Planning and preparation for the platform migration

After choosing your new platform, the next step is to plan and prepare for the replatforming process. This involves developing a detailed project plan that outlines key steps and milestones. To help you with this process, we provide:

• A list of key milestones and tasks for each phase of the platform migration
• A downloadable Excel worksheet that includes an example migration plan and specific actions to take during each phase
• A list of recommended Contentsquare setups to monitor and track the performance of your site post-launch.

Replatforming project phases

Pre-platforming

• Establishing a Project Team: Identify the key stakeholders and team members who will be involved in the project, including project managers, developers, designers, content creators, and other relevant staff.
• Defining the Project Scope: Clearly define the scope of the project, including which features and functionality will be migrated to the new platform and which will be left behind. A sitewide audit using the key Contentsquare modules would help you better understand how your KPIs are tracking and where the biggest improvements lie. In the downloadable Excel worksheet, we provide a table that serves as a guide and helps you track which zonings, alerts, and dashboards have already been created, as well as the key insights discovered.
• Mapping Data and Content: Develop a plan for how data and content will be migrated from the old platform to the new platform. This should include mapping out data fields and content types, and identifying any potential data quality issues that need to be addressed. 
• Testing and Quality Assurance: Develop a plan for how the new platform will be tested and quality-assured before launch, including both functional testing and user acceptance testing.
• Developing a Launch Plan: Develop a detailed plan for launching the new platform, including how and when the new platform will be deployed, and how users will be migrated to the new platform.
• Setting up the New Platform: This involves setting up the new platform with the necessary configuration, integrations, and customizations required to meet your business needs. 
• Migrating Data and Content: This involves transferring data and content from the old platform to the new platform, ensuring that all data and content is accurately mapped, transferred, and validated.
• Testing and Quality Assurance: This involves testing the new platform to ensure that it is functioning as expected and that all data and content has been accurately migrated. 
• User Acceptance Testing: This involves having users test the new platform to ensure that it meets their needs and is easy to use.

Launch

• Launching the New Platform: Once all testing and quality assurance has been completed, the new platform can be launched. This involves deploying the new platform, redirecting users from the old platform to the new platform, and communicating the launch to stakeholders.

Post-replatforming

• Post-Launch Monitoring and Support: After the new platform is launched, it's important to monitor it for any issues or bugs and provide ongoing support to users as needed. We recommend setting up alerts on key pages and CTAs and dashboard to monitor the ongoing site performance. This will help you identify and fix bugs and issues as fast as possible.

Here you can find a list of tips, tricks and best practices for setting up your Dashboards in Contentsquare.

• Learning of new behaviors: Now is also the time to start to analyze and measure the performance of key customer journeys and KPIs. Its very likely that with the new platform and user flows, new behaviors and customer journeys would emerge. Comparing the before and after performance of your key pages will give insights into how the migration has affected your user behavior and overall experience. The downloadable Excel worksheet includes a table that can guide the creation of zonings and track progress over time.
• Training and Support: Develop a plan for training and supporting staff and users on the new platform, including providing documentation and resources to help users navigate the new system.
• Ongoing optimization: Optimize website to improve KPIs and Customer Experience.

Downloadable resources 

To assist you in navigating the planning phase, we've provided a downloadable spreadsheet that includes several tabs with useful information.

• The first tab outlines examples of key steps and actions to take during the different replatforming phases.
• The tabs from 2 through to 4 provide a detailed list of the required setups in the Contentsquare tool, which can help you better plan and monitor your platform migration.
• Finally, the fifth tab gives you an example of a replatforming launch plan.

Above you can see an example of a checklist that outlines the key actions to take during each phase of the replatforming process

Above is shown an example of a worksheet that can help you manage your Contentsquare setup.

Above you can see an an example of a Gantt chart with a timeline for your replatforming project, which can help you plan and manage the different phases of the transition.

By carefully planning and preparing for the replatforming process, you can ensure that the project runs smoothly and that the new platform is successfully launched with minimal disruption to your business operations.