Solving a large-scale and complex enterprise issue
Our client, a national utility company, had a request: to move away from their aging HR Management system (HRMS) to a more modern, cloud-based solution. There was one major issue. They had 70+ custom applications within their enterprise that were all dependent on the existing HRMS. Because of this tightly-coupled architecture, replacing the HRMS would require code changes to all dependent apps and would necessitate a complex, coordinated deployment effort to take all 70+ apps and the HRMS live simultaneously. Knowing that taking all of the apps live at once risked catastrophic failure, our client knew they needed a cloud-based solution to decouple the apps and minimize the risk of migration. To do this with the finesse that the project required, our client needed a team that understood their technical needs and logistics and were able to present a deliverable before a hard deadline that was out of the client’s control.
The challenge
Technology Partners (TPI) has experience in solving large-scale and complex enterprise issues and was quick to meet with each of the 70+ teams to devise a solution. In order to migrate to a new HR platform, TPI first built a set of REST-based Micro Services to allow the 70+ systems to access the information needed without a direct connection to the legacy HRMS. Each app team could update their applications to utilize these services while the legacy HRMS was still in place, resulting in a more manageable production release timeline. Meanwhile, an alternate implementation of the REST-based Micro Services could be developed to pull information from the new HRMS system. Also, once the system is in place, The client could swap out the services that connected to the old HRMS with the services that connect to the new HRMS, and the downstream applications would be able to continue running uninterrupted.
The plan
In addition to designing and implementing this solution, TPI also provided co-location workspaces for some of the the client's development team so they could work side-by-side, collaborate, and learn some of the more modern technologies from the TPI team. This has become our preferred approach mainly because it helps to elevate our customer’s teams as well as to prepare them to manage the system without having to rely on TPI for ongoing development. TPI also adapted its Agile processes to theirs while utilizing their online project management tools making it easier to operate as an integrated team.
The results
Not only did TPI’s approach to this problem allow the apps to migrate over time rather than all at once, but TPI was also able to bring their teams up to speed on cloud-based microservice architecture tech – all while performing under budget and beating the looming deadline. Upon project completion, TPI received humbling recognition from the project leadership calling out the contributions of each member of the TPI team for their dedication and excellence.
