Many research teams have run online boards for years on the same platform. Moving to a new one feels risky, because a missed step can put a client study in trouble. This checklist breaks a migration into small, safe steps so you can switch without a big-bang cutover. It is written for teams moving multi-day boards from Forsta QualBoard, or older FocusVision-era setups, to CoLab.
Before you start
Migration is mostly about habits and templates, not data. Your most valuable assets are the discussion guides and stimulus sets you reuse. Past respondent data usually stays where it is for reference. Decide up front what you need to carry forward and what you can archive.
Decide what to move
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| Asset | Move it? | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Recurring discussion guides | Yes, first | Highest reuse; biggest time saved |
| Stimulus libraries (images, videos, concepts) | Yes, as needed | Move what upcoming studies will use |
| Closed study data | Archive, do not rebuild | Rarely worth recreating; keep exports for audit and reference |
| Client-specific setups | Case by case | Check contracts and any retention requirements |
| Moderator habits and SOPs | Rewrite | Habits are the real migration |
Run both platforms on purpose
The safest approach is to keep the old platform for studies already in flight and put only new studies on the new one. A ‘big-bang cutover’ means switching everything on one date; it feels tidy but concentrates all the risk in a single week. A staged approach lets you learn on low-stakes work first.
The checklist
- 1Export your top recurring guides and stimulus sets
- 2Pilot guide import on one high-revenue template
- 3Run a paid client study end-to-end on CoLab
- 4Train moderators on in-board support + theme review
- 5Document the new SOP; retire legacy after two clean pilots
SOP means standard operating procedure, which is simply your team’s written steps for how a study runs. Updating it keeps everyone doing the work the same way.
What to check at each step
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| Step | What success looks like |
|---|---|
| Export guides and stimuli | You have the files and know which templates matter most |
| Pilot guide import | The guide becomes an invite-ready board with little rework |
| Paid client study | Completes, support, and debrief all work on a real deadline |
| Moderator training | Team knows where to see progress, support requests, and themes |
| SOP and retirement | Two clean studies in a row before you drop the old tool |
What changes for moderators and for participants
- Moderators: new places to look for progress, support escalations, and themes. Plan a short walkthrough on a real study rather than a generic training deck.
- Participants: a new link and a new look. Because the board opens in a normal browser, the main change is that returning participants may need a clear note about what to expect.
- Clients: usually only the share link and export format change. Preview these with your main client contacts before their next study.
Common pitfalls
- Starting with the hardest, most unusual study instead of a typical one
- Skipping moderator training and expecting habits to carry over
- Moving everything at once instead of one template at a time
- Forgetting to tell clients what changes for them, if anything
- Not checking contract end dates and data retention terms on the old platform before you export or archive
A scenario
An agency has a standard five-day shopper board it runs every quarter. It picks that template first because it is common and well understood. The team pastes the guide into CoLab, checks the board, and runs the next quarterly study on it for a paying client. Moderators see live progress and themes during fieldwork. After a second clean study, the team retires the old template and writes a one-page procedure.
FAQ