A cloud migration plan template is a fill-in framework that helps you document scope, workload inventory, target architecture, security and compliance, migration waves, cutover and rollback steps, testing and acceptance criteria, and post-migration optimization in one place. In this guide, you will download a ready-to-use template, learn exactly what to write in each section, and see the practical details most checklists miss, so let’s go through it together from start to finish.
TL;DR
- Download the template and fill Sections 1 to 3 first: executive summary, scope, cloud model.
- Inventory workloads and dependencies next, then decide the migration approach per workload using a simple decision matrix.
- Lock landing zone standards and security owners early to prevent rework.
- Plan waves and include a real cutover and rollback runbook with triggers and validation checks.
- Define testing and acceptance criteria per wave, then schedule hypercare and decommissioning.
Download: Accrets Cloud Migration Plan Template (Free)
Use this as your narrative plan and sign-off pack, designed for on-prem to public cloud, hybrid cloud, and multi-cloud migrations.
What a Good Cloud Migration Plan Includes (So You Don’t Miss the Hard Parts)
Many pages ranking for “cloud migration plan template” are either generic checklists or timelines that skip the hard parts. A complete plan typically includes:
- Scope and success criteria (what “done” means)
- Current-state assessment (apps, infrastructure, dependencies, data classification)
- Target architecture and cloud model (public, hybrid, multi-cloud) plus landing zone standards
- Migration strategy per workload (the 7Rs and a decision matrix)
- Wave plan and timeline (what moves when, and why)
- Security, compliance, and governance (controls, evidence, owners)
- Cutover and rollback approach (step-by-step execution with rollback triggers)
- Testing and acceptance criteria (functional, performance, security, DR, UAT)
- Budget, TCO, and FinOps (forecast vs actual, cost guardrails)
- Stakeholders and communications (cadence, approvals, change windows)
- Post-migration optimization and decommissioning (cost tuning, security hardening, shutdown legacy)
If you need a quick shared baseline for stakeholders, Accrets’ primer on the fundamentals of cloud computing can reduce confusion before you lock the plan.
How to Use the Template (Fast, Practical Method)
To keep the plan useful instead of becoming shelfware, use this simple workflow:
- Step 1 (30 to 45 min): Fill Sections 1 to 3 (Executive summary, scope, cloud model selection)
- Step 2 (1 to 2 hours): Summarize current state plus dependencies (Inventory and dependency mapping)
- Step 3 (1 to 2 hours): Define landing zone standards plus security and compliance owners
- Step 4 (60 to 90 min): Build wave plan plus timeline and write cutover and rollback narrative
- Step 5 (60 to 90 min): Add cost guardrails, risks, comms, testing criteria, and post-migration checklist
For global teams operating in or through Singapore, cloud programs often connect to broader modernization goals. If you want a helpful perspective on how large initiatives align outcomes, governance, and execution, Accrets’ article on Singapore’s government digital transformation is a useful reference point.
The Cloud Migration Plan Template, Section by Section (What to Write)
Below is a practical walkthrough of what to write for each section in the downloadable PDF.
1) Executive Summary (The 5 to 10 lines leaders will actually read)
Your executive summary should answer:
- Why migrate now (risk reduction, resilience, speed, compliance, cost predictability)
- What success looks like (availability, latency, cost guardrails, RTO/RPO, milestones)
- What the target architecture is (public, hybrid, multi-cloud) and why
Highlight measurable outcomes. For example: “Meet RPO 15 minutes and RTO 2 hours for Tier-1 workloads” or “Reduce release lead time from 3 weeks to 3 days.”
2) Scope and Objectives (Stop scope creep before it starts)
In this section, document:
- In scope: apps, environments, regions, user groups
- Out of scope: what is explicitly not migrating in this phase
- Constraints: blackout windows, licensing, compliance, vendor dependencies
- Objectives: security posture, DR posture, modernization outcomes, cost targets
If capacity and constraints are a recurring debate in your planning meetings, this guide to IT infrastructure capacity planning can help you translate assumptions into concrete planning inputs.
3) Cloud Model Selection (Public, Hybrid, Multi-cloud)
Use the model selection table to document what you chose and the design considerations behind it:
- Public cloud: speed and managed services
- Hybrid cloud: latency, legacy constraints, residency requirements, gradual transition
- Multi-cloud: resilience, sovereignty requirements, vendor strategy
If hybrid is on your roadmap and you want a pragmatic view of trade-offs, this guide on hybrid cloud providers in Singapore for US-based teams helps clarify what typically adds complexity and what actually reduces risk.
4) Current State Assessment (Inventory, data classification, and dependencies)
This is where migrations succeed or quietly fail. Capture:
- Workloads and owners
- Business criticality and availability requirements
- Data sensitivity and compliance constraints
- Integration points and dependency types (DB, API, file, queue, SSO)
Practical upgrades that improve plan quality immediately:
- Add a “dependency confidence” column (high, medium, low)
- Flag latency-sensitive dependencies early because they often decide whether hybrid remains necessary
If your team keeps blending storage and compute concepts in discussions, Accrets’ explainer on the difference between cloud computing and cloud storage can help align terminology before you finalize scope.
5) Migration Strategy (7Rs) plus a simple decision matrix
For each workload, select one primary approach and document why:
- Retain, retire, rehost, replatform, refactor, rearchitect, replace
To strengthen this section beyond most templates:
- Add a simple scoring rubric: downtime tolerance, complexity, compliance, team skills, expected ROI
- Tie strategy to acceptance criteria, for example: “Replatform must pass p95 latency under 200ms and error rate under 0.5%”
If the migration is influenced by virtualization platform decisions, Accrets’ overview of VMware alternatives can help you connect replatform or refactor choices to the underlying platform strategy.
