Build a migration plan your team can review
THE SHORT ANSWER
A practical plan connects findings to owners, dependencies, pilot work, testing and a controlled rollout.
What should a migration plan contain?
A useful post-quantum migration plan connects an agreed scope to accountable owners, dependencies and acceptance criteria. It is a working decision document that changes as evidence improves.
1. Confirm the scope
Map findings to deployed systems. Ask owners to confirm the cryptographic operation, data sensitivity and external dependencies. Record coverage gaps.
2. Agree the approach
Review supported algorithms, protocols and library versions with the relevant platform and vendor teams. Algorithm selection is only one part of a system change. Avoid promising a drop-in replacement before compatibility is tested.
3. Build a representative pilot
Choose a narrow but realistic flow. List the signers, verifiers, key-management components and clients involved. Define who can approve moving beyond the pilot.
4. Test and rehearse recovery
Define interoperability, performance, key lifecycle and failure-recovery checks. Record results and unresolved issues. A plan should make its pass criteria explicit.
5. Roll out and verify
Use staged deployment, monitoring and a reviewed recovery approach. Retain evidence of what changed and how it was checked.
A draft is not an approval
Generated plans can organize work, but they cannot confirm architecture or business context. Qualified reviewers and system owners must approve implementation choices. Start with a sample plan, then replace its assumptions with your own evidence.
Go to the source.
- NIST NCCoE Migration to Post-Quantum Cryptography ↗ — NIST NCCoE
Make it a team conversation.
Use six questions to organize your planning gaps and share a checklist with your team.
Build a team checklist →