files from your computer.
6. When all the files generated during the Export process are in the list, click Upload files.
7. Use the Overwrite existing items in Issue Checklist Pro toggle to indicate if you want to:
8. (Toggle enabled) Replace any Issue Checklist items on a given issue with the Checklist for Jira items for that issue. It is recommended that you enable the toggle if you attempt to perform an import more than once.
9. (Toggle disabled) Append imported checklist items to any already existing Issue Checklist items on the issue.  
10. Once the files are uploaded, and you’ve confirmed that the Overwrite existing items in Issue Checklist Pro toggle is in the correct position, click Start import. The import will be scheduled and a gray panel will show the import status. Click on the Refresh icon to update the status.
11. The Import status will change when the background import process is launched. Once the process begins, the import cannot be canceled.
12. When the import is complete, the status panel will turn green and will display the number of checklist items and issues impacted.  

Post-migration Configurations

Once the migration is complete, it is recommended that you review/reconfigure the following:

• Checklist permissions
• Workflow conditions
• Workflow validators
• Workflow post functions
• Checklist item assignees
  
  

Need  more help? See our documentation for downloadable instructions, and a checklist of the steps needs needed for a successful migration.

‍