EShop preparation must document the relationships behind its Products, Categories, manufacturers, options, attributes, custom fields, attachments, Customer accounts, Orders, taxes, shipping, payment, multilingual content, and Joomla presentation. Product options can carry separate SKU, price, and image data, while attributes and custom fields can describe or filter Products without representing an independent sellable item.
The preparation package should define each action, owner, evidence artifact, and ready condition before execution. It should preserve historical transactions and source relationships while keeping live checkout, payment, shipping, tax, email, template, and module behavior under target-side implementation ownership.
Secure Joomla, EShop, Hosting, and Database Access
Confirm access to Joomla administration, EShop administration, hosting, database, filesystem, Product images and attachments, downloadable files, scheduled processes, payment and shipping plugins, and connected systems. Record Joomla, EShop, PHP, database, template, language, plugin, module, and customization versions.
| Preparation action | Owner | Evidence | Ready condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Confirm administrative access | Joomla/EShop administrator | Working accounts and role summary | Products, options, Customers, Orders, reports, and configuration are inspectable. |
| Create recoverable backups | Infrastructure owner | Database export, filesystem/media/download archive, and restoration owner | The source can be restored without relying on the live Store. |
| Record software and extensions | Technical owner | Joomla, EShop, PHP, database, template, payment, shipping, plugin, module, and addon inventory | Version-dependent records and dependencies are documented. |
| Capture customizations | Development owner | Template overrides, custom modules/plugins, source edits, custom fields, SQL changes, and scripts | Every customization that reads or writes commerce data has an owner. |
| Map connected systems | Integration owners | ERP/PIM/WMS/CRM/accounting/fulfillment/marketplace/feed endpoints and external IDs | Continuing systems and data authorities are known. |
Preserve Product, Category, manufacturer, option, option-value, attribute, custom-field, Customer, Order, Order-line, status, tax, shipping, payment, attachment, language, and external IDs needed to reconstruct relationships.
Prepare Products, Categories, Manufacturers, Media, and Attachments
EShop Products can contain identifiers, descriptions, Categories, manufacturers, prices, stock, dimensions, images, videos, options, attributes, custom fields, attachments, labels, related Products, reviews, metadata, downloadable files, and language associations. Prepare Products by selling behavior and commercial importance.
| Product pattern | Evidence to prepare | Ready condition |
|---|---|---|
| Simple physical Product | Product ID, SKU, price, tax, stock, Category, manufacturer, images, and sample Order | One record clearly identifies the sold item. |
| Option-heavy Product | Option definitions, values, combinations, separate SKU/price/image data, stock relationship, and Order sample | Every buyable choice can be traced to the correct Product and option values. |
| Downloadable Product | File, Product link, access rule, download history where used, and completed Order | File ownership and Order-based access are documented. |
| Multi-Category Product | Product-to-Category links, priority route, and language | Discovery relationships are preserved without duplicate Products. |
| Attachment-rich Product | Documents, manuals, specifications, file paths, labels, and Product assignments | Non-image assets remain connected to the intended Product. |
| Related/compared Product | Relationship type, linked Product IDs, display purpose, and priority | Merchandising relationships are documented separately from taxonomy. |
Record unpublished, featured, call-for-price, out-of-stock, downloadable, multilingual, limited-quantity, and custom-label cases. These states need intentional destination treatment.
Separate Options, Attributes, Custom Fields, and Product Attachments
EShop supports several structures that may all look like Product attributes in a source export. Options can represent buyer-selectable choices and may have separate SKU, price, or image values. Attributes describe Product characteristics. Custom fields can hold additional structured values. Attachments represent files connected to Products.
