Smart Pension's successful migration to AWS Platform following LiveWyer due diligence, including Pod Consult, Pod Validate & Pod Delivery services

Challenges

The customer faced challenges in advancing their Target Platform toward Migration Readiness, hindered by a lack of architectural clarity, due to a team composed of mid-level engineers. Recognising the need for specialised expertise after missing several migration deadlines, they enlisted LiveWyer for a comprehensive Platform Review and Consultancy Services. This strategic partnership aimed to identify critical focus areas for their engineering team, leveraging LiveWyer’s expert insights to overcome obstacles and set an immovable Migration Deadline.

Solutions

The initial engagement required a full and detailed review of the Target Platform and accompanying operational documentation. In just two sprints, a full recommendation report was delivered for the team to turn into tickets to prioritise.

Following the successful Target Platform review, an initial compact LiveWyer Engineering Pod was plugged into the existing customer DevOps team to increase the throughput of tickets. The pod was expanded to include additional responsibilities such as overseeing the Operational Validation Testing, which was being codeveloped by the Customer and LiveWyer engineers. The Operational Validation Testing and Output acted as a key deliverable for the customer to declare they were Migration Ready.

Full Report

Introduction

LiveWyer provided a proficient and organised “Engineering Pod” consisting of five skilled engineers for an external examination of the Target Platform and its technical and operational documentation. Facing a fragmented client team and working environment, LiveWyer introduced technical superiority and led by example, offering explicit guidance on generating value by finalising deliverables to the highest standard.

Target Platform Review

The preliminary assessment of the Platform served as a crucial immediate output that the customer urgently required to comprehend the scope of remaining tasks and grasp the technical preparedness ahead of their looming Migration Deadline—a target previously missed and rescheduled multiple times.

LiveWyer’s exceptional contribution was gratefully received, providing the client with direction, concentration, and confidence that the current Migration timeline was attainable. The report enabled the Project Manager to allocate engineers to tackle the “Must Do” Platform Risks identified, ensuring focused efforts towards addressing these critical areas.

Delivery Partner

After finalising the Target Platform review, the customer faced the demanding and critical task of Operational Validation, which is essential for ensuring Migration Readiness. The client enlisted a specialised engineering pod from LiveWyer, comprising five top-tier engineers, to enhance their Engineering Team’s capacity for handling tasks more efficiently per sprint. This pod’s advantage lay in its proven track record of successful collaboration on challenging projects, which fostered a highly collaborative work culture. Their established teamwork dynamics meant they could seamlessly integrate with the customers team, providing immediate value and accelerating project momentum.

Operational Validation

The Target Platform Review highlighted the necessity for the customer to implement a Blue-Green deployment process. This requirement was critical not only for Operational Validation but also enable the ability simulate infrastructure failures and test changes in a secure, isolated manner, ensuring no disruption to ongoing operations. The approach included thorough end-to-end testing and risk assessment, replicating user interactions to confirm the effectiveness of updates and modifications before they were deployed to the Production Platform.

Operational Validation was a crucial delivery milestone, essential for achieving Migration Readiness. It served to validate the maturity of the environment and the readiness of operational processes and personnel in supporting the platform post-migration.

LiveWyer’s successful Operational Validation Testing identified additional high-priority environmental issues that needed resolution before migration. Once the acceptance criteria were satisfied, it provided the customers Senior Stakeholders with the confidence to communicate a definitive migration date to their end-users, marking the first time such assurance was possible since the project began.

Presentation for C-Suite

Following a period of careful progress on their AWS Migration project, senior stakeholders were at a juncture, seeking assurance to finalise a solid migration date. LiveWyer stepped in to deliver a comprehensive presentation to key decision-makers, including the Chief Technology Officer, Project Sponsor and the Head of Engineering. This briefing was designed to detail the goals and extent of Operational Validation, describe the steps involved, and underscore the advantages for the customer. It emphasised the validation results as a dependable indicator that the Platform was ready for Migration, signifying a pivotal achievement in the project.

The enthusiastic reception from the stakeholders was instrumental in propelling the project forward, ensuring the attainment of this critical milestone.

Conclusion

LiveWyer stepped into the AWS Migration Project amidst considerable challenges, including missed deadlines and inefficiencies within the existing engineering team. Their introduction of the Target Platform review was a game-changer, providing the organisation with clear guidance to address critical technical issues that were imperative to resolve.

The subsequent Operational Validation phase, led by LiveWyer, was a revelation. This phase, previously unfamiliar to the team, proved to be of immense value, equipping the stakeholders with the confidence to move forward with the AWS Migration as planned.

The project was fraught with obstacles, from technical architecture complexities to process and personnel issues. However, with LiveWyer’s contribution, the project was left in a robust state, with a realistic migration roadmap ahead. LiveWyer not only helped navigate the project through its immediate hurdles but also laid down the processes for Operational Validation that would ensure the platform’s smooth operation in production, setting the stage for future success.