---
title: Migration Framework
description: Structured overview of the STACKIT Cloud Migration Framework across the phases Assess, Design and Mobilize, Migrate, and Run with their key modules.
hero:
  tagline:
    "The STACKIT Migration Framework is your streamlined toolkit for a predictable, secure, and
    efficient transition to the STACKIT Cloud. It combines proven methodologies with
    platform-specific best practices to accelerate your journey toward a sovereign digital
    future."
  illustration:
    name: product
    position: right
sidebar:
  order: 1
  attrs:
    data-icon: dashboard
tableOfContents: false
prev: false
next: false
hideLinkCard: true
source_url: "https://framework.stackit.cloud/migration/"
source_file: "docs/migration/index.mdx"
---

### Understanding the Migration Framework

The STACKIT Migration Framework provides clear blueprints for moving from on-prem to cloud-native.
It guides teams through discovery, assessment, and cutover to ensure seamless integration into the
STACKIT ecosystem.

## Framework overview

The overview below summarizes the migration lifecycle from initial assessment to stable operations.
It helps teams build a shared understanding of responsibilities, dependencies, and expected outcomes
across all phases.

<MigrationFrameworkOverviewSvg
  style={{ width: "100%", maxWidth: "1740px", height: "auto", display: "block" }}
/>

## Purpose and goals

The Migration Framework is designed to reduce uncertainty in cloud transitions and create a clear
path from strategy to operations. It combines business alignment and technical planning so that
migration decisions are not made in isolation.

Typical goals include:

<CardGrid>
  <Card title="Reliable baseline">
    Build a reliable baseline for scope, risks, and cost drivers.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Scalable target setup">
    Define a target architecture and operating model that scale over time.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Controlled migration waves">
    Run migration in controlled waves with measurable progress.
  </Card>
  <Card title="Stable run operations">
    Establish stable run operations with continuous optimization.
  </Card>
</CardGrid>

## How to use this framework effectively

Use the diagram as a navigation map, not just as a sequence of boxes. Each phase contains modules
that answer a specific decision question.

Recommended way of working:

<Steps>

1. Start with Assess to create a fact-based baseline and shared business context.
2. Use Design and Mobilize to make architecture, governance, and capability decisions explicit.
3. Treat Migrate as iterative delivery with feedback loops into planning and optimization.
4. Anchor long-term value in Run by combining operations, customer success, and support.

</Steps>

## Practical guidance

The best results are achieved when business, architecture, platform, security, and operations work
as one program team with regular decision cadences. Keep assumptions transparent, track dependencies
between modules, and define clear entry and exit criteria per phase. This keeps the migration
predictable while allowing adaptation where new findings emerge.

## Typical migration use cases

Organizations usually apply the framework in one of two baseline scenarios:

- **On-premises to STACKIT**: Legacy infrastructure is moved to a sovereign cloud target on STACKIT.
- **Cloud to STACKIT**: Workloads are transferred from another cloud provider.

Across both scenarios, migration programs often emphasize different primary motivators:

- **Cost focus**: Improve cost transparency, reduce long-term run costs, and optimize consumption models.
- **Modernization focus**: Increase agility, adopt managed services, and improve delivery speed.

In practice, both motivators often coexist. The framework supports balancing them by evaluating
workloads through the R-strategy lens and selecting the most suitable path per application:

- **Rehost**: Move workloads with minimal changes to accelerate migration.
- **Replatform**: Apply targeted platform optimizations without full redesign.
- **Repurchase**: Replace with a SaaS alternative where it creates higher value.
- **Refactor**: Redesign parts of the workload for cloud-native capabilities.
- **Retain**: Keep workloads unchanged when migration is not yet beneficial.
- **Retire**: Decommission workloads that no longer provide business value.

Using these R-strategy options explicitly helps teams avoid one-size-fits-all migration decisions and
align each workload transition with business value, risk profile, and implementation effort.