| Structure | Evidence | Ready condition |
|---|---|---|
| Product option | Option name, type, values, ordering, required/default state, Product assignments, and Order-line sample | Buyer-selectable values remain connected to purchases. |
| Option value with commercial data | Product, option/value, separate SKU, price adjustment, image, stock behavior, and external key | Sellable choice data is not flattened into descriptive attributes. |
| Product attribute | Attribute group/value, Product assignments, filter/compare use, and language | Descriptive characteristics remain separate from variants. |
| Custom field | Field definition, data type, business purpose, Product assignments, and consuming module/plugin | Custom values have a named owner and editing surface. |
| Attachment | File path, type, label, language, Product link, and access expectations | Product files remain recoverable and correctly related. |
| Extra Product tab or label | Title, content, language, Product assignment, and presentation owner | Editorial content is not confused with Product identity or option data. |
Create a field dictionary that records purpose, owner, value type, Product scope, and migration treatment. Similar names should not be merged when their commercial behavior differs.
Prepare Prices, Stock, Taxes, Discounts, Currencies, and Quantity Rules
EShop pricing can involve regular and special prices, option adjustments, taxes, coupons, discounts, multiple currencies, quantity rules, and Customer or business-specific behavior. Inventory can belong to a Product, option combination, external system, or downloadable/non-stock state.
| Commercial area | Evidence to prepare | Ready condition |
|---|---|---|
| Product and option prices | Product/option IDs, currency, regular/special values, dates, and price adjustments | Prices are attached to the correct sellable context. |
| Stock | Product/option quantity, stock status, availability rule, external owner, and synchronization key | The authoritative quantity and sellable-unit identity are known. |
| Taxes | Tax class/rate, geo zone, Product assignment, Customer context, and historical Order samples | Tax configuration is separated from historical tax amounts. |
| Coupons and discounts | Code/rule, value, dates, usage limits, Product/Category scope, and historical Orders | Active promotion rules and historical evidence are distinguishable. |
| Currency | Currency code, rate owner, decimal/rounding expectations, Product prices, and Order currency | Historical and current currency meanings are documented. |
| Quantity rules | Minimum/maximum quantity, packaging, step, bulk price, or custom logic | Quantity behavior is not hidden in notes or template code. |
If an ERP, supplier feed, marketplace, or accounting system owns price or stock, identify whether the EShop value is authoritative, synchronized, or only an opening snapshot.
Prepare Customers, Joomla Users, Addresses, Groups, and Reviews
EShop Customer preparation should connect Joomla users, EShop Customer records, guest buyers, billing and shipping addresses, custom checkout fields, company or tax identifiers, groups, reviews, wish lists, external IDs, and consent relationships where used.
| Account area | Evidence | Owner | Ready condition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Registered Customer | Joomla user ID, EShop Customer ID, email, status, addresses, group, and external IDs | Customer-data owner | Duplicate and cross-system identities have an intended treatment. |
| Guest buyer | Order-level identity, email, addresses, and Order references | Order-data owner | Guest history remains useful without creating an account. |
| Billing/shipping custom field | Field definition, required/display rules, stored values, and Order/Customer ownership | Customer-service owner | Custom Customer data is not lost or assigned to the wrong object. |
| Company/tax identity | Company, tax number, validation state, group, and external account key | Finance/B2B owner | Business identity has a named destination or retained owner. |
| Review or wish list | Product, Customer/guest identity, rating/text/status or wish-list relationship | Catalog/content owner | Customer-generated records remain connected to the correct Product and identity. |
| Authentication | Local password, SSO/social login, reset flow, and communication owner | Security owner | Account access is planned without assuming password portability. |
Include Customers with several addresses, guest Orders, group-based behavior, custom fields, reviews, wish lists, duplicate emails, and important external IDs.
