Our current contract for IT infrastructure services is a black box contract - we specify the outcomes and the provider, in this case AMS, deliver as they see fit to meet those outcomes. AMS have always been much more accommodating than that in responding to requests for changes inside the black box, but these requests, to the best of my knowledge, have only ever been piecemeal and not part of an overall strategy.
The new approach to these services is to work with the community to create a strategy for these services and then changing the contract away from a black box contract to one of delivering the services against that plan. This will not happen at once and there is expected to be a two year transition.
This strategy should cover at least the following transformations:
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Single VM/Server with all services co-existing —> Services capable of being migrated, upgraded and horizontally scaled separately with minimal inter-service dependency
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Manual build and configuration —> Build and configuration managed through an automation platform with the scripts in a public repository with formal change management.
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Limited, home-grown monitoring systems —> Comprehensive standards-based monitoring strategy.
This workshop will be starting point in defining this strategy.