Self hosted data centers were operated by multiple partners at the Church Of Sweden. As part of their digital transformation, we planned and carried out a seamless data center migration in a detailed and coordinated four-step process.
In brief
Challenge
Seamlessly migrate self-hosted data centers – operated by multiple outsourcing partners – to a new Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) model, without interrupting operational services or exceeding budget.
Solution
Together with Boston-based Transitional Data Services, we ran a controlled transition and transformation of thousands of IT components, applications, databases and complex integrations, in four migration events.
How we did it
After an inventory of the IT infrastructure and an analysis of the dependencies, we created a detailed transition plan. Teams – on the “old” and “new” sites – followed a coordinated task list during each migration phase to ensure smooth transition.
Benefits
During transition, there was minimal or no interruption to IT services and business processes. Time frames and budget limits were kept. Additionally, IT governance has now been greatly improved due to the mapping of dependencies.
About the client
The Church of Sweden is the country’s largest religious community. It has more than 3000 churches, 1300+ parishes and 13 dioceses. With over 6 million members, The Church of Sweden has an annual budget of around 1.4 USD billion.
With more than six million members, The Church of Sweden is the country’s largest religious denomination. Due to a long history as a former state church and the duties that came with that, such as managing the national resident registry, the organization runs a large IT infrastructure. The Church of Sweden still has obligations mandated by legislators which requires a complex set of IT services.
The complexities of cloud transition
Back in 2017, The Church of Sweden had contracted a new Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) provider to replace its self-hosted data centers. These were hosted in multiple locations and operated by outsourcing partners on behalf of the Church. However, the transition turned out to be far more complex than originally anticipated. This resulted in the original project plan being rejected due to the risk of service interruptions and failures during the transition itself.
Creating a migration roadmap
At this point Ductus was contacted to facilitate the move. Together with our partner, Boston-based Transitional Data Services (TDS), we created a project plan based on TDS best practices and tools. We carried out interviews with subject matter experts and system owners to establish a complete view of the complex IT infrastructure(s) impacted by the move. We then made a complete inventory of IT components and a thorough analysis of their dependencies, before planning the necessary transformation. At this point we identified the need for four separate migration events to minimize the impact of the transition on the organization.
A smooth transition
With work packages prepared for the four separate move events, we put teams at both ends – the “old” and the “new” sites – during the migration, to facilitate a smooth transition. With complete and coordinated task lists for all staff members involved, transition was executed in a few hours without any interruptions, despite all the interdependencies. Furthermore, the entire procedure was achieved within the budget and timeframe.
Improved IT governance
The Church of Sweden also gained additional value from the project in the form of improved control and IT governance. The dependency analysis and the separation of concerns enabled by the transition, allowed them to plan a more efficient and secure operational target environment. All data sources are now securely separated through efficient network segmentation and information owners can rely on the data in their updated CMDB.
How can we help you?
Do you need help with your IT infrastructure transition project? Get in touch today!