From Migration Plan to Production Deployment
Planning a PQC migration and executing it in production need different skills. This 8-hour course covers the execution phase in depth. You plan migration waves, define entry and exit criteria, and build pilot evidence dossiers. You also learn to conduct rollback and negative testing, deploy to production, and hand over to operations. The course complements the planning courses and is designed for the people who deploy the changes.
Course Outline
Module 1 Wave Planning and Sequencing
Designing migration waves from the prioritized inventory. Grouping systems for coordinated migration. Defining wave scope and boundaries. Sequencing waves to manage risk and dependencies. Building the wave-by-wave execution plan.
Module 2 Entry/Exit Criteria and Pilot Evidence
Defining entry and exit criteria for each wave. Pilot design: proving the approach before full deployment. Building pilot evidence dossiers that justify proceeding. Go/no-go decision frameworks for each wave.
Module 3 Testing: Rollback and Negative Testing
Rollback testing: verifying that every change can be reversed. Negative testing: confirming that legacy algorithms are refused where required. Downgrade testing in the deployment context. Load and performance testing under production-representative conditions.
Module 4 Production Deployment
Deploying cryptographic changes to production. Deployment sequencing and timing. Managing dual-algorithm operation during cutover. Monitoring during deployment. Handling issues that appear only under production load.
Module 5 Verification and Closure
Verifying that a wave is complete and correct. Closure criteria and sign-off. Documenting what was migrated and how. Producing audit evidence for the completed wave.
Module 6 Operational Handover
Handing migrated systems over to operations. Operational runbooks for the new cryptographic configuration. Ongoing monitoring requirements. The transition from migration project to permanent cryptographic operations capability.
Prerequisites
A working understanding of PQC fundamentals is recommended. Consider Post-Quantum Foundation or PQCS certification for background.
Certificate of Completion
Upon completion, you receive a Quantum Academy certificate of completion. It is separate from our professional certifications and states your CPE credits, one for each 60 minutes of teaching. CISSP, CISM and PMP holders can claim them with their certifying body. The credits also count toward renewing a Quantum Academy certification. Our CPE credits page explains how to claim them.
Who this course is for
Migration program leads, technical delivery managers, and the architects and engineers who deliver each wave. Best taken by a team that is past planning and into execution.
If funding is still unsettled, PQC Migration: Building the Business Case comes first.
What you’ll be able to do afterward
- Sequence migration waves from the scored cryptographic register
- Define and enforce wave entry and exit criteria
- Build pilot evidence dossiers that satisfy governance and audit requirements
- Plan and test rollback procedures for migration deployments
- Execute negative testing to verify legacy algorithm refusal
- Complete the closure checklist and hand over to operations
What you leave with
When you finish, we email you the course handbook, a PDF of every slide with notes that explain it in full. We also include a PDF copy of Quantum Ready. The handbook is yours to keep.
Enrollment includes 180 days of access to the online on-demand course. Where that course is not yet published, the 180 days start on the day it is.
Where this course fits
Post-Quantum Foundation or PQCS Specialist Training provides the background for this course. You can take this course without either. Vendor dependencies and PKI cause most of the delays in a migration wave. PQC Vendor Governance and PKI Modernization for Post-Quantum cover both.
Why we teach this
The course is built on the Applied Quantum PQC Migration Framework. Its author, Marin Ivezic, is one of the practitioners who teach here. The framework is published openly under Creative Commons at pqcframework.org. The people who teach this course run migration programs inside organizations today. The course covers the problems they meet in that work.
About this program
Quantum Academy credentials are private professional credentials issued by Quantum Academy, a trade name of Post-Quantum Institute. They are not government-issued licenses, accredited degrees, or academic credit, and earning one does not guarantee employment, promotion, regulatory approval, or any other specific outcome.
Quantum Academy programs are educational and informational only, and are not legal, compliance, or engineering advice.
