How to Start a Migration Between Automation Tools

Switching from one automation tool to another is something many companies face. Maybe your license is expiring, maybe the new tool fits your future strategy better, or maybe you want to consolidate on one platform.

Whatever the reason, the biggest challenge is usually the same: how do you move your existing automations without disrupting the business?

The good news: a migration doesn’t have to be risky if you approach it step by step.

Document Before You Migrate

The most important step happens before you even touch the new tool.

• Check if processes are documented. Many automations live in people’s heads or inside scripts with little documentation.

• If they’re not, document them now. Write down triggers, steps, conditions, inputs, outputs, and exception handling.

• Use the old tool to double-check. In Automation Anywhere, for example, you can open the bot and review the logic loops, decisions, rules and compare that to your documentation.

This ensures you’re not just “moving code,” but migrating the real process.

Validate With the Business

After documenting, sit down with the business owners of the process. Ask them:

• Does this description match reality?

• Are there steps that have changed since the automation was first built?

• Are there pain points or gaps we should fix in the new version?

This step prevents wasted effort. There’s no point in migrating a process that doesn’t reflect how the business actually works today.

Analyze and Prioritize

Not all processes are equal. Some are mission-critical, some are outdated. Migration is a great chance to clean things up.

Techniques you can use here:

• Complexity vs. Value Matrix: rank processes by how complex they are and how much business value they bring.

• As-Is vs. To-Be Mapping: model the current flow, then design the future flow in UiPath sometimes you’ll see simplification opportunities.

• Dependency Mapping: check what systems or other bots a process depends on. These may need to migrate in sequence.

Start migration with low-to-medium complexity processes that deliver clear business value. That way you build experience and trust before tackling the hardest ones.

Define the Delivery Steps

A tool migration can be delivered in phases, just like a new automation project:

1. Analysis: Review the documented process, compare with the actual bot, validate with the business.

2. Design: Translate the process into a UiPath workflow design. Identify where UiPath features (like Orchestrator or AI Center) could simplify things.

3. Development: Build the process in UiPath, using coding standards and naming conventions so it’s easy to maintain.

4. Testing: Do thorough functional tests, exception tests, and performance tests. Run the process with real data where possible.

5. User Acceptance Testing (UAT): Have the business test it and confirm it meets their expectations.

6. Deployment: Move it into production, ideally running in parallel with the old bot for a short time.

7. Hypercare: Monitor closely for the first days/weeks and fix issues quickly.

Testing Techniques

Testing is often underestimated, but it’s critical in migrations. Some techniques that help:

• Baseline comparison: Run the process in Automation Anywhere and UiPath with the same input. Compare the outputs,do they match?

• Exception scenarios: Feed the process bad data, missing files, or wrong formats. Does it handle errors properly?

• Performance check: Does it run faster, slower, or the same? Make sure SLAs are still met.

• Parallel run: For business-critical processes, run both old and new versions for a week or two and compare results before fully switching.

Plan the Cutover

The “go live” moment is often the most stressful, but good planning removes the risk.

• Communicate early with the business. Let them know when the switch is happening and how it will affect them.

• Choose a low-impact time (e.g., outside of peak business hours).

• Have rollback options: if the new bot fails, you can quickly switch back to the old one.

• Assign responsibilities: who monitors, who supports, who decides if rollback is needed.
  

Use Migration as an Opportunity

Don’t think of migration as just “moving bots.” Think of it as modernizing your automation estate.

• Some processes may not be worth migrating at all, retire them.

• Some processes may benefit from simplification or integration with APIs instead of bots.

• New features in UiPath (like attended automation, AI Center, Task Mining) might let you do things better.

This is the time to improve, not just to transfer.

Final Thought

Migrating from Automation Anywhere to UiPath or any other tool(or between any two automation tools) isn’t just a technical job, it’s about understanding, documenting, validating, and then rebuilding processes with confidence.

Take it step by step:

• Document

• Validate with business

• Analyze and prioritize

• Deliver in phases (analysis → design → build → test → deploy)

• Treat migration as an upgrade, not just a move

Done this way, migration isn’t a headache it’s a chance to make your automation stronger, leaner, and future-ready.