We know upgrading your Adobe Commerce or Magento Open Source website may seem like a scary task, but it doesn’t have to be!
By following best practices and working with an Adobe Certified Expert (like us!) on your upgrade project, you can successfully mitigate risks and make your process seamless and efficient.
Whether you are an eCommerce Manager or Technical Director, the following tips will help you adequately prepare for your upgrade journey.
Understanding the steps to an Adobe Commerce upgrade
As with all development initiatives, project management and project planning is key to success. All agencies will have their version of workflow, to share how we approach this at Brain & Code, we break down the execution of an Adobe Commerce project into the following steps:
- Upgrade Project Discovery & Planning
- Upgrade Technical Requirements Gathering & Upgrade Analysis
- Development
- QA
- UAT
- Launch
- Post-launch
The discovery and planning stage is critical in setting upgrade expectations for all key stakeholders of the project. We help clients understand the nature of Adobe Commerce upgrades, define budget and resource allocation, and establish process and key milestones.
During technical requirements gathering and Adobe Commerce upgrade analysis, we follow Adobe established standards by documenting details in these areas:
- Environment(s) to upgrade
- Development stage environment(s) required
- Upgrade compatibility check
- Identify any issues and fixes required
- Review 3rd party and custom modules to determine upgrade path
The outcome of this exercise is a detailed upgrade reference document that will help avoid surprises during the execution stage.
It is of utmost importance that the merchant (you) and development partner (agency like us) works collaboratively on this, merging your project knowledge and business goals with our platform and development expertise to result in a solid plan of implementation. Don’t be afraid to over-communicate so that no assumptions are made.
Need help understanding the Adobe Commerce upgrade journey? Let’s talk!
Questions to ask when upgrading Adobe Commerce
In our review of the 3rd party and custom modules installed in your existing site, we often find great opportunities to replace or eliminate extensions that might now be native to the latest Adobe Commerce version! As part of the task in doing an inventory and cleanup when planning for your Adobe Commerce upgrade, here are five great questions we recommend you ask and explore with your team:
- Do you still need everything?
- Have some extensions / customizations become obsolete due to Adobe Commerce functionality expansion or shifting business priorities?
- Is it essential to the customer experience?
- Have you had quality or performance issues with any of your extensions? If so, should you consider removing them or finding a replacement?
- If you are considering customizations / extensions for the upcoming year, are you considering lifetime costs, not just implementation?
Source: Adobe
Adobe Commerce Upgrade Best Practices
Bookmark this page to keep the following tips handy!
- Perform full testing of all upgrade deliverables in a non-production environment early in your schedule to avoid issues
- Use resources such as upgrade compatibility tools to assess issues and complexity of your upgrade during the planning phase
- Automate testing by utilizing Adobe or 3rd party tools – this produces more accuracy and reduces costs/time in QA
- Reduce the use of custom code wherever possible and stick to native functionality
- Choose extensions and third party modules that are approved by Adobe and are developed by reputable brands
- Work with an eCommerce development partner that specializes in eCommerce, and specifically in Adobe Commerce or Magento
Need help with your Adobe Commerce Upgrade? Talk to our Adobe Certified Experts today!
