Cloud Migration Assessment Checklist 2026: What to Verify Before AWS or Azure
A cloud migration assessment checklist covering inventory, dependencies, performance, security, data, costs, migration paths, testing and readiness.
A cloud migration assessment should answer a simple question before any workload moves: do we understand this system well enough to choose the right migration path and operate it safely afterward? The assessment is where architecture, dependencies, security, data, cost and business criticality are converted into an evidence-based migration decision.
Microsoft’s current Cloud Adoption Framework assessment guidance emphasizes collecting workload architecture, code, database, performance, security and dependency information before migration. Its migration strategy guidance also distinguishes rehost, replatform, refactor, rearchitect, replace, rebuild, retain and retire paths rather than applying one migration pattern to every system.
Build a workload evidence pack first
Inventory every application, database, interface, environment and owner. Record criticality, maintenance windows, service levels, user groups, data classifications and major dependencies. A workload with no accountable business owner or no current architecture map is not ready for a migration decision.
Validate the inventory with both technical discovery and people who understand the system. Automated tools can identify servers and connections, but they may miss manual processes, infrequent integrations or business dependencies that only appear during month-end or seasonal operations.
A migration plan is only as reliable as the evidence behind the workload decision.
Use eight assessment gates
Before assigning a migration wave, verify:
- Inventory and ownership: clear system boundaries, owners and business criticality.
- Architecture and dependencies: components, APIs, networks, identity, databases and external services.
- Performance: representative CPU, memory, storage, latency, throughput and peak behavior.
- Security and compliance: identities, secrets, encryption, data residency, vulnerabilities and logging.
Choose the migration path per workload
The right answer may be to move, modernize, replace, retain or retire. Treat that as a workload-level decision instead of declaring that everything will be “lifted and shifted.”
- Rehost: useful for stable workloads where speed and minimal change matter more than modernization.
- Replatform: move to managed services or containers with limited code change to reduce operational work.
- Refactor or rearchitect: invest more when the current design blocks scalability, reliability or future product goals.
Do not schedule the wave until rollback is defined
A workload should enter a migration wave only when the landing zone, identity, connectivity, observability, backup, test plan and rollback criteria are ready. Document who accepts the migrated system and what metrics prove success. Migration is complete when the target can be operated confidently—not when the data copy finishes.
Tanco Tech assesses and migrates workloads across AWS and Azure with architecture, security, cost and operating ownership built into the plan. Explore our Cloud Consulting Services or discuss a migration assessment.
