Cloud Migration Change Log
This is a practical guide to building a change log for a cloud migration project — a record of change requests and their decisions, adapted to the realities of moving systems and data from on-premise infrastructure to the cloud.
What a Change Log is
A change log is a record of change requests and their decisions. For the full concept and how it works in general, see Change Log. On a cloud migration project it plays the same role, tuned to this kind of work.
Why it matters for a Cloud Migration project
Cloud Migration projects live or die on moving systems and data from on-premise infrastructure to the cloud. A well-built change log gives the team a shared, explicit reference for exactly that — reducing ambiguity, aligning stakeholders, and making problems visible early enough to act. Skipping it, or doing it generically, is how cloud migration projects drift into avoidable delay and cost.
What to include
- Change ID and description
- Impact assessment
- Decision and date
- Updated baselines
Cloud Migration-specific considerations
Tailor the change log to the risks that most often derail cloud migration projects:
- Underestimated dependencies
- Downtime and data-loss risk
- Runaway cloud costs post-migration
Example
On a real cloud migration project, the change log would be shaped by moving systems and data from on-premise infrastructure to the cloud. In particular, it should explicitly account for the project’s biggest risks — underestimated dependencies, downtime and data-loss risk, runaway cloud costs post-migration — rather than treating them as afterthoughts.