In order to manually migrate structures from Jira Server or Jira Data Center, there are a few key steps to undertake.
You will want to inventory exactly what you need to migrate from your on-prem instance to cloud. This will obviously include the individual structures, but may also include other information, such as the column definitions (views) that users want to preserve, and any Structure.Gantt configurations they may use. It is highly recommended you talk to the various stakeholders of Structure to get the correct structures, views and Gantt configurations you want to preserve.
To facilitate this conversation, a Jira admin can gather some data from Structure:
- Visit the Manage Structure screen and find the structures that are popular (a popular structure is one that has been favorited more than once).
- Pull up the Performance Audit Log (PAL) and see which structures were most recently loaded. The PAL can also tell you who owns each structure, so you can send targeted emails asking them which structures they want to preserve in the migration.
Once you have inventoried what needs to be moved, you will need to make a strategy for accessing that information. If the on-prem instance is still available post migration, it can serve as the source of reference; however, be mindful that certain elements may become stale (like date-based references). If the on-prem instance will not be available, you should take care to preserve the information you will need:
- Copy the structure definitions from the PAL.
- Gather views information from the Manage Views menu → Advanced tab. Views are harder to recreate on Cloud, but having a reference of what they were will be useful.
- Create a structure backup (alongside the Jira wide one). To do this, visit the Structure administration menu.
If you are migrating Structure.Gantt as well, you should also:
- Collect any work calendars from the admin section
- Gather configuration information from the configuration menu
- Assess each Gantt chart's current state. There is currently no way to save this data (aside from pdf/svg export), because it is generated from the Jira data. Any non-Jira information, such as resource calendars, will need to be stored manually.
After all the information is ready, you will need to make sure that all the Jira projects and fields used in your selected structures, views and Gantt configurations have been migrated to your Jira Cloud instance. Without this available, some of your future structures may be calculated incorrectly or not calculated at all.
Using the collected information, you will now need to recreate your structures, views and Gantt configurations in your cloud instance. Please note that not everything can be replicated in Structure Cloud yet because some features are not available.
Using XML export to migrate Structures to Cloud is not supported.
Additional Resources
The following guides may be helpful when setting up your structures and Gantt charts in Structure Cloud: