![](https://www.datocms-assets.com/15783/1593600204-microsoft-fast-track.png)

 
## AFRY FastTrack by Solidify
 
**Solidify** recently conducted an Azure DevOps Fastrack at **AFRY** in Stockholm. The Azure DevOps Fastrack is a program for selected Microsoft customers to get help moving their Azure DevOps/TFS platform or a selected application to the Cloud. The customer gets two weeks of on-site help from selected Microsoft partners or from Microsoft to work with their own staff.
AFRY is an international engineering, design and advisory company. They support their clients to progress in sustainability and digitalization. 
They are 17,000 devoted experts within the fields of infrastructure, industry and energy.

I, Magnus Timner, had the pleasure of working with Emil Schonning, Software Engineer at AFRY, working with the existing TFS/Azure DevOps platform. Because of the Corona outbreak, we had to do the entire engagement remote and that worked well. During the two weeks, we upgraded their existing TFS to the latest Azure DevOps version and helped them migrate projects from the on-premise server into Azure DevOps services which they are already actively using. In addition to the upgrade we also did some training in these areas:

* 	Azure Boards
* 	Azure Pipelines
* 	DevSecOps

At the end of the Fastrack I asked Emil Schonning a few questions about the engagement.


**Magnus: What effect have you got from the work in the last two weeks**

**Emil**: *It accelerated the progress when moving projects into Azure DevOps Services and made the upgrade of our on-premise server a safe and controlled procedure. 
Knowing that competent resources from Solidify and Microsoft where available if complex problems would occur during the upgrade (no issues occurred), made us much more confident with the procedure. 
The education sessions held by Solidify introduced our employees to the tools and possibilities to use them in an efficient way. 
Both companies are used to work digitally so completing this task during the pandemic was not a problem.*


**Magnus: Was there anything special that really helped you?**

**Emil**: *AFRY has worked with DevOps for many years in different setups, one major thing was to utilize Solidify’s experience from many large organizations and projects, to give us a second opinion when we progress further into the cloud. This will help us to minimize risk, avoid pitfalls and unnecessary cost. To be able to validate that we are already on the right track is very valuable.*

**Magnus: Would you recommended others getting help from Solidify?**

**Emil**: *Of course, their experience makes them an excellent choice when you need help with your Azure DevOps Server/Services setup or employee competence boost.*

**Magnus: Do you have a good idea how you are going to continue after these weeks?**

**Emil**: *Yes, we are now continuing our improvement journey. As one of the frontline engineering and design companies in software development, an updated modern toolbox to help our clients to achieve their goals is of course always very important for us.*

## Looking for help ?
If you're interested in learning more about the FastTrack program or need help with anything related to Azure DevOps and migrations, feel free to contact us [here](https://solidify.se/contact). .


Go to Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps

Solidify FastTrack at AFRY in Stockholm

DevOps As A Service(DaaS) product site [here] (https://solidify.dev/services/devops-as-a-service)


How do we achieve software excellence and improve development velocity? Let's look at some common situations first: 

* Is your lead developer now doing patching of your build servers? 
* Is your PO taking the responsibility updating and streamlining build tasks? 
* Is your QA department taking on the responsibility of creating a new release pipeline and setting up automated alerts on deployment failure? 

Software excellence is different for most projects, but they all have one goal in common: to drive software development further in the fastest way possible, with the best possible quality and compliance. 
 
We measure the output from teams in a unit called *Development Velocity*. In order to increase or improve the development velocity, you need to be sure that the team is operating at full capacity on tasks they are trained to handle.  
 
When looking at the statements above, it becomes clear that maximum development velocity cannot be achieved when members of the team are taking on tasks that they should not be responsible for.  
 
During these times of uncertainties, it is more important than ever to make sure you are pushing your features to your customers with accuracy, quality and making sure that they are compliant to security standards.  That means that when you get your developer to do patching wh en your PO is doing maintenance, and when QA is implementing new pipelines, your potential maximum development velocity will be down. Not only that, morale will be down and the team as a whole will not feel empowered to deliver on time. 
 
### What to do with the development tool stack? 
Tooling is key for gaining traction and increase development velocity. Your tool stack needs to be up-to-date and compliant with the regulations of your organization, and that is a big task for companies of all sizes and structures.  Making sure that your development tool stack is up to date should be the first thing that you need to take care of, but you need to do it sensibly. Accept that even though you have adopted Agile and DevOps, your development team should not be responsible for the development tool stack - unless you have a dedicated DevOps engineer trained and ready to execute the tasks that are needed. 
 
# Introducing DevOps as a Service 
With DevOps as a Service from Solidify, you get DevOps experts with years of experience to take care of your tooling and ensure that your core development tool stack is performing as well as it possibly can.

DevOps as a Service is designed for companies that understand that: 

* Productivity is dependent on your tooling running smoothly 
* Your employees feel empowered to deliver their tasks on time 
* Everyone is focused on tasks that they have the necessary training for 

On the other hand, if you only want to offload the tooling stack maintenance, you do just that with our proactive DevOps as a Service maintenance package. 

## How does it work and what do you get? 

We provide you with a point of contact that is reachable through your group communication software of your choice: mail, phone, teams, slack, or anything you want.
 
**Proactive Work:**
With DevOps as a service, your contact will work with you to create a common backlog that is planned and prioritized. Your backlog is setup for proactive work, meaning that proactive tasks are preformed, that in turn result in a development platform that is up to date and in good shape.  

 
**Reactive work:**
Solidify will help you with support questions or problems that may come up. If you have team members that want to learn to do keep the development platform up to date, we will schedule in training for those members, cutting your contract time and allowing you to take over the responsibilities at your leisure. 
 
### How is the work performed?  
Most of our work will be done remotely, but some meetings or training might be done on-site or with virtual tooling. 

## Wait, isn't this a DevOps Antipattern? 

Some of you might think “Well, that's odd. In the past, we have been pushed to embrace DevOps and have all the knowledge in the team/department and do everything ourselves”. 
 
And that is absolutely correct - if you have a key person in your team/department that has the responsibility of keeping your toolchain up to date. In our example, the true antipattern is trying to get your team to take on tasks that they are not trained for and/or might not want in the first place. This, in turn, will lead to a poorly performing team that is working longer hours, leading to suffering work-life balance. 
 
A well-functioning DevOps team does have its Dev’s and its Ops. These do not by any means have to be the same person and, in most cases, they are not, but they have broken the silos and are working together with clear goals. If your organization does not have the capacity or the will to hire a DevOps Engineer to take care of your core tooling, you can (and should) buy that from an external source.  

Let me be clear: you should not hire an external consultant to come full time. But you should find services, such as our DevOps as a Service, where you can minimize the cost of having your toolchain up to date. 
 
And let’s face it - that was the intent from the start. 

### Why Solidify? 

Solidify is a leading Scandinavian consultancy recognized as a Microsoft Gold Partner in DevOps, Cloud Platform and Application Development. We're also one of the first companies in the world to be a GitHub Advanced services and technology partners. 
 
Here are some statistics to back up our knowledge and experience: 

* 800 projects in Scandinavia on time and in accordance with contracts for over 200 customers 
* Delivering close to 300 successful trainings and briefings 
* Experts in all fields of Software Deliver with 50 certifications of excellence 
* Three Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals. 

## Ready to get started?  
Read more about DevOps As A Service(DaaS) [here] (https://solidify.dev/services/devops-as-a-service)

If you are ready to get started, you can contact us [here](https://solidify.se/contact). We're always available and excited to adopt new projects.

Code to Cloud

Compliant DevOps

Introducing DevOps as a Service

We at Solidify recently conducted an Azure DevOps Fastrack at Miller Insurance Services in London. The Azure DevOps Fastrack is a program for selected Microsoft customers to get help moving their Azure DevOps/TFS platform or a selected application to the Cloud. The customer gets two weeks on-site help from selected Microsoft partners or from Microsoft to work with their own staff.
 
Miller is one of the world’s leading specialist insurance and reinsurance brokers operating in Lloyd’s, the London market and international markets..
 
I, [Magnus Timner](https://solidify.dev/people/magnus-timner), and my colleague [Per Sundqvist](https://solidify.dev/people/per-sundqvist), had the pleasure of working with Ashley Camidge, Technical Lead at Miller, working with the existing TFS/Azure DevOps platform. Because of the Corona outbreak we had to  do the entire engagement remote and that worked well. During the two weeks we upgraded their existing TFS to the latest Azure DevOps version and moved them to Azure DevOps services, in addition to some training in these areas:

* Azure Boards
* Azure Test plans
* Azure Pipelines
* Azure Repos

## Ashley at Miller Insurance Services

At the end of the Fastrack I asked Ashley a couple of questions about the engagement:

### What effect have you got from the work the last two weeks?

> Having Magnus on-hand to direct the TFS upgrade to Azure DevOps Server and its subsequent migration to the Azure DevOps Service was invaluable. The knowledge that both Magnus and Per have around this process and Azure DevOps is second-to-none. The way that the Azure DevOps Fastrack program from Microsoft works allowed me to be involved at every step of the process (which, due to the current Coronavirus was essential) and really understand the steps that we were taking and why. This migration work was essential for Miller and our reliance on the on-premise infrastructure which we had in place. In our rapidly approaching future, we envisage a higher usage of Azure and this migration work was a vital first step in allowing us to modernize our applications and processes for the cloud.

### Was there anything special that really has helped you?

> As Miller had been using TFS 2017 for quite some time, many of our less-technical people had never seen Azure DevOps and much of the Azure DevOps Service was new to them. With the training sessions that Per ran on Boards, Test Plans, Pipelines and Repos, everyone who now uses Azure DevOps at Miller has a good understanding of how each of these main product areas work. This has given many people a better understanding of how others may use the service in different ways to help them fulfil their roles.

### Would you recommended others getting help from Solidify?

> Working closely with Magnus and Per to deliver the Azure DevOps migration and training for Miller has been a real pleasure. Solidify were recommended to us by Microsoft as one of their Gold Partners who specialize in Azure DevOps and the Microsoft Cloud Platform and it is clear to me why they are held in such high regard. I would without a doubt recommend Solidify to anyone who needs expert guidance and assistance in their cloud journey.

### Do you have a good idea how you are going to continue after these weeks?

> By the time that Solidify had completed their engagement with Miller we were left with a fully migrated Azure DevOps Organization and an entire department who had been trained in how to effectively use the service. I am confident that everyone using Azure DevOps at Miller will now be even more effective in their roles than they were when using TFS.
 


If you're interested in learning more about the FastTrack program or need help with anything related to Azure DevOps and migrations, feel free to [contact us](https://solidify.dev/contact) any time.

FastTrack at Miller Insurance Services

As many of you know, Solidify is a close partner to Microsoft. With a number of competencies and certifications, we've earned the highest status - Gold status - as partners in DevOps, Cloud Platform and Application Development. Needless to say, this partnership means a great deal to us.

It's therefore important to us that we're as visible as possible. And what's the best place to stay visible in a Microsoft context? The Azure Marketplace, of course!

As of right now, we have two different offers on the Azure Marketplace, and this blog post is a short summary of the two.

## Go to GitHub - 2 week implementation

The first of the two offers is centered around migrating to GitHub (one of our other partners). Here, we help you with the transition from other platforms such as TFS, Jira, Trello, Confluence, Bamboo, Jenkins, Bitbucket, GitLab, Subversion and many others to GitHub.

The offer itself consists of four phases:

1. Analysis Solidify will start by analyzing your existing development platform to see which parts that have to be modified as part of the migration. The analysis phase will be one to three days depending on company size, after the analyze phase we will give you an offer for the remining three phases. Part of the job or all can be done remote.

2. Training Before the migration we train your team to handle the new source control provider and/or work item platform.

3. Migration/Adoption We help you setup Azure along with subscription and licensing needed to use the GitHub platform. We migrate your code and/or work items to the new platform and help you adopt your process

4. Mentoring After the migration/adoption is complete we can support your teams challenges by mentoring.

### Result and price
The result of the delivery will be your source code and/or work items successfully migrated GitHub, where you fully can integrate with and utilize the Azure platform.

Price and duration will vary depending on size.

You can find the offer [here](https://azuremarketplace.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/consulting-services/solidify.goto2).

## Go to Azure DevOps, 2 week implementation

This offer is very similar to our Go to GitHub offer, but instead focused on migrating to Azure DevOps. We can still help you migrate from the above mentioned platforms to Azure DevOps, and the result is similar.