Prepare Orders, Statuses, Payment, Shipping, Invoices, and Downloads
Historical EShop Orders should explain the transaction independently of current Store configuration. Prepare Order headers, Customer or guest identity, addresses, Product and option lines, attachments or downloadable items, quantities, prices, discounts, taxes, coupons, currency, payment, shipping, statuses, comments, invoices, refunds or adjustments, and external references.
| Order evidence | Owner | Ready condition |
|---|---|---|
| Order header and status history | Commerce operations | Customer/guest, dates, currency, status sequence, and source channel are documented. |
| Product and option lines | Catalog/order owners | Product IDs, option values, SKU, quantity, price, tax, and snapshot text are complete. |
| Totals and adjustments | Finance owner | Subtotal, discount, coupon, tax, shipping, payment fee, currency, and final total reconcile. |
| Payment and shipping | Finance/fulfillment owners | Historical method labels, transaction/tracking IDs, carrier, and provider ownership are known. |
| Invoice and downloadable access | Finance/digital-fulfillment owners | Invoice numbers/files, Product downloads, limits, and Order relationships are recoverable. |
| Refund/return context | Finance/customer-service owners | Amounts, affected lines, dates, reasons, statuses, and external references are documented. |
| External Order IDs | Integration owner | ERP, accounting, marketplace, or fulfillment keys remain traceable. |
Choose ordinary, guest, option-heavy, discounted, multi-tax, multilingual, downloadable, refunded, and tracked Orders where those patterns exist.
Prepare Joomla Menus, Multilingual Content, URLs, Media, and Presentation
EShop commerce records can be exposed through Joomla menus, modules, templates, product/category/manufacturer routes, search modules, language associations, media, and metadata. These relationships should be inventoried separately from Product data.
| Storefront area | Evidence | Ready condition |
|---|---|---|
| Product, Category, and manufacturer URLs | Source route, alias, record ID, menu context, language, metadata, and destination intent | Priority routes have one keep, change, merge, retire, or redirect decision. |
| Joomla menus and modules | Menu item type, parent, alias, language, access, module position, filters, and selected data types | Store entry points and discovery dependencies are documented. |
| Multilingual records | Product/Category/manufacturer associations, translated options/attributes, menus, metadata, and fallback | Translations are not treated as unrelated duplicates. |
| Templates and overrides | Template, EShop layouts, module chrome, custom tabs, and affected routes | Presentation dependencies are separated from commerce records. |
| Product media and attachments | Images, thumbnails, videos, attachments, downloads, remote storage, and file permissions | Priority assets remain available and linked correctly. |
| SEO and redirects | Metadata owner, SEF/routing extension, sitemap source, redirect rules, and high-value URLs | URL continuity has an explicit owner. |
The broader Joomla scope owns general CMS Articles and Pages. EShop preparation captures only the Joomla structures that materially affect commerce records and routes.
Inventory Addons, Payment and Shipping Plugins, Custom Data, and External Systems
Build a dependency ledger for EShop addons, payment plugins, shipping plugins, search/filter modules, import/export tools, templates, custom fields, CRM, ERP, accounting, fulfillment, marketplaces, analytics, and bespoke code.
| Dependency | Evidence to prepare | Ready condition |
|---|---|---|
| EShop addon/plugin | Name, version, purpose, configuration, owned records, and related Product/Customer/Order IDs | Extension-owned records have a destination or retained owner. |
| Payment/shipping plugin | Provider, stored transaction/tracking data, statuses, and historical Order dependencies | Historical references are separated from live plugin configuration. |
| Import/export workflow | File format, columns, identifiers, option/attribute relationships, and last successful run | Extracted records can be reconciled with database evidence. |
| Custom field/table | Schema, keys, business purpose, and consuming code | Custom records can be interpreted rather than copied blindly. |
| External system | Endpoint, authoritative data types, synchronization direction, IDs, and cutover owner | Cross-system identity and authority are documented. |
| Generated data | Caches, logs, sessions, temporary exports, indexes, and abandoned records | Non-authoritative technical data is excluded deliberately. |
Inactive extensions should remain in the ledger when they created records still required for Orders, Customers, Products, downloads, or reporting.
