12migration

12migration is a term used in information technology to describe a structured, twelve-step approach to planning and executing migrations of data, applications, or infrastructure. The name highlights the division of the process into twelve discrete phases intended to improve governance, risk management, and traceability. While the term appears in enterprise IT literature and vendor documentation, there is no universally mandated standard, and organizations typically adapt the twelve steps to their specific context.

In practice, 12migration covers a range of migration types, including data migration, application migration, cloud migration, and infrastructure refreshes. A representative twelve-step model might include: assessment and scoping, inventory and mapping, target architecture design, data cleansing and transformation, migration planning, risk assessment and controls, test strategy and environment setup, pilot migration, full-scale migration, cutover and validation, decommissioning of legacy components, and post-migration support and review. The exact content of each step varies by project.

Benefits of this approach include clearer governance, improved risk management through staged validation, and easier traceability for audits. Potential drawbacks include rigidity that can clash with agile practices, the need for substantial upfront planning, and the risk of scope drift if the steps are treated as fixed milestones rather than living processes.

12migration is commonly applied to enterprise initiatives such as migrating on-premises systems to cloud platforms, modernizing data warehouses, or upgrading ERP and CRM environments. It is often used in conjunction with project-management frameworks and data governance policies to ensure that migration outcomes meet business requirements while preserving data integrity and continuity of operations.