Auditing your apps and developing an app migration strategy are important parts of the decision for when and how you'll move from server to cloud. 

Some of the basic questions you'll need to answer include:

• What apps do you currently have?
• What are they being used for, and by who?
• Are they essential?
• Are similar features or app alternatives available in cloud?
• How do costs compare between server and cloud?

Asking these questions will not only help you prepare for your migration but provide an opportunity to clean up your server apps.

This article provides a set of practices, research, and tools you can use to improve your app audit and develop your migration strategy. We'll also cover methods for determining app utilization, defining which apps are critical, and deciding which apps may not be needed in cloud.

Keep in mind as you evaluate that you may also have custom apps or integrations to consider. In most cases, the same guidance will apply. 

Audit your apps

A strong app migration plan starts with understanding your current server app and integration landscape. Audits are a good tool to help you do this and determine what course of action to take during your move.

Your migration will be more successful if you take time to:

• Research: Find out which apps you have currently, who's using them, and what they cost.
• Streamline: Clean up any apps that aren't being used or won't be used in cloud.
• Set expectations: Help users understand which apps and functionality will be available in cloud after you migrate, and what that means for their day to day work.

The following sections describe the recommended steps to approach these topics.

1. Identify your current apps

Find out which apps you have currently installed in server, and the cost of each. You can do this using the migration assistant or manually through your admin settings.

Use the migration assistant

In the Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant or Jira Cloud Migration Assistant, navigate to Assess your apps.

This feature will show you all the apps you currently have installed on your server, if they are enabled and whether there is a version of that app in cloud.

You can download a CSV of this list and manually record more information about your apps such as how much you’re paying and how much your company uses each app.

Use your admin settings

You can see a list of your apps by checking your billing page, or going to Settings > Manage Apps in server.

To help you out, we've created an app audit template you can use to manually track your apps. The template will help you record things like product, app name, what you're currently paying, and whether or not the app offers critical functionality. 

To use the template, just make a copy and then customize it to suit your needs.

2. Find out which of those apps you're using

Next, you'll want to find out which apps are actually being used, and which aren't. Below are some common approaches to finding out if and how your apps are being used.

General strategies:

• Stakeholder interviews or surveys. Ask internally to uncover: Who's using the apps? What for? Are there any duplicates?

• Check the user manifest. Some apps require access to be provisioned by the server administrator. This makes it easy to determine the subset of users who should be polled about current usage.

In Confluence:

• The Confluence Cloud Migration Assistant will automatically show you how often macro apps are being used, for other app types you may need to use other methods to determine usage.

• If you can't use the migration assistant, you can check macro usage statistics manually. 
• You might also consider trying third-party apps that allow you to track usage. For example, the Macro usage app highlights whether an app is being used or not in any spaces or pages across your site. The Better Content Archiving for Confluence app also includes usage tracking and archiving capabilities for pages. 

In Jira:

• App vendor Botron has developed "Power Admin", which has an app usage audit tool you might consider using.

3. Determine which apps you need in cloud

Once you have your list of current apps and an understanding of how they're being used, it's time to decide which are essential, and which may not be required. It's common to find that not all of your apps are being used, or that even those being used are not mission-critical.

Even when apps are being used heavily, we see customers choose to use migration as an opportunity to clean up. For example, you may want to simplify things like overly complicated workflows in Jira. App audits provide server admins a great opportunity to make people aware of the problem, ask questions, and give them the opportunity to decide if they want to keep everything or reconsider alternatives.

In some cases, the features offered by server apps are either not needed in cloud or are already available as features in our cloud products. To find out if this is the case, start by searching for the features you need. You may want to search in our documentation or on Atlassian Community.

You can also contact us and we'll help answer any questions you have about whether the functionality you need is available.

4. Compare your cloud and server apps

Starting with your essential apps, determine if each offers a cloud equivalent, and assess feature parity.

Below are some common questions you may have as you complete your comparison.

How can I tell if server and cloud apps offer the same features?

The best place to start is by looking at your server apps to see if they have a comparable version for cloud. Keep in mind that like Atlassian's products, cloud apps can differ in features and functionality from the server version, so you'll want to check that the cloud version has the primary features you need. We recommend carefully reviewing the Marketplace listing, as well as contacting the app vendor with any questions.

What do I do if an app isn't available in cloud?

There are a few things you can do if the app you need isn't available in cloud. You can try:

• Contacting the vendor: Try reaching out to the vendor to see if they're currently working on a cloud version. It may be the case that they're planning to release one soon, in which case you'll want to find out what functionality it will offer and what their timelines are. 
• Researching alternatives: See if there are similar apps available in Marketplace. You can also try asking on Atlassian Community.
• Deciding not to migrate the app: If the app isn't essential, you may choose not to migrate the app.

How can I compare pricing between server and cloud?

1. For each app, check the pricing tab on the Marketplace listing to see if there's a cloud equivalent and calculate cloud costs.
2. If your app doesn't have a cloud version, review alternative apps and pricing information. Keep in mind there may be multiple alternatives to consider.
3. Record costs for server and cloud in our app audit template to compare pricing.

How can I test apps in cloud to see if they have what we need?

You can test the apps you need in cloud by starting a free app trial on your test cloud instance. 

Your testing options include:

• activate an extended cloud trial
• set up a Standard 7 day trial (this will revert to a Free plan after the trial)
• sign up for a Free plan, with a maximum of 10 users. (recommended for small teams)

Learn more about testing your server to cloud migration. 

5. Decide which apps to migrate

After completing your audit and assessment, you should have a good understanding of your current app landscape and what your options are for moving them to cloud. Now, it's time to review your audit with stakeholders and decide what to do going forward. Again, we recommend starting by determining what's essential, what isn't, and prioritizing from there.

The two most common app migration strategies we see are:

Selective migration

Migrating to cloud provides the chance to simplify and eliminate apps from server instances that have grown organically, through acquisition, or without strong app governance. This approach involves using the audit process outlined in this guide to determine which apps are needed, determine the migration paths available, and migrate or move to the cloud version of apps while not migrating anything deemed inessential. 

Clean slate

In some cases, customers choose to remove all of their apps when migrating to cloud instead of auditing them. They then add apps in cloud as needed after migrating. You might consider this if you have a server instance that you'd like to simplify in cloud, or if you only have a few non-critical apps. 

6. Develop your app migration plan

Once you've determined which apps and functionality to migrate, you'll need to develop your app migration plan. Below are a few things to keep in mind about app migration in general:

• App data is not automatically included when migrating from server to cloud. Some apps have the functionality to export and import their data, and we recommend working with app developers or reviewing their documentation to determine the best way to migrate each app.
• Atlassian does not currently support app analysis or assist with app migration, so you'll need to work with the app vendor(s) to determine the best migration approach.
• Apps do not need to be disabled or uninstalled from server before migrating. If your apps are still active when the migration occurs, the migration will still be successful.

Learn more about planning your migration for Jira and Confluence or Bitbucket.

More information and support

We have a number of channels available to help you with your migration.

• For more migration planning information and FAQs, visit the Atlassian Cloud Migration Center.
• Have a technical issue or need more support with strategy and best practices? Get in touch.
• Looking for peer advice? Ask the Atlassian Community.

• Want expert guidance? Work with an Atlassian Partner.