Migrate SQL 2016 to SQL 2022 - Detail Work Breadown Structre (WBS)

A WBS should be workload-specific. Structure it into six gates: discovery, target design, remediation, rehearsal, production cutover, and stabilization. Discovery covers instances, databases, compatibility levels, linked servers, jobs, credentials, certificates, SSIS or SSRS, dependencies, workload, RPO, and RTO. Target design covers edition, licensing, HA/DR, storage, service accounts, security, backups, and monitoring.

Remediation includes assessment findings, deprecated features, driver compatibility, application tests, and rollback. Build the target, restore representative backups, and validate DBCC results, permissions, jobs, integrations, and performance. Initially retain the existing database compatibility level; test the newer level separately with Query Store and Query Tuning Assistant.

Run a rehearsal with production-sized data. Assign owners and checkpoints for freeze, final backup or synchronization, restore or failover, connection changes, smoke tests, approval, and rollback. During stabilization, track errors, latency, blocking, backups, HA health, and user validation before decommissioning 2016. Give every task a duration, dependency, owner, evidence requirement, and exit criterion.