The migration of data or systems is essential with almost all activities in existing IT environments in productive use. Daily business should be restricted as minimally as possible. A bank sees the migration process as being not dissimilar to open heart surgery. During the development and testing phase it is generally accepted that there are many standardised methods and tools to enhance the procedure, while for the migration phase a structured and professional approach is seldom put into use.

Successful migrations are complex procedures and require meticulous planning. Tried and tested procedures ensure that everyone knows what needs to be done every step of the way and exactly how it needs to be done. Many steps need to be taken from constructing complete parallel environments for testing right through to the organisational preparation of migration weekends (working permission, catering, access, communication plans etc.). Production mode needs to be well thought out for the period right after migration: have all users been well informed, do we have FAQs available, is support or a help desk in place to help users?

Firstwaters offers professional migration management on all scales. We know what is required and the planning necessary for migration. We help our customers to define the fundamental frameworks which decide on whether the migration should run parallel to productive use or whether it should be carried out during periods of rest and whether the migration should be carried out in sections or all at once tec.. The migration experts at Firstwaters are accomplished in the coordination between specialist departments, IT and the project teams and have a vast amount of experience in compiling run books for migration and executing dress rehearsals.

Our range of services in Migration Management (by no means a definitive list):

• Compilation of run books for migration and dress rehearsals
• Construction of entire parallel environments for testing phase
• Organisational preparation and coordination of migrations (communication plans, fall-back scenario approach etc.)
• Coordination of migration execution (run book management)
• Coordination between specialist department, IT and project team