6) Target Architecture and Landing Zone (Make it repeatable across waves)
This section turns one migration into a repeatable program. Document:
- Account or project structure
- Networking segmentation and routing
- IAM standards, break-glass access, and auditability
- Logging, monitoring, and alerting baselines
- Backup, DR, and environment standards (dev, test, prod)
What strong plans do here:
- Define “minimum landing zone” for Wave 0 versus “hardened landing zone” for Wave 2 and beyond
- Include evidence links like diagrams, baseline policies, and logging destinations
If security stakeholders need a consistent baseline, Accrets’ infrastructure security in cloud computing multicloud playbook is a solid reference for structuring controls without bloating the plan.
6.1) Connectivity plan (especially for hybrid and multi-cloud)
Document:
- Connectivity method (VPN, private link, SD-WAN, direct connection)
- Bandwidth assumptions and SLA targets
- Encryption requirements
- Latency and routing constraints
If you are comparing Southeast Asia deployment assumptions, Accrets’ Singapore cloud VPS guide for speed, cost, and compliance is useful for sanity-checking performance and compliance expectations.
7) Security, Compliance, and Governance (Controls, evidence, owners)
This section signals maturity and reduces late-stage rework. Map:
- Data classification to encryption and key ownership
- IAM and least privilege, including privileged access controls
- Logging and audit evidence
- Vulnerability management
- Backup and restore testing evidence
- DR validation and rehearsal criteria
If you want a focused reference for what security sign-off often expects, Accrets’ overview of cloud security consulting services in Southeast Asia helps clarify what “evidence-ready” looks like.
8) Migration Plan and Timeline (Waves, milestones, and blackout windows)
A wave model that works in practice:
- Wave 0: pilot and landing zone validation
- Wave 1: lower-risk production workloads with simple rollback
- Wave 2: core systems with tight acceptance criteria
- Wave 3: high-risk or high-complexity workloads with strict governance and rehearsals
Make sure each wave includes:
- Dependencies
- Change windows
- Owners and approvals
- Rollback readiness
- Validation steps and success criteria
8.1) Cutover and Rollback Approach (The page most plans forget)
Treat this as mandatory. Write:
- Pre-cutover checklist (freeze changes, backups, DNS plan, access validation)
- Cutover steps with owners, timestamps, and tooling
- Rollback triggers (what failures or metrics force rollback)
- Post-cutover validation checklist
- Hypercare schedule (first 24 to 72 hours)
If you want a companion artifact for resilience planning, Accrets also shares an IT disaster recovery plan template that pairs well with rollback triggers and restore criteria.
9) Budget, TCO, and FinOps (Guardrails, not just estimates)
Document:
- One-time migration costs and ongoing run costs
- Owners and approval workflow
- Tagging standards and cost allocation rules
- Budgets and alerting
- Forecast versus actual checkpoints per wave
If you need a stakeholder-friendly justification for cloud guardrails, Accrets’ explainer on the advantages of infrastructure as a service can help anchor why cost governance should be designed up front.
10) Risk Register (Score, mitigate, assign, track)
Include migration-specific risks like:
- Unknown dependencies
- Permissions drift
- Data integrity issues
- DNS propagation timing
- Vendor throttling and service limits
A practical improvement is to add “trigger” and “mitigation owner” columns so risks do not sit in a spreadsheet without action.
11) Stakeholders and Communications (No surprises on cutover day)
Document:
- Stakeholder groups and their concerns
- Communication method and frequency
- Steering cadence and escalation path
- End-user communication plan for downtime or feature changes
Many cloud programs stall due to governance and stakeholder drift. The patterns described in Accrets’ article on why companies fail at digital transformation and how not to often show up in cloud migrations too.
12) Testing and Validation (Define “done” per wave)
At minimum, define:
- Functional and integration testing
- Performance baseline and thresholds
- Security validation (config reviews, IAM checks, scans)
- Backup and restore test evidence
- DR or failover rehearsal criteria for Tier-1 workloads
- UAT signoff requirements
13) Post-migration Validation and Optimization (Make the cloud worth it)
Include:
- Performance tuning and monitoring stabilization
- Security hardening and policy cleanup
- Cost optimization and rightsizing
- Decommissioning legacy infrastructure and licenses
If you skip decommissioning, you often pay for cloud and on-prem at the same time, which destroys the economics of the move.
Common Failure Points (and the Fix to Put in Your Plan)
Here are five failures that repeatedly show up in migrations and the fix to add directly into your plan:
- Unknown dependencies
Fix: Add dependency mapping, signoff, and confidence scoring - No acceptance criteria
Fix: Define measurable thresholds per app (p95 latency, error rate, RTO/RPO) - Rollback is vague
Fix: Add triggers, owners, a tested restore procedure, and validation checks - Cost surprises
Fix: Add tagging standards, budgets and alerts, and a rightsizing cadence - Ownership gaps
Fix: Add RACI, a weekly governance cadence, and clear escalation paths
Want a Second Set of Eyes on Your Migration Plan?
If you want an expert review of your wave design, landing zone standards, security and compliance evidence, or cutover and rollback readiness, you can request a free consultation.
Fill the form for free consultation with an Accrets Cloud Expert for cloud migration plan template at Accrets Contact Us.For teams that also need an operating model around monitoring and incident readiness, Accrets’ guide to business IT support in Singapore for US decision-makers offers a helpful lens for global operations.
Dandy Pradana is an Digital Marketer and tech enthusiast focused on driving digital growth through smart infrastructure and automation. Aligned with Accrets’ mission, he bridges marketing strategy and cloud technology to help businesses scale securely and efficiently.
