Overall scope of hosts
remediated
Upgraded to latest version or decommissioned
Client Problem
With Microsoft ending support for an older version of Windows Server, all affected systems had to be upgraded to the latest version of Windows Server or decommissioned by a fixed date. At that time, the Tier 1 Banking client had 9,500 servers running the older operating system version hosts supporting 4,000 applications globally.
MHC Approach
Our approach was to develop an end-to-end process that included key reporting and governance milestones, which would enable the Windows Server Remediation programme to report effectively on a dedicated Windows Server Remediation programme website.
The end-to-end process also allowed us to calculate and fully define the roles and responsibilities required to deliver the entire programme. As a result, all that was required of the Application Owners was their commitment, attendance at planning sessions, releasing and remediation of their application to the new version of Windows Server and applicable testing at their discretion for migrations and upgrades. The Windows Server Remediation team were fully responsible for assisting in the Application Owners migration, upgrade and decommissioning activities, this enabled the team to effectively drive the programme.
FROM A TRANSFORMATION PERSPECTIVE, THE WINDOWS SERVER REMEDIATION PROGRAMME’S APPROACH WAS TO:
1. Virtualise and migrate to a hub location wherever possible
2. Virtualise and migrate locally
3. Migrate to another physical server
THE WINDOWS SERVER REMEDIATION TEAM INCLUDED TECHNICAL SPECIALISTS TO WORK CLOSELY WITH THE APPLICATION OWNERS AND PROVIDED:
Result
Of the 9,500 affected servers in the bank at the start of the programme, 88% were remediated via an upgrade or decommissioning. When considering the scope that the Windows Server Remidiation team were fully responsible for (excluding vendor owned infrastructure), this success rate increases to 94% of the hosts being remediated.
