Move on Up: The Ultimate Template for Cloud Migrations

Released on the 1970 debut album “Curtis,” “Move on Up” is an anthemic soul song encouraging a strive toward progress and betterment in life. It is important to work toward this improvement even though one might face challenges. Just as the song encapsulates the journey toward personal betterment in migrating continuous testing to the cloud, the same spirit of determination is necessary.

Continuous testing has emerged as an essential practice, giving organizations the power to deliver flawless applications at scale. The migration process often involves navigating challenges like data security concerns, network issues, and adapting methodologies to the new environment. As Curtis Mayfield says in his song:

“Just move on up / Toward your destination / Though you may find, from time to time / Complication”

Migrating is no longer an option, either. It is an important move for any organization that wants to remain agile. The flexibility, scalability, and cost efficiency of migrating help organizations streamline their testing processes and further accelerate their releases. It empowers them to stay ahead of their competition while delivering digital experiences that will delight their customers. Embracing the migration to the cloud is necessary for organizations trying to position themselves for success in the ever-changing digital landscape.

That is why we have put together this guide – to help you envision what migrating to the cloud would look like for your organization while eliminating guesswork. Remember that your customers “Take nothing less / Than the supreme best,” which means that you owe it to them and your organization at large to make the move, and we are here to help it take place seamlessly and without disruptions.

The Framework Migration Template

When moving to a cloud testing environment, you must first ensure that you have the right people in place who can guarantee that they can meet any challenges or hiccups along the way with skill and know-how.

The perfect cloud migration team consists of the following:

DevOps Engineers: Have the ability to streamline the process, reduce manual efforts, and accelerate timelines, thanks to their mastery of automation. They also have CI/CD experience, helping them build, test, and deploy software quickly and reliably. Since they also understand cloud infrastructure, they can help implement cloud solutions that are scalable and cost-effective. This ensures that their applications are optimized for the cloud environment.

Architects: Have the technical vision and expertise to guide the migration strategy. They will assess the current infrastructure, web and mobile apps, and business needs to create a plan that aligns outcomes with organizational goals. Since they are responsible for the design and implementation of cloud migration, they can draft technical specifications and be sure that all requirements and cloud architecture principles are in sync.

Project Managers: Help ensure that the project is executed on time. They manage resources, track progress, and mitigate risk along the way. With their change management expertise, they help navigate organizational change and facilitate the adoption of new processes and tools. Perhaps their greatest skill is not even technical; as known managers of stakeholders, they ensure everyone is informed, engaged, and aligned throughout the cloud migration process. They will ensure effective communication between stakeholders and implementation teams by managing expectations and resolving conflicts.

The process breaks down into three separate phases:

Phase 1

The initial architecture analysis will begin as the organization’s continuous testing tool is prepared for migration (We assume, for this article, that the team already has an automated testing process in place. Otherwise, there is not much to migrate). At this stage, the migration team we outlined above and relevant stakeholders will review and assess the existing setup and environment. This includes all internal processes like development, dependencies, and storage usage. The team will then prepare the platform prerequisites needed for the cloud migration, including versions, sizing, the number of users, and authentication.

The team should prepare a complete findings report as part of this preparation phase.

The phase 1 checklist includes:

• Infrastructure
  • Real devices or simulators
  • Cloud devices
  • Browsers
  • IoT devices
  • Other devices
• Test automation setup
  • Used technologies
    • Testing framework
    • Language used
    • Testing backend
  • Test automation cycle
    • How tests are created
    • How tests are triggered
    • How test results are collected
    • Is testing shifted left or right
  • Test automation vs. manual
    • What is the current ratio of A to M
    • What is the target of A to M
    • Discussion of converting manual tests to automation tests
  • Test design
    • Test velocity 
    • Test layers
    • Test design patterns
    • Test capabilities
    • Custom testing setups
  • Test levels:
    • Functional testing
      • Unit testing
      • Integration testing
      • Sanity testing
      • Smoke testing
      • Regression
      • Usability
    • Non-functional testing
      • Accessibility testing
      • Performance testing
• Security testing
• Integrations
  • Continuous Integration tool
  • Test management tool
  • Planning tool
  • Test reporter tool
  • Test analysis tool

Phase 2

Once the initial phase is complete, the team will perform the migration, which is informed by the previous assessment. The team will transfer and set up the associated assets, including migrating and validating data, performing performance tests, configuring authentication, aligning URLs, and generating security keys.

As part of this phase, the team will have prepared the cloud environments for production.

The design and best practices for this phase include:

• Dedicated migration plan
  • Outlining the main goal and added value of the migration
  • Estimating the time of the migration
    • Including the team effort
  • Migration milestones with an outline of the shortest and most efficient path to cloud readiness
  • Acceptance criteria which include expected limitations when migrating from a legacy framework
  • Migration tracking
• Migration values and priorities
  • Prioritization of new tests or migrated tests
  • Prioritization of the migration of existing tests
  • Reviewing tests for validity and alignment with business goals
• Migration troubleshooting and guidance
  • Recognition of migration challenges
  • Estimation updates
  • Feature Request recognition based on Phase 1
• Custom testing needs
  • End-to-end design
  • TDD design and dev cycle impact (shift testing left)
  • Dedicated analytic lenses
  • Enablement for teams

Phase 3

Going live occurs when the team switches to the new environment. The cloud migration strategy has been defined according to organizational needs, focusing on business success and continuity.

The deliverable at this stage is the final cloud environment in production.

Implementation and evaluation as a process goes something like this:

• Proof of Concept
• Organizational feedback
  • Goals
  • Problems and issues
  • Knowledge shortage
• Migration decision (go or not to go)
  • Migration goal evaluation
  • Formal requirements review
  • Issues identification
  • Enablement identification
  • Feature requests, enhancements, and troubleshooting
• Improvements identification
  • Missing functionalities identification
  • Troubleshooting
• Best practice and training:
  • Documentation
  • Enablement/training plan

“With just a little faith, if you put your mind to it / You can surely do it”

Curtis Mayfield says it better than I ever could. Migrating testing to the cloud is a process fraught with challenges and potential setbacks, all while continuing to pursue the development and delivery of flawlessly performing web and mobile applications. The truth is that with determination and focus, migration is not only possible but necessary and will have positive outcomes that ripple through your organization.

The cloud has swiftly become an indispensable part of the continuous testing process for organizations that want to stay competitive in their industries. The framework presented here is a guide that can help you break the process down into more easily identifiable steps.

Using this framework as your basis will help ensure that your cloud migration is smooth and will streamline the testing process. This will lead to accelerated releases, better quality, and improved digital experiences. Just move on to the cloud, and you will see the rewards.

 

Watch the Transition to Cloud Solution Overview and Demo to learn how the Digital.ai AI-ML-powered DevSecOps platform assists enterprises in transitioning applications to the cloud.