Change management and best practices to navigate your migration from Confluence

Changing tools is never about technology alone. When you move from Confluence to XWiki, you're also asking people to change their habits and adapt to a new way of working.

Migrating content is only part of the project. User adoption is what determines success. If they don't understand the change, don't see its benefits, or don't feel supported, even a flawless migration can fall short of expectations.

So what separates a migration your teams embrace from one they resist?

In this article, you'll learn the change management and migration best practices that will help your teams adopt XWiki and make your Confluence migration a success.

*

Migration best practices

Over the past 6 years, we've helped over 100 organizations migrate from Confluence to XWiki. Along the way, we've seen what works, what creates unnecessary complexity, and what helps teams adopt their new platform successfully.

Every migration is different, but the same challenges tend to come up again and again. Based on our experience, below are some of the most important best practices to help you plan your migration. You'll learn how to avoid common pitfalls and make the transition as smooth as possible for your users.

#1 Start with a migration assessment.

One of the biggest mistakes organizations make is planning a migration before fully understanding what they need to migrate.

Most Confluence instances have evolved organically over many years. What appears to be a straightforward migration project can quickly become more complex. This occurs once teams start inventorying spaces, users, macros, permissions, integrations, templates, and customizations.

Before defining timelines or migration waves, invest time in understanding your current environment.

Questions worth answering early include:

• How many users actively rely on the platform?
• How many spaces need to be migrated?
• How many personal spaces exist?
• Which spaces are still actively used?
• Which macros and plugins are business-critical?
• What third-party apps are embedded in key workflows?
• How complex is the current permissions model?
• Which teams rely most heavily on Confluence today?

A strong migration assessment should also cover key planning decisions:

• How authentication and user provisioning will be handled
• How many migration batches will be required
• Which teams should migrate first
• Whether blogs, favorites, tags, attachments, and permissions should be migrated
• How content ownership will be managed after the transition

Beyond understanding what needs to be migrated, take time to evaluate how your teams currently use Confluence and how those needs will be met in XWiki. Not every Confluence feature requires an exact equivalent, and not every feature currently in use is necessarily worth reproducing. The goal is to identify which capabilities are essential, which can be simplified, and where XWiki may offer a different but equally effective approach.

If some functionality will be handled differently in XWiki, create clear documentation or step-by-step guides. This way, users will know how to achieve the same outcomes.

💡 Why it matters

Dedicated planning may seem like extra work at first, but it prevents costly surprises later. Most migration challenges come from incomplete understanding of the current environment rather than technical limitations.

#2 Do not expect the new product to be a copy of Confluence.

A common reaction during migration projects is to compare every XWiki capability against its Confluence equivalent. While feature comparisons have their place, they can distract you from a more important question: What problem is the feature solving?

Whether it's Page Properties, Excerpt, Attachments, diagrams, or tasks, the focus should be on workflows and outcomes rather than one-to-one feature matching.

You shouldn't approach a migration as an attempt to recreate Confluence exactly. Your existing platform was designed around your organization's needs at the time, what Confluence could support, and the implementation choices that were made. Since then, your business processes, priorities, and collaboration needs have likely evolved.

Use the migration as an opportunity to challenge old assumptions, simplify workflows, and explore better ways of working.

While both platforms provide similar capabilities, XWiki often delivers functionality through its core features or recommended extensions rather than relying on the same plugin ecosystem. Taking the time to understand how XWiki works can reveal more flexible approaches to managing knowledge.

💡 Why it matters

Successful migrations focus on user needs, helping teams find better solutions instead of simply replicating the existing setup.

#3 Take the chance to do some cleanup and simplification.

Over time, Confluence environments accumulate layers of permissions, exceptions, legacy groups, and access rules that may no longer reflect the organization's actual structure. Rather than reproducing years of accumulated complexity, use the migration as an opportunity to review and modernize rights and permissions.

Consider whether:

• Existing access models still make sense
• Inactive groups should be retired
• Content ownership is clearly defined
• Administrative responsibilities are properly assigned
• Permissions can be simplified before migration

It's also a good opportunity to retire unused spaces, plugins, templates, and customizations. Migrating less content and fewer dependencies often reduces project complexity while making the resulting platform easier to maintain.

💡 Why it matters

A migration is one of the few moments when organizations naturally revisit how knowledge is managed. Thus, it can reduce administrative overhead and improve long-term maintainability.

#4 Validate strategically, not manually.

For large organizations, validating every migrated page individually is rarely realistic.

A more effective approach combines automated validation tools with targeted reviews by content owners.

Focus validation efforts on:

• Business-critical documentation
• Frequently visited content
• Pages containing complex macros
• Spaces with intricate permissions
• High-value knowledge repositories

Content owners should be involved early so they can verify migrated content, identify issues, and confirm that important workflows still function correctly.

💡 Why it matters

Validation is not simply a quality assurance activity. It is also a trust-building exercise. Users are more likely to embrace the new platform when they know their most important content has been reviewed and verified.

#5 Prioritize change management.

Training is important, but training alone rarely drives adoption.

One of the most effective change management strategies is to involve users from the beginning and create a network of early adopters who can support the transition.

Early adopters can:

• Participate in pilot migrations
• Test migrated content
• Validate workflows
• Provide practical feedback
• Help answer user questions
• Demonstrate new capabilities to their teams

Clear communication is also essential. Users should understand:

• Why the migration is happening
• What will change
• How their daily workflows may be affected
• Where they can get help after launch

Consider also providing an accessible support channel for questions and feedback during the transition period.

💡 Why it matters

People are more receptive to change when they feel informed, supported, and involved. Trusted colleagues often encourage adoption more effectively than formal training alone.

#6 Consider expert help when needed.

Migration projects may seem straightforward at first, but large-scale knowledge migrations often involve hidden complexity.

Migration tools, permissions mapping, macros, integrations, and validation processes all require careful planning and experience.

While many organizations can handle parts of the migration internally, bringing in experts can reduce risk and accelerate the process.

Consider involving specialists for:

• Migration assessment
• Complex content transformations
• Custom migrations
• Workflow redesign
• Technical validation

Rather than outsourcing the entire project, some organizations benefit from targeted consulting support to guide their teams through the most challenging parts.

💡 Why it matters

Experienced migration specialists have seen common pitfalls and can help avoid costly mistakes. A small investment in expertise can save significant time and effort later.

#7 Measure adoption, not only migration completion.

Many migration projects define success as the moment content has been imported and users can log in.

In reality, that is where the next phase begins.

A successful migration should ultimately be measured by how effectively people use the new platform.

Useful indicators include:

• Active user engagement
• Content contribution rates
• Search effectiveness
• Knowledge reuse
• User satisfaction
• Reduced dependency on legacy systems

💡 Why it matters

The true value of a migration is realized only when users adopt the new platform and integrate it into their daily work.

Migration completion is a milestone. Adoption is the outcome.

Closing thoughts

Successful Confluence migrations are rarely defined by the speed of the migration itself. The success indicator is rather how quickly users adopt the new platform and continue their work with confidence. Combine careful planning, realistic expectations, user involvement, and the right level of expertise. This way, your migration can become an opportunity to improve both your knowledge platform and the way your teams collaborate.