The offer consists of the same phases and just as for the first offer, both price and duration vary depending of the size of your project(s).

In essence, if you're interested in moving to Azure DevOps instead of moving to GitHub, this is the offer for you.

You'll find the offer [here](https://azuremarketplace.microsoft.com/en-us/marketplace/consulting-services/solidify.goto1).

## Summary

That's it for the two offers we have available on the Azure Marketplace at the moment of writing. Stay tuned for more information, as we'll undoubtedly continue to expand our Azure Marketplace portfolio.

As always, we have a whole range of other services available, so check out our areas of expertise [here](https://solidify.dev/expertise).

If you're interested in any of these services or simply have questions regarding Azure or DevOps in general, feel free to [get in touch](https://solidify.dev/contact).

Solidify on the Azure Marketplace

## Happy anniversary “Jira to Azure DevOps” migrator!

A year ago, we release the first open source version of a tool we have used internally for Jira to Azure DevOps migrations. In this post we want to share some of the improvements made to the tool as well as some learning from migration between two such capable and customizable platforms.

The tool: https://github.com/solidify/jira-azuredevops-migrator

Getting started: https://github.com/solidify/jira-azuredevops-migrator#getting-started

For those not familiar with the tool the key capabilities include:

* Export Jira items based on JQL queries
*	Mapping of issue types, workflows, and fields
*	Complete history (including dates) is migrated
*	Migration of issues hierarchies 
*	Support for customizations like custom types and fields
*	User mapping to maintain proper history

## Usage
Let us first look at how folks are using the tool to do migrations. Here are some fun facts from the past year:

*	2400 downloads
*	32 releases 
*	13 contributors
*	68 resolved issues

When it comes to usage, we see a slow but steady increase. Below are some statistics from the last 90 days with an average of 72k items processed each day:

![](https://www.datocms-assets.com/15783/1576751245-migration-tool-1-year-1.png)

We see around 100 runs per day, with some exceptional peeks with over 600 000 processed items. And as you can see it is used all over the place, some more than others. 
 
![](https://www.datocms-assets.com/15783/1576751242-migration-tool-1-year-2.png)

Also, worth noting that the telemetry we gather is with a choice to opt-out so not all runs are logged.

## Improvements
When we released the first version last year, we knew it was a nice tool but also very limited in what it could do (hard-coded is another word). 

But with great community feedback and working with lots of migrations we have moved the static behaviors into configuration as well as made the tool much more generic. The most significant improvements include:

*	Added support for custom types and fields (if there is something missing in this space let us know).
*	Improved formatting of rich texts so that descriptions, comments, etc. are rendered nicely, including in-line images and tables.
*	Reduced number of migration tool errors from 1000s down to near zero per day (generally caused by not known uses of Jira customization).
*	Improved documentation and added a “FAQ” section to the migration guide.
*	A bunch of fixes for edge cases and configurations we had not tested.

We have also added sample mappings for the Azure DevOps Basic, Agile and Scrum process templates.

## Lessons learned
Based on working with many clients, here are some tips on how to help make the migration process as smooth as possible.

1. Read the documentation, explore the configuration structure and sample files.

2. Spend time looking at how to do the mapping from Jira to Azure DevOps. With a proper analysis up front a lot of time can be saved later thanks to not having to re-run the export phase.

3. Start small. Test the mapping by migrating a few items of each type before starting the long running migrations.

4. Run a dry run. Ideally run a complete migration in a sandbox project to ensure that the mapping works for all items. Check the log files for mapping errors or missing related items. Also check the logs for the duration of the run so the time to migrate can be planned for and communicated to the users.

5. Consider migrating large projects in batches. Large number of items takes time to migrate so discuss if it is possible to do the migration in chunks (like per product or team).

