Smarter Grid Solutions made the decision to engage our professional services team in order to assist with a cloud migration-oriented solution.
About Smarter Grid Solutions
Part of the Mitsubishi Electric Company, Smarter Grid Solutions is an enterprise energy software company, providing Distributed Energy Resources Management Software (DERMS) and grid control products across bases in the UK and the US. They strive to provide enabling software for decentralised energy management in order to deliver net zero energy systems.
Looking towards a personalised solution
With their Confluence and Jira licence renewal dates quickly approaching, Smarter Grid Solutions decided that migrating their data from their self-hosted Atlassian Server to the Atlassian Cloud would be in their best interest. In an effort to gain a better understanding of the scope of the migration, we first entered an audit and discovery phase with Smarter Grid Solutions. Through this phase, we were able to capture and formalise requirements in an actionable format. As part of our initial investigation, we discussed the client’s goals for migration and concluded that discovery needed to be performed on Jira Software, Jira Service Management, in addition to Confluence and a few in-scope apps. Through our audit, we ensured that the software infrastructure was appropriate for migration, in order to anticipate any potential roadblocks that may arise when we begin staging migration. We discovered that certain configurations, such as their SSO/AD integration which dictates product access, would not be supported in Atlassian Cloud. Upon communicating this with the client, we agreed to take on a supportive role as they independently worked to reintegrate these tools and ensured that it was configured correctly.
Throughout out the audit and discovery stage, both teams were able to gain a deeper understanding of the scope of the migration and how making this change will facilitate Smarter Grid Solutions in their operations. We also discussed which apps would be included within the migration, which were as follows; Lucidchart plugin, Slack connector for Confluence, Scriptrunner, JSU automation suite for Jira Workflows, Agile Poker Enterprise and Issue Template.
Moving forward with migration
Following further discussions with the client, we went forward with a staging migration for their Jira server. This acts as a trial, allowing the client to test how the migration would be implemented and what to expect with regards to a final product. During this time Smarter Grid Solutions communicated disparities between their back-end and front-end user interface, resulting in our team allocating time to providing support and enablement.
Once the staging process for both Jira and Confluence, alongside the in-scope apps, was complete, we moved forward with the production migration. In order to provide adequate notice regarding data protection, we mutually agreed a change window with the team at Smarter Grid Solutions, in which users would not edit data while our team made the relevant changes to their infrastructure. The migration was scheduled to take place over the weekend to minimise any disruption the users would face. Starting on Friday evening, our expert team carried out a full migration of 383 Jira projects, 280 Confluence spaces, alongside the six predetermined apps. This included the necessary checks and a clean-up of any irrelevant or duplicate issues, finishing on Saturday evening. We originally planned for migration to be complete by Sunday evening, however, our early completion allowed us to pass the project over to Smarter Grid Solution a day early. We scheduled a follow-up meeting on the Monday and discussed the clients feelings about the migration, with the final product going live for end-users in the afternoon.
Throughout the whole process of discovery and delivery, no major roadblocks were faced by either team. Although certain configurations were not compatible with the Cloud, Smarter Grid Solutions was incredibly receptive to making these adjustments with our support.
A flexible solution fuelled by communication
With both teams being able to create a receptive and communicative environment, the solution was a resounding success. Smarter Grid Solutions now enjoys a fully-fledged Cloud service that benefits both them and their end-users. As part of our managed support package, we provide Smarter Grid Solutions with remote support that aligns with their specific needs.
If your team would be interested in finding out more about a potential solution, get in touch. Our expert Solutions team can offer advice and services catered to your needs.
Technologies: Jira Software, Jira Service Management, Confluence