Select Representative Migration Test Samples
Record source IDs, SKUs, URLs, language, related records, external keys, and the reason for each sample.
| Sample | Evidence to prepare | Preparation purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Product | Price, stock, tax, Category, manufacturer, media, and Order | Establishes the baseline for an ordinary EShop Product and its commercial context. |
| Option-heavy Product | Options/values, separate SKUs/prices/images, stock behavior, attributes, and Order line | Represents buyer-choice and sellable-option relationships. |
| Attribute/custom-field Product | Attribute groups, custom fields, attachments, tabs, filters, and Product route | Represents descriptive and extended Product data. |
| Registered Customer and guest Order | Joomla/Customer IDs, addresses, groups, custom fields, and external IDs | Represents both Customer identity models. |
| Complex Order | Option lines, coupon, tax, currency, payment, shipping, invoice, refund, download, and external reference | Represents historical commercial context. |
| Multilingual route | Associated Products/Categories, translated options, aliases, menus, metadata, and redirect intent | Represents Joomla language and routing dependencies. |
| Extension-owned record | Core record or data type, add-on/plugin owner, custom table/field, and external key | Exposes non-core scope before execution. |
Representative migration test preparation defines the samples and source evidence. Later target proof and launch interpretation belong to validation.
Complete the Final EShop Readiness Gate
| Readiness area | Ready condition |
|---|---|
| Access and recovery | Joomla, EShop, hosting, database, files, backups, and restoration ownership are confirmed. |
| Catalog | Products, Categories, manufacturers, options, attributes, custom fields, attachments, media, stock, prices, and identifiers are documented. |
| Customers | Joomla users, Customers, guests, addresses, groups, custom fields, reviews, wish lists, and authentication dependencies are classified. |
| Orders | Lines, options, totals, statuses, payment, shipping, invoices, downloads, refunds, and external IDs have evidence. |
| Storefront | Menus, modules, languages, templates, routes, media, SEO, and redirects are documented. |
| Dependencies | Addons, plugins, imports, custom code, external systems, and authoritative owners are recorded. |
| Samples | Representative records cover every material Product, Customer, Order, route, download, and extension pattern. |
The EShop scope is ready when each material record has a source owner, relationship map, evidence artifact, and intended destination or retained-system decision.
Conclusion
EShop preparation requires coordinated evidence across Joomla, Products, options, attributes, custom fields, attachments, Customers, Orders, taxes, shipping, payment, currencies, multilingual routes, plugins, and external systems. These relationships cannot be represented reliably through a flat Product or Order export alone.
A complete EShop readiness package preserves recoverable evidence, identifies authoritative records, separates historical transactions from current configuration, and resolves the ownership of every material dependency.
Common Questions
What should be prepared first for an EShop migration?
Confirm Joomla, EShop, hosting, database, filesystem, media, downloads, payment/shipping plugins, and integration access. Create recoverable backups and record software versions before detailed catalog work begins.
What is the difference between EShop options and attributes during preparation?
Options can represent buyer-selectable values and may carry separate SKU, price, or image data. Attributes describe Product characteristics and often support filtering or comparison. Their definitions and Product assignments should remain separate.
Why should Product attachments and extra tabs be inventoried?
Attachments can contain manuals, specifications, downloads, or supporting files, while extra tabs can contain Product-specific content. Copying only the main description can omit commercially important Product information.
How should Customer and guest identities be prepared?
Record Joomla user and EShop Customer links, emails, addresses, groups, custom checkout fields, external IDs, and Order relationships. Guest history should remain Order-level evidence rather than being forced into new accounts.
Which EShop Orders should be selected as representative samples?
Include ordinary and guest Orders, Products with options, discounts, coupons, multiple taxes or currencies, downloads, invoices, refunds or adjustments, tracking, and external references used by operations or finance.
How should Joomla and EShop preparation be divided?
Joomla preparation owns general CMS content, users, menus, modules, templates, and access architecture. EShop preparation owns commerce Products, options, Customers, Orders, pricing, stock, and extensions while documenting only the Joomla dependencies required by those records.