AWS Partner Network (APN) Blog
Unlocking Migration Success with Migration Hub Journeys
By Manoj Kumar Prabhanjan, Head of Migrations – Atos
By Rolawe Bakare, Senior Customer Solution Manager – AWS
By Kalyan Vennelakanty, Sr. Technical Program Manager, AWS Migration Hub Journeys – AWS
By Steven Koufoudakis, Solutions Architect – AWS
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| Atos |
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Migrations can be difficult, and the goal for every technology partner is to minimize complexity for their customers. To this end, we’ll explore how AWS Migration Hub Journeys is being used by our partner, Atos, to simplify the management of cloud migrations, and usher in a new paradigm of efficiency, collaboration and innovation.
The Challenge
Atos is a GSI Consulting partner of AWS and a global leader in digital transformation headquartered in France. They won North America Partner of the year 2023 and EMEA Partner of the year 2022. Their goal is to migrate legacy customers to AWS to reduce operational costs, however a challenge arose that many enterprises face: reducing costs and complexity around project coordination which can be a gargantuan task as migration demands grow. Traditional project management tools like Asana, Microsoft Project, and Excel have fallen short in promoting seamless collaboration between teams. Moreover, the absence of a repeatable mechanism for following best practices in migration phases adds complexity to an already laborious process.
Migration Strategy and Goals
The key to success for Atos is embracing a hyperscaler strategy for growth, primarily by reducing operational cost of IT for their customers. This means that they are reclassifying all the workloads that they currently host around the world by different criteria: complexity, distribution of the application, network security, compliance, and then identifying how many of those are potentially going to move to public cloud in the next few years. As such, there is a need to automate the migration process where possible and consolidate tools for the migration wave planning. AWS Migration Hub Journeys brings a new level of clarity and simplicity to migration projects. Let’s dive into some specifics of how they plan to leverage the platform to ensure success.
Atos’ Migration Hub Journeys Introduction
The AWS team began conducting planning and enablement sessions with Atos towards the end of 2022, with the goal being to bolster their already formidable Cloud Center of Excellence capabilities. As previously mentioned, a couple of downstream challenges of this collaboration were identified that required a robust solution.
First was that existing project management tools used by both Atos and AWS allow only minimal data sharing across both enterprises. The existing tools used were Asana, Microsoft Project, Excel which led to complexity in teaming. There was also a gap identified in ensuring that a repeatable mechanism was in place to address regular tasks featured in our AWS migration best practices phases (assess, mobilize, migrate). Additionally, there was a need to have a tool with out of the box (or at least roadmap integration) with AWS migration services such as Migration Hub Orchestrator.
AWS Migration Hub Journeys was introduced as a purpose-built migration management tool to address the aforementioned challenges, while maintaining the core principles of AWS Migration Acceleration Program (MAP) migration methodology. To begin, the AWS team obtained sponsorship from both of the AWS and Atos teams and a dedicated Project Manager was assigned by the partner.
Over a four-week period, we implemented Migration Hub Journeys focusing on three key scenarios:
- Initial configuration of Migration Hub Journeys and team assignments
- Create mainframe migration journey using existing template
- Create VMware Cloud on AWS (VMC) custom journey with associated tasks. This ran for four weeks. The goal for the timeline was to ensure that the primary goals that we set for running Migration Hub Journeys were met and measured.
Notable Migration Hub Journeys Features Utilized
Multi-Party Log in and Collaboration: Migration Hub Journeys sets the stage for a united front by allowing both AWS employees and project members from non-AWS organizations to collaborate effortlessly. Picture a shared workspace where everyone can contribute, authenticated seamlessly. Specifically, AWS employees authenticate via their corporate system, while partners and customers can use their AWS Builder ID as shown in Figure 1.
Figure 1 – Login options
Journey and task creation: Migration Hub Journeys’ core functionality revolves around journey and task creation. A migration journey in Migration Hub Journeys is an end-to-end process of moving workloads to the cloud. Users can choose pre-populated journey templates or create custom ones. Tasks can be assigned and managed easily, promoting ownership and accountability. We utilized existing templates (e.g., mainframe migration) and created custom journeys (e.g., VMWare VMC) with specific tasks. The tool allows adding tasks to team members’ work within a migration space as seen in Figure 2, resolving data sharing issues between AWS and non-AWS teams. This enabled the PM to assign tasks to all team members directly in the tool, eliminating the need for exports or emails.
Figure 2 – Individuals and Teams
Kanban-Style Progress Management: Migration Hub Journeys’ Kanban-style interface simplifies progress visualization and task management for both pre-existing and custom migration journeys. It transforms Excel-based Gantt charts into an interactive format, allowing easy task manipulation and tracking. We applied this feature to mainframe migration templates and custom VMWare migration journeys, collaborating with Atos to convert Excel Gantt charts into visual Kanban boards seen in Figure 3. This enhanced task management, team assignment, and deadline setting. The real-time dashboard summarizes activities by phase, enabling PMs to monitor progress and risks effectively as seen in Figure 4. This functionality also provides Atos with a clear view of the overall program, helping meet Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and identify potential risks. For instance, it assists in forecasting estimated AWS consumption costs resulting from migrations. Future integration with third-party tools for deeper analytics is planned.
Figure 3 – Kanban style dashboard
Figure 4 – Journey summary
Next Steps and Future Goals
Atos plans to implement Migration Hub Journeys as the primary tool for managing all AWS migrations. The potential for the platform to reform how they approach managing mass migrations is huge, especially as they adopt other ancillary services in the Migration Hub family such as Migration Hub Orchestrator and Landing Zone Accelerator. As the demand pipeline grows, there are some functionalities being built for the system in future releases that we expect to incorporate. For example, integration with tools for advanced analytics, API integration with other project management tools to ensure continuity for non-greenfield projects that are already in progress and more dashboards out-of-the-box to allow management teams full access to program progress at a macro level. Atos is also interested in future integrations with other AWS services that they are currently building into their Cloud Center of Excellence. It provides a single location to run and track your migrations from a technical perspective. It offers templates to create a migration workflow that can be customized to fit specific migration requirements, and the integration to Migration Hub Journeys will enable the Atos PM overseeing individual migrations to be able to report on technical tasks that have been defined on the process side, and receive automatic updates. This exemplifies the Amazon principle of invent and simplify.
Future Possibilities
The story doesn’t end here. AWS Migration Hub Journeys has plans for an even more exciting future. Integrations with other 3rd party tools for advanced analytics, API connections with other project management tools, and additional out-of-the-box dashboards for program progress tracking are all on the horizon. Migration Hub Journeys aims to continue simplifying migration processes and providing an even better user experience.
Conclusion: A Bright Future Ahead
Through this first run, we’ve uncovered the transformative power of AWS Migration Hub Journeys. It’s not just a tool; it’s the key to unlocking cloud migration that are efficient, collaborative, and empowering. As you embark on your cloud migration journey, remember that with AWS Migration Hub Journeys, the possibilities are endless, and the path forward is clear.
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Atos – AWS Partner Spotlight
Atos is an AWS Advanced Tier Consulting Partner and MSP that supports clients’ digital ambitions and believes that bringing together people, business, and technology is the way forward.