## Impressions
Building and supporting an open source project is of course rewarding, but with the great feedback and interaction we get from people using the tool makes it extra fun. Here are some testimonials from the Azure DevOps Marketplace:

> **Hasitha Chinthaka:**
> 
>   “This is the best tool I found when it comes to JIRA to Azure DevOps migration. Their support team is super responsive and available at any time when required. The best open source team (Solidify) I have worked so far"


> **Håvard Brynjulfsen:**
> 
>   “Great tool”


> **Matt Kinsey:**
> 
>   “The Solidify team is really great about answering questions and working through issues when using the migration tool”


> **Nuran Jetha:**
> 
>   “Saved a lot of time and effort”

## What is on the backlog for 2020?
Are we done now? Well the tool is stable and works with the current feature set. But of course, we can do more! For the coming year we have a backlog of great ideas we would like to see realized, hopefully with help from our friends in the community.

1. Migrate to .NET core to make the tool cross-platform
2. Add extensibility model for custom mappings, including 3rd-party tools like Xray for test case management
3. Add support for more link types, for instance Git commits and hyperlinks
4. Add more built-in mappers
5. Add support to migrate board settings

We also have a project board with the current issues here: https://github.com/solidify/jira-azuredevops-migrator/projects/1, take a look, add suggestions or comment on the open issues.

So, if you plan to migrate from Jira to Azure DevOps (or TFS) give the tool a try, we think you will like it. If you have any questions regarding the tool or any type of migrations to Azure DevOps feel free to contact us at info@solidify.se, we are here to help. Happy migrations!


Jira to Azure DevOps migration tool 1 year birthday

Solidify recently conducted a Azure DevOps Fastrack at Arion Banki in Reykjavik in Iceland. The Azure DevOps Fastrack is a program for selected Microsoft customers to get help moving their Azure DevOps/TFS platform or a selected application to the Cloud. The customer get two weeks on site help from selected Microsoft partners or from Microsoft to work with their own staff. 

Arion Banki is a leading universal relationship bank in Iceland with a differentiated and innovative approach that provides products and services which meet the needs of Icelandic households and companies. Among other things, Arion Banki is on an Open Banking API journey. 
 
I, Taavi Koosaar, had the pleasure of working with Kristinn Stefánsson, Enterprise Architect, Gunnar Þór Stefánsson, DevOps and Platform, and Daníel Sveinsson,Software Engineer, Ellert Eiríksson, Software Engineer, Björn Björnsson, Software Engineer, The Enterprise Solutions team, all working to create Open Banking APIs on Azure with Azure DevOps and Azure API Management in an innovative and fully automated way. During the two weeks we: 

* Moved one of their apis to Azure App Services with staging and stable slots using code (yaml) based azure pipelines and terraform for IaC. We templated everything so it is easy to add new apis with the same set of patterns and practices. We automated the pushing of new versions of apis to api management and being able to target and test staging (changed application code) vs stable apis. 
* Automated azure api management using terraform as IaC for both infrastructure and products 
* Added telemetry to api to get operational awareness and feedback for the engineering and product team 
* Got plan in place to take the api to production 

The last day of the FastTrack I had a chat with Kristinn and Gunnar about the work we had done. Here’s the conversation as a whole: 

![](https://www.datocms-assets.com/15783/1576152415-arionbanki.png)


### What effect have you got from the work the last two weeks? 

**Kristinn**: The focus was on getting a newly formed product team for some of our corporate solutions, versed in using Azure DevOps for developing API's exposed through Azure API Management. We wanted to get as far as possible with automating all the cloud infrastructure needed all the way up to installing API Management and registering the APIs into configured products. It was a lofty goal but we managed to end up with a fully automated pipeline for all the environments and lifecycle steps as well as automatic health checks, monitoring and telemetry on top of that. 

**Gunnar**: We have been looking into Azure and Azure Devops for a while and do some work there but were in need for a good kick start. We wanted to also include one of our teams who had no prior knowledge to Azure Devops to learn by doing and create with us the full development pipeline from idea to monitoring in production. The goal was to have everything automated, the development team responsible for developing, running and monitoring the solution and enable the design thinking around products in the Azure Api Management. 

### Was there anything special that really has helped you? 

**Kristinn**: The open approach to how the program was delivered really helped from our perspective. E.g. we wanted to put an emphasize on being able to potentially re-use the template for our upcoming projects and had decided on using Terraform after trying out several configuration methods previously. The willingness and patience Tiago and Taavi showed in supporting this and of course helping us leap over every potential obstacle, was incredibly important. This elevated team much more than a pre-scripted set of activities or exercises like some workshops can turn into. 

