Applications migration during company divestment

The migration at Lotus encountered numerous challenges, primarily due to organisational complexity, latency issues, and the extensive scale of its operations. As a large corporation with 3,000 stores and managing 5 million daily transactions, Lotus faced the risk that significant errors could negatively impact customer loyalty and financial reporting.

A major hurdle identified during the transition was the significant lack of documentation and source code. This gap made it difficult to understand and manage the existing systems effectively. Additionally, employees knowledgeable about the system and its related processes had very limited time to dedicate to the migration.

The project also faced difficulties with the interdependencies between various applications. For instance, the Oracle Retail system alone had over 200 interfaces, each requiring careful assessment to gauge the migration impact.

Another major concern was the considerable distance between the UK and Thailand data centres, leading to high latency. This latency affected the bandwidth and data transfer times, particularly for the large Oracle database. The use of the same network for other critical tasks like video conferencing and company operations made the network department view this as a substantial risk.

We started the project by analysing its architecture and integration points, and then divided the work among four dedicated migration teams. Our strategy was focused on a copy and paste migration method, aimed at making minimal changes to the applications to reduce complexity and risk. We planned to update key IT tools, such as application monitoring, source version control, and the Trouble Ticketing system, after the applications had been moved to the new data centre. This approach helped further streamline the process, minimise risks, and save time.

In addition to the general migration plan, we specifically focused on the Microsoft application (OLDB - Lease Database), which we reverse-engineered to be compatible with the new active directory and security policies.

One of the challenges we faced was high network latency affecting bandwidth. To address this, we optimised Oracle SQL*Net, which was crucial for completing the database transfer within our targeted timeline. This optimisation significantly improved our bandwidth capabilities.

The migration project was completed successfully. Our team of 23 consultants and other specialists efficiently migrated applications within set timelines and budget, tackling high store translation volumes and intricate application dependencies. The Weigandt Consulting Team migrated Kafka, Autosys, and OLDB in 4 months, while ReIM, Oracle OBIEE and other custom solutions were transitioned over a span of 10 months.

The migration and system optimisation improved Lotus's IT independence from its former parent company, setting Lotus up for growth and digital innovation:

Successful M&A Execution: The structured approach and timely delivery played a pivotal role in successfully closing a multi-million M&A deal.

Ownership and Control: The program empowered Lotus to take ownership of the applications, laying the groundwork to fully separate its IT infrastructure.

Rapid System Improvements: By decoupling critical applications from the former parent company, Lotus could initiate system enhancements at a much faster pace.

Cost, Quality, and Control: Gaining independence allowed Lotus to exercise better control over IT expenditures and uphold quality standards.