DataArt’s Solution Design Principles
DataArt’s Solution Design centers on:
1. Holistic Business and Technical Analysis
DataArt leveraged its expertise in the travel and hospitality industry, Microsoft web technologies, and cloud migration to support Best Day with both business and technical analysis. Based on the client’s objectives and constraints, we jointly selected the Google Cloud Platform (GCP) as the most suitable cloud provider for maximizing business value. GCP would optimize cost savings, increase transparency in accounting, and streamline implementation of Kubernetes to manage applications at scale.
2. Early Hypothesis Testing
After the analysis stage, we proceeded with early hypothesis testing to confirm our conclusions. DataArt helped Best Day route about 5% of production traffic to a proof-of-concept (PoC) environment in GCP. With Best Day acting as an impartial evaluator, we tested the system for latency, stability, and other key metrics, all of which met expectations. With the PoC, we also identified and evaluated potential problems to ensure a smooth cloud migration. During regular meetings with Best Day stakeholders, we also explored and documented challenges and gaps that would have been too late to cross-correct after migration.
3. Continuous Stakeholder Alignment
DataArt brought together stakeholders from disparate areas such as security, operations, and accounting to develop a high-level roadmap and identify potential challenges across Best Day departments before the migration. The team hosted frequent workshops for Best Day stakeholders (Head of DevOps, Chief Information Security Officer, database administrators, technical leads, and developers) to educate them about the culture of running a cloud environment, GCP capabilities, security, and functionality. We kept all stakeholders informed with weekly updates on the project’s progress.
Since the project involved long-term engagement with Best Day, we educated their non-technical departments, such as accounting and billing, on GCP invoicing, building dashboards, and reporting, so they could optimize value and minimize costs after the migration.
4. Value Optimization
In just two months, the joint team migrated over 300 VMs and more than 20 TB in HA SQL and Kubernetes clusters. The client is now fully on-board with GCP and runs high-load B2B and other lines of business on this cloud platform.
DataArt also helped Best Day improve design architecture and security and to establish cloud governance. In close collaboration with in-house teams, we connected the on-premise infrastructure with GCP and automated it. Google’s Kubernetes Engine was utilized to simplify Kubernetes cluster management, and we harnessed CloudEndure to expedite VM migration. We also added BigQuery to the ecosystem of data analytics tools.