**Gunnar**: In my opinion was it how the development team could take decisions and how they controlled on what to focus on. We could deep dive into specifics and if any issue came up we got an answer from the professionals right away. The openness and support from the professionals when we decided to use terraform to provision infrastructure. And most importantly the level of expertise we got from Solidify and Microsoft was exceptional as we got introduced to how to use the pipelines in Azure Devops and how to use templates. 

### Would you recommended others getting help from Solidify ? 

**Kristinn**: Yes! We ourselves are considering making a similar program a pre-requisite for teams that will be starting Azure development in the near future. It cannot be emphasized enough how impressed we were with the help we got and how we benefitted from your, Taavi’s, extensive experience and insight throughout the two weeks. Though the focus was on the participating team and its use cases the overall benefit to our journey into cloud development was appreciated on all levels, right up to top management. After presenting to the rest of the department at the end of the week, we got a wave of comments reflecting both satisfaction and surprise with how far we got. 

**Gunnar**: Most definitely. I have been working with Solidify for other projects as well and the level of expertise and professionalism is above our expectations. 

### Do you have a good idea how you are going to continue after these weeks? 

**Kristinn**: The way forward is much clearer after the workshop and the team will proceed apace in the coming weeks though it will of course take some time to work with the business in identifying the high value use cases for the APIs we want to focus on. The workshop also established that Devops practices are the way to go, that has accelerated some of the discussions in-house around our timeline for Azure on-boarding and in enabling people to work there in the coming months. 

**Gunnar**: We will continue with our plan with our Api platform but we have much clearer vision on how to implement it. Not only on what resources to use but also on the way of working and the practices to use. We will need to focus on enabling the pipelines for other teams and train other teams to start utilize the resources we are creating on the platform. 

## Summary

We want to thank Arion Banki for the opportunity to run the FastTrack and for participating in the interview. If you're interested in running a similar project at your organization, feel free to contact us at [info@solidify.se](mailto:info@solidify.se).

FastTrack at Arion Banki in Iceland

Solidify recently conducted an [Azure DevOps](https://solidify.dev/blog/jira-azure-devops-migration) Fastrack at Renishaw plc in Wotton-under-Edge in England. The Azure DevOps Fastrack is a program for selected Microsoft customers to get help moving their Azure DevOps/TFS platform or a selected application to the Cloud. The customer gets two weeks on-site help from selected Microsoft partners or from Microsoft to work with their own staff. 

Renishaw is one of the world's leading engineering and scientific technology companies, with expertise in precision measurement and healthcare. Renishaw does cool stuff like Metal 3D printers. 

I, [Magnus Timner](https://solidify.dev/people/magnus-timner), had the pleasure of working with Andy Forrest, Software Services Manager and James Booker, IT Support Manager, both working with the existing TFS/Azure DevOps platform. During the two weeks we upgraded their existing TFS to the latest Azure DevOps version and also set up some good samples of how to move their teams to the cloud and ran af few dry-runs. 

The last day of the FastTrack I had a chat with Andy and James about the work we had done. Here’s the conversation as a whole: 

### What effect have you got from the work the last two weeks? 

Andy: It refreshed my memory on the stuff I used to know, also I got a better understanding how to support TFS and the teams. Getting my hand hands dirty was nice. It has given Renishaw a way forward, to plan how to handle the infrastructure and help the teams. It has also helped us setting Renishaw up for the future and helped us decide what toolset to use and by that stick to Azure DevOps. 

James: It has taught us what Azure DevOps really is. Seeing it in reality is much better than reading about it. Also, the demos where important for me and the teams. 

### Was there anything special that really has helped you? 

Having Tiago from Microsoft and Magnus from Solidify here to help us in place with your experience was invaluable. 

Learning how to setup a pre-production environment has really helped us to cleanup and prepare for future migrations.

### Would you recommended others getting help from Solidify? 

Yes, it was invaluable with having two solid weeks to focus on getting work done. Google is great but personal experience beats that. 

### Do you have a good idea how you are going to continue after this weeks? 

Yes, we have clear picture how to go forward and how to continue discussions the with the teams. 

Some TFS instances will be moved to Azure DevOps server, the remaining will go to DevOps services. 

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