A system and method for controlling a migration of data items in a data directory from a source system to a destination system by setting one or more target properties for implementing the migration are disclosed. A migration controller can be employed to obtain statistical information regarding the migration. The statistical information can then be used to compute the one or more target properties. For example, a target number of network connections for achieving an optimal total throughput and concurrency can be computed based on an average throughput per network connection. The target number of network connections may be determined by a migration monitor, which may set the determined target number of network connections as a policy to be enforced by the migration controller.