¶ … Migration Project Scenario: Tony's Chips has recently been sold to a new independent company. The new company has hired you to manage a project that will move the old Website from an externally hosted solution to an internal one. The company's leadership is very concerned about redundancy for their site, insisting that a back-up site be available as a failover in case the main site goes down. In addition, they want the site redesigned to allow customers to order products online. As part of your job, you must complete a 11-page paper that follows this project through the system development life cycle (SDLC). This assignment will require you to do ALL of the following: Discuss what it will take to build a Web architecture, move an existing Website with minimal downtime, and provide a disaster recovery solution to ensure the site is always available. The Web architecture should describe and justify operating system choices (i.e., Linux, Apache, MYSQL, PHP, Windows, IIS, SQL, etc.). Evaluate alternatives to the company self-hosting the site. Build a Gantt chart using Microsoft Project or equivalent software, showing all tasks associated with implementing the Website. The chart should include a minimum of five (5) tasks, each with three (3) sub-tasks. Explain and justify the system architecture you have selected. Illustrate the system architecture using Visio or equivalent software. Create a use case that documents the event of a customer ordering a bag of chips from the new Website. The use case should include a graphical representation using Visio or equivalent software and a text description of the events. Discuss the support operations that the internally hosted Website will require after implementation. Explain how you will evaluate the performance of the new site and the success of your project.

Introduction

This web migration project will use the Microsoft Windows Operating System with the Zinstall WinServ for Windows Server Migration. Zinstall WinServ enables a straightforward and efficient process WinServe assists in the migration of the Windows server to its destination including all necessary application, data, settings, roles and configurations. In addition WinServ is reported to support "all Windows Servers versions, including Windows Server 2003, 2008, 2012, WindowsSmall Business Server (SBS) 2003, 2008 and 2011, and Cloud-based Windows server implementations. WinServ is hypervisor-agnostic and cloud-independent, and works across allWindows-capable platforms, including physical to physical (P2P), physical to virtual (P2V) or physical to Cloud (P2C). The WinServ package transfers all server roles and applications, including DNS, DHCP, Domain controller, Group policy, User shares, security configurations, user shared data, login scripts and other components. WinServ is domain-aware, and will maintain domain configurations, user permissions and settings, network settings etc. Among the server roles WinServ supports are Oracle, MS SQL, Exchange and other server components. Zinstall WinServ can migrate between different Windows Server versions, as well as between 32 bit and 64 bit systems. For example, you can move from Windows 2003 Small Business Server 32 bit to aWindows Server 2012 64 bit. Zinstall WinServ works using the Zinstall LEM technology (see whitepaper here). It decouples the many computing layers of your system - OS, applications, settings, data - and migrates the entire server to the new system. It transfers all server roles, all settings and all data - the complete package - with no reinstalls, and leaving nothing behind." (Zinstall, 2013) The Zinstall web migration process works as shown in the following illustration.

Zinstall Web Migration

I. The Groundwork of Web Migration

As soon as possible the teams should be formed that will affect the final site launch. Included in these teams are project managers, design and development team, user experience team, copywriter team, account executives team, network administrator team and a legal team if needed. This phase involves writing on the whiteboard the problems that the new website offers solutions for and the plan of the migration in relation to the reasons for the web migration and relaying that information to all involved ensuring that every understands why the resources are being used to make this migration. The knowledge of why the migration is necessary assists the focus of the team on making the new site more useful and effective than the one presently being utilized in the business. A meeting should be called and everyone involved required to meet for one hour allowing all involved to express their concerns. All the challenges should be listed so that each time members of teams are met with their concerns can be addressed....

Buy-in from the entire team is a requirement for successful migration.
A day is chosen for launch and it is recommended that this be either a Tuesday or Wednesday. This is because it is possible to "scramble the weekend(s) if that is needed and to allow a few days to address any problems that arise on launch day. The launch should be planned for about 10:30 A.M. allowing the morning traffic rush but the majority of the day left to tweak the system." (Virante Organization, 2013)

II. Various Teams and Associated Responsibilities

The responsibility of various teams includes the following:

(1) Project Management Team -- this team will have responsibility for mapping out the time and resources very early in the process. The timeline will be viewed and a worst-case scenario developed. This is likely to add approximately 200% to the cost and as much as 300% to the timeline of the project. The project manager is responsible for keeping the teams and their members focused therefore the project manager needs to have the trust of everyone participating.

The Design Team -- this team is reported to be "one of the two notorious factions that can drag out a project. There has to be a vision and a concept for sure, but also remind them that part of their creativity is to make the magic happen within the allotted timeframe. Review their progress at regular intervals with the developers present. Something that seems simple in Photoshop may make a front-end developer pull his hair out." (Virante Organization, 2013)

The User Experience Designer Team -- This role is reported to be often "handed off to design or development…" and "…either way it's a part of the process that is important to hold up as the goal. The UXD will work on wireframes and site structure in a way that can have a huge impact on design, development and SEO. Getting draft copies of the UXD's ideas out to those 3 teams will head off future pain points." (Virante Organization, 2013)

The Development Team -- This team should participate early in the process addressing any of their concerns since it is reported to be "imperative that development actively contribute, they cannot sit in meetings and offer nothing of value." (Virante Organization, 2013)

Content Creators/Copywriter Team -- A content plan is a requirement. Those tasked with content need to chance to relate the length required to complete their tasks making it easier to make a business decision on the bases of quality and quantity when all the facts are set out. The time required for graphics, audio and video should be set out with this team. (Virante Organization, 2013)

Account Executives Team -- This team's account are not always included in the plan for migration although they should be included. It is necessary that expectation be set at the proper level in order to avoid any last moment panic. This teams' job includes the internal and external public relations and keeping the project on a steady course. (Virante Organization, 2013)

The Network/System Administration Team -- This team will require knowing whether security certificates are needed for the migration and how many visitors are expected as well as information regarding spikes in traffic. (Virante Organization, 2013)

The Legal Review Team -- the legal review team will have the responsibility for internal and external legal review. This schedule should be shared so that internal milestone are scheduled and then handed to the legal review team. (Virante Organization, 2013)

The Site Architecture Team -- If the old site is not being completely replaced the site architecture of the move must be addressed. (Virante Organization, 2013)

The Canonicalization Team -- This team makes decisions concerning basic rules for the website. (Virante Organization, 2013)

URL Structure Team -- If the majority of the existing content will be kept it is important to ensure that the new site has a URL structure identical to the old site or one easily grouped to forward visitors using http redirects. Involvement of the UXD, developer and sysadmins is recommended. (Virante Organization, 2013)

The Content Audit Team -- It is reported that not all of the old content is to be moved and the following list is useful in culling out traffic that is non-performing: (1) question whether there has been even a single visit to a page; (2) question any external links that point at the content; (3) Identify any pages that are not received at least one visit per day; (4) Identify any pages that would not wanted to be shared via social media websites; (5) Question if the content has ever been shared socially; (6) question whether other…