A system for provisioning industrial project conversion services , comprising: a memory that stores executable components; and a processor , operatively coupled to the memory , that executes the executable components, the executable components comprising: an image registry configured to store, on a cloud platform , virtual machine images that are configured with respective project conversion services ; and a provisioning component configured to instantiate a virtual machine image , selected from the multiple virtual machine images , on which a project conversion service is installed to yield a virtual machine that executes the project conversion service on the cloud platform , wherein the project conversion service is configured to perform a conversion of an industrial control project from a first version to a second version; wherein the industrial control project is an industrial control code file, wherein the converting comprises at least replacing a portion of industrial control code defined in the industrial control code file with an automation object , and wherein the automation object represents an industrial asset and has associated therewith at least one of an input, an output, an analytic routine, an alarm, a security feature, or a graphical representation of the industrial asset . a memory that stores executable components; and a processor , operatively coupled to the memory , that executes the executable components, the executable components comprising: an image registry configured to store, on a cloud platform , virtual machine images that are configured with respective project conversion services ; and a provisioning component configured to instantiate a virtual machine image , selected from the multiple virtual machine images , on which a project conversion service is installed to yield a virtual machine that executes the project conversion service on the cloud platform , wherein the project conversion service is configured to perform a conversion of an industrial control project from a first version to a second version; wherein the industrial control project is an industrial control code file, wherein the converting comprises at least replacing a portion of industrial control code defined in the industrial control code file with an automation object , and wherein the automation object represents an industrial asset and has associated therewith at least one of an input, an output, an analytic routine, an alarm, a security feature, or a graphical representation of the industrial asset . an image registry configured to store, on a cloud platform , virtual machine images that are configured with respective project conversion services ; and a provisioning component configured to instantiate a virtual machine image , selected from the multiple virtual machine images , on which a project conversion service is installed to yield a virtual machine that executes the project conversion service on the cloud platform , wherein the project conversion service is configured to perform a conversion of an industrial control project from a first version to a second version; wherein the industrial control project is an industrial control code file, wherein the converting comprises at least replacing a portion of industrial control code defined in the industrial control code file with an automation object , and wherein the automation object represents an industrial asset and has associated therewith at least one of an input, an output, an analytic routine, an alarm, a security feature, or a graphical representation of the industrial asset . <EOS>