Migration is a complex task, but with a proper planning phase, thought-out execution, and post-migration testing, it can be accomplished without issues.
1. Planning
Before initiating any technical work, preparation is mission-critical. Here’s a checklist of things that should be done during the planning phase:
Step 1. Review your current contract
First and foremost, it’s good to check the contract with your current platform provider. Evaluate the agreement’s terms and familiarise yourself with termination clauses and other terms that could slow you down.
Step 2. Assess your needs
Next, assess the new platform and test if it meets your business needs. What are your current pain points? What’s working for you now, and what isn’t? What features can you not compromise on, and what ‘nice to have’ features would you welcome?
Beyond features, you also want to consider reliability, scalability, costs, UX, and integration capabilities. The new platform should offer considerable advantages over your existing one and long-term future-proof your business.
Step 3. Define the scope of the project
In this step, you should evaluate the project’s objectives and define which functionalities, datasets, and features need to be migrated to the new platform. Defining the scope will also help you estimate cost and resource needs.
Step 4. Set your strategy
We can generally identify two strategies: one that completes the migration all at once and one that iteratively rolls out step-by-step. Let’s discuss each one in more detail.
Strategy 1: All at once
With this approach to migration, you transition from your old platform to the new one in a single go. As you cease operations on your old platform, you immediately start running on the new one.
As quick and less costly as this approach is, it also comes with a big risk of service interruptions and revenue losses. If an issue arises, it might be challenging to identify its root, which can quickly become unmanageable.
Strategy 2: Iterative (step-by-step)
On the other hand, we have the iterative strategy, which is often preferred, especially by large networks. Here, you approach the migration process in batches. In choosing this approach, you will run your operations on two platforms simultaneously. Though this may temporarily lead to higher costs and complexity as you manage two systems in parallel, it is a much safer option as you work step-by-step and migrate your charging network in a controlled and ordered fashion.
With a step-by-step strategy, you can also choose to migrate by geographic territory (one country followed by another) or use case (public charging followed by private charging).
Which one to choose?
Generally, it’s best to lean on your migration partner to help you decide which is best for you and your business. However, in most migration cases, businesses opt for the iterative strategy to stay on the secure side of things and ensure a smooth process.
Step 6: Hardware audit
Prepare a list of all your charging stations, their model, OCPP connections, firmware versions, and network configurations. Also, clarify your charging sites’ energy constraints and current load management groups, if any. Having a clear overview of your network will help you determine which charge points to migrate, which need firmware updates, and how to plan your resources.
Step 7: Data mapping
We already briefly mentioned how daunting data migration can be. However, with the right preparation, it becomes a much less challenging task. Map out your existing data, including charger, EV driver, and energy data, and compare it to the data structures of the new platform. Don’t forget to ensure data backup.
Step 8: Stakeholder communication
As many internal and external stakeholders work with your platform, it’s essential to keep everyone informed on the planned transition and the overall value of the migration. This is the only way to avoid confusion and misalignment moving forward.
Step 9: Customer expectation management
Proper planning lets you keep your customers informed and set the right expectations. Migration shouldn’t cause disruptions to your operations, but if it happens, your customers will have more understanding as long as you’re transparent with them.
Step 10: Pre-migration testing and proof-of-concept
Testing is necessary before execution. Do OCPP testing with your hardware and determine any compatibility or connectivity issues ahead of time to avoid running into them during the transition.
If you’re employing energy management tools, check smart charging profile integrations to see if the new platform can support your energy needs.
With a small-scale proof-of-concept (POC), you can reveal potential issues before they become major problems.
2. Execution
You’ve gone through a thorough planning phase, and the time comes for the execution.
The execution phase can be divided into two parts: software migration and hardware integration, which often run in parallel.
The software migration begins with a secure data transfer from the legacy platform. Each CPMS has a unique data structure, so data might have to be cleaned up or transformed before being imported into the new system.
Chargers can be migrated remotely or on-site, depending on the hardware and its manufacturer. On-site migrations require hiring engineers, which increases the migration costs. However, nowadays, many charger manufacturers allow for remote migration.
For a successful migration, make sure connectivity methods are clearly documented. Are the chargers connected through an Ethernet cable, a modem, or a SIM card?
At the same time, information required for a proper configuration, such as the correct URL or Access Point Name (APN), should be well documented and known to those in charge of the migration.
During a remote migration, your charge points must be connected to the internet via GSM, LAN or Wi-Fi. Once connectivity is ensured, the charger is configured to communicate with the new platform, and its back-end system URL can be updated.
If charger SIM cards need to be changed, an on-site visit and physical replacement are required. Large networks will often opt to keep their existing SIM cards to avoid such a labour-intensive task.
As the chargers connect to a new back-end system, you should also provide new how-to-charge instructions, support number and the socket ID. This is usually done with a sticker placed on the physical charger.
3. Post-migration testing
Finally, you should test the connectivity so that real-time communication can flow between your charge points and the new CPMS.
Post-migration testing includes checking if everything works as it should. Can you see the charger status change when plugged in? Can you stop the transaction with an RFID? Does the charging session start and stop when prompted by the new system?
If you have a network of hundreds or thousands of chargers, you won’t be able to test each charger manually. This is where proof-of-concept helps to check how the migration works in detail. After the migration, you can do spot checks and resolve issues case by case.
An important part to monitor is load management groups and smart charging profiles set up on your chargers before migrating. You should check if your chargers are working according to those rules in your new system.
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