From Planning to Execution – Harnessing AWS Migration Hub Journeys to Accelerate Migrations and Modernization

Cloud migrations and modernization are a lengthy, intricate, and continually evolving processes. Despite this, McKinsey studies indicate that customers are increasing cloud budgets and the number of applications that they plan to migrate. One of the primary complexities of migration and modernization projects are that collaboration with stakeholders can be cumbersome, relying on random ad-hoc solutions. Second, customers often lack current guidance for navigating a constantly changing ecosystem. Lastly, customers often shift their focus from one individual task to another, neglecting the management of the complete migration journey task pipeline. The impact of these challenges is evident in data from a McKinsey survey of over 440 C-Suite Executives, as illustrated in Figure 1 below.

In this blog post, we introduce AWS Migration Hub Journeys and how it addresses pain points associated with complex migrations and modernization, such as collaboration, planning and execution.

Figure 1: McKinsey Study Chart

Introducing AWS Migration Hub Journeys

Today, customers invest countless hours in search of current and reliable guidance for executing migration and modernization operations, leading to inefficiencies and uncertainties in migration management.

AWS Migration Hub Journeys make migrations easier to execute and track by providing steps and guidance to successfully migrate to AWS.  Migration Hub Journeys provides a hierarchy for all tasks per migration phase and converts them to subtasks for easy execution. It also furnishes step-by-step run books for each subtask, reducing the time needed for project planning and decreasing dependence on cloud experts. Users have the flexibility to edit or add tasks as required. AWS Migration Hub Journeys facilitates collaboration, particularly around transitioning between automation and manual efforts. Users can store artifacts created as outcomes of each individual task in a central location for later reference. In tracking large migrations, AWS Migration Hub Journeys alerts appropriate AWS experts for assistance when challenges arise through a tracking and alerting system. Utilizing Migration Hub Journeys in AWS Migration Hub contributes to an overall reduction in cost and time for migrating into AWS.

Figure 2 below shows an overview of how AWS Migration Hub Journeys helps you to embark on your migration:

Figure 2: AWS Migration Hub Journeys

Migration Journeys

AWS Migration Hub Journeys introduces the concept of migration journeys. These journeys are the platform upon which experts, processes, and tools can be brought together to streamline the migration experience. It transforms the prospect of a migration into a structured and systematic pipeline of tasks. Figure 3 below shows a quick overview of a Journey within the AWS Migration Hub console that we’ll dive deeper throughout the blog post.

Figure 3:  Migration Journeys – Overview

Migration Hub provides templates that you can use to create your migration journey. These templates represent common migration scenarios and follow best practices. When you can create a journey from a template, you get a journey with predefined phases, modules, tasks, and subtasks.

Migration Templates

A migration template is a structured document that describes a “typical” migration journey type (e.g., a journey to migrate DB2 data, or a journey to migrate Windows OS applications). They contain the complete series of tasks that are required to complete the migration journey. Customers plan their own migration journey by choosing the template that most closely represents their needs, copying the content of the template into a new journey, and then making updates to the journey for their exact requirements. AWS Migration Hub includes a number of templates at launch developed by experts at AWS and our partners. Customers can also create their own custom templates enabling them to establish a migration process that is repeatable to their specific needs. See Figure 4 below for templates that are available today from AWS Migration Hub Journeys.

How To – From the Migration Hub Journey console, select your Migration journey templates from the left menu.

Figure 4:  Migration Journey – Templates

Each template populates phases that align with the AWS Migration Methodology, and within each phase are modules, tasks and subtasks that guide you through the journey as shown in Figure 5.

How To – From the Migration Hub Journey console, select Migration journey templates from the left menu.  Select any template from the list to view the corresponding detailed information for that particular template.

Figure 5:  General Migration Template – Overview

Migration Journey – Phases

Creating a journey from a template, each phase is available, and management of those phases can begin within the journey.  Figure 6 shows the phases that make up the selected journey.

How To – From the Migration Hub Journey console select your Journey.  From within the Journey, select Phases tab.

Figure 6:  Migration Journey – Phases

Migration Journey – Tasks

Tasks, in Figure 7 below, provide steps required with guidance and, in some cases, direction on available tooling that can either help or is required to complete the task.  Tasks can be assigned to specific task owners, given completion time lines, and capturing estimated and actual levels of effort.

How To – From the Migration Hub Journey console, select your Journey.  From within the Journey, select Tasks tab.  Select any task to view details and editable settings within the task.

Figure 7:  Migration Journey – Task Details

Migration Journey – Subtasks

Subtasks, figure 8 below, are populated within a task in order to successfully complete a task which can be assigned to different team members to collaborate on by sharing comments and files within the task itself.  Dependencies are listed within the task along with any blockers that would prevent the completion of the task.

How To – From the Migration Hub Journey console, select your Journey.  From within the Journey, select the  Tasks tab and then select the task to edit.  From within the Task, select Subtasks.

Figure 8:  Migration Journey – Tasks – Subtasks

Team members can attach files (Figure 9) to tasks and subtasks. For example, attach analysis reports that can help in completing the task. Files that contain results from the task can also be attached.

How To – From the Migration Hub Journey console, select your Journey.  From within the Journey, select Tasks tab and then select the task to edit.  From within the Task, select Attached files.

Figure 9:  Migration Journey – Tasks – Attached Files

Migration Journey – Modules

Tasks are organized by being assigned to Modules (Figure 10).  Modules are logical containers within a phase to meet a specific outcome.

How To – From the Migration Hub Journey console, select your Journey.  From within the Journey, select Modules tab.

Figure 10:  Migration Journey – Modules

Migration Journey – Individuals and Teams

Migration journeys also include the ability to define Individuals and Teams (Figure 11) that are contributors or administrators of the journey. When creating a journey, the creator automatically becomes an administrator of that journey.

To add an individual or a team as a contributor or an administrator to either a space or a journey, send them an invitation. To be added, they must accept the invitation. They may also decline the invitation.

How To – From the Migration Hub Journey console,  select your Journey.  From within the Journey, select Individuals and teams tab.

Figure 11:  Migration Journey – Individuals and Teams

Accessing AWS Migration Hub Journeys

If you are new to AWS and are early in the planning stages of your cloud migration journey, there is an option of accessing AWS Migration Hub Journeys directly without needing an AWS account.  The process of accessing AWS Migration Hub Journeys directly is simplified by utilizing an AWS Builder ID.

Cleanup

For the cleanup of any migration journeys, this process deletes the journey from the AWS Migration Hub Journeys console.  As illustrated in Figure 12 below, from the Migration journeys section in AWS Migration Hub Journeys, select the radio button next to your journey then click Actions dropdown at the top right and select Delete journey.  Once you acknowledge and provide additional written consent, the journey is permanently deleted.

Figure 12:  Delete migration journey

Conclusion

In conclusion, AWS Migration Hub Journeys streamlines both migration and modernization processes with real-time guidance and efficient collaboration, transforming complex migrations into manageable tasks within holistic migration journeys. We encourage customers to explore the features and benefits of AWS Migration Hub Journeys and consider implementing it in customer and partner projects. Start harnessing the power of AWS Migration Hub Journeys today to optimize the migration and modernization journey and achieve smoother, more efficient AWS migrations. By adopting AWS Migration Hub Journeys, organizations can confidently navigate the complexities of migration and modernization, ensuring a more efficient and successful experience on AWS.

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