Department for Education: A payroll system migration to AWS Cloud with thousands of salaries at risk
Challenge
The Department for Education in South Australia handles the payroll for thousands of teachers across the state and when they had to migrate their payroll system into a secure cloud environment, there would have been severe consequences if anything went wrong. Blue Crystal Solutions (Blue Crystal), a company with extensive knowledge in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Oracle technologies, was the risk-averse choice—a partner that would ensure the system was safely transferred with a robust Public Sector Cloud Adoption Solution. And the results exceeded expectations: a cost-neutral migration that had zero impact on pay runs and improved the system’s efficiency and data security.
In light of emerging cyber security challenges, the Department for Education has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to technological advancement and robust data security. Guided by this dedication, strategic enhancements have been made to the payroll system, which was previously hosted on infrastructure poised for modernisation. By prioritising the enhancement of data protection and the establishment of solid disaster recovery processes, the Department has not only ensured the continuity of operations but also safeguarded the wellbeing of their educators, thereby reinforcing the resilience of South Australia’s education system against potential threats
There was no commercial off-the-shelf product that could handle the department’s complex requirements. With a bespoke on-premise payroll system comprising of over 65 interfaces, it would not be a simple transition.
The Department for Education in South Australia handles the payroll for thousands of teachers across the state and when they had to migrate their payroll system into a secure cloud environment, there would have been severe consequences if anything went wrong. Blue Crystal Solutions (Blue Crystal), a company with extensive knowledge in Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Oracle technologies, was the risk-averse choice—a partner that would ensure the system was safely transferred with a robust Public Sector Cloud Adoption Solution. And the results exceeded expectations: a cost-neutral migration that had zero impact on pay runs and improved the system’s efficiency and data security.
In light of emerging cyber security challenges, the Department for Education has demonstrated a steadfast commitment to technological advancement and robust data security. Guided by this dedication, strategic enhancements have been made to the payroll system, which was previously hosted on infrastructure poised for modernisation. By prioritising the enhancement of data protection and the establishment of solid disaster recovery processes, the Department has not only ensured the continuity of operations but also safeguarded the wellbeing of their educators, thereby reinforcing the resilience of South Australia’s education system against potential threats
There was no commercial off-the-shelf product that could handle the department’s complex requirements. With a bespoke on-premise payroll system comprising of over 65 interfaces, it would not be a simple transition.
Solution
The Department for Education needed an experienced partner to manage the transition to a cloud-based system.
The Department was looking for a partner who could not only validate the feasibility of cloud migration and leverage existing licensing investment but also mitigate risk through a staged approach, restricted access, and real-time cloud monitoring. This wasn’t just a plug-and-play solution, it was a complex process with multiple moving parts—and that’s where the extensive experience of Blue Crystal was the perfect fit.
Connected through their strategic local partners at Telstra Purple, the department wasattracted to Blue Crystal’s deep knowledge of AWS & Oracle technologies and engaged them as a direct result.
“We wanted to work with a local company that had the expertise and knowledge to do this. We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel and do this ourselves, we mitigated risk using Blue Crystal Solutions’ expertise.” – Simon Chapman, Assistant Director, Digital Architecture & Operations, Department for Education
An efficient but meticulous public cloud migration
Although they had taken on a high-pressure project, Blue Crystal knew they could simply follow their usual process. They kicked things off with their Primesize service which was used to generate a workload report and from that, enabled Blue Crystal to create a Target Architecture Report of the system’s workload to ensure it fit within the currently available Oracle licensing. This report included recommended designs and options, and was presented to the department before beginning the transition.
The next step was a Proof-of-Concept (POC) to ensure the process would meet performance requirements and eliminate the risk of any failures during the migration. Blue Crystal provided a detailed migration plan to ensure the department could stay compliant with their licenses, and then implementation began.
The migration wasn’t without its challenges, ultimately justifying the department’s choice in a safe partner. Blue Crystal had to navigate using AWS Direct Connect to bypass the public internet, retention of some on-premises applications, and meticulous planning for a seamless integration. Blue Crystal used a range of AWS services for the process including: EC2 z1d instances using the Optimize CPU options, Transit Gateway, S3
The Department for Education needed an experienced partner to manage the transition to a cloud-based system.
The Department was looking for a partner who could not only validate the feasibility of cloud migration and leverage existing licensing investment but also mitigate risk through a staged approach, restricted access, and real-time cloud monitoring. This wasn’t just a plug-and-play solution, it was a complex process with multiple moving parts—and that’s where the extensive experience of Blue Crystal was the perfect fit.
Connected through their strategic local partners at Telstra Purple, the department wasattracted to Blue Crystal’s deep knowledge of AWS & Oracle technologies and engaged them as a direct result.
“We wanted to work with a local company that had the expertise and knowledge to do this. We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel and do this ourselves, we mitigated risk using Blue Crystal Solutions’ expertise.” – Simon Chapman, Assistant Director, Digital Architecture & Operations, Department for Education
An efficient but meticulous public cloud migration
Although they had taken on a high-pressure project, Blue Crystal knew they could simply follow their usual process. They kicked things off with their Primesize service which was used to generate a workload report and from that, enabled Blue Crystal to create a Target Architecture Report of the system’s workload to ensure it fit within the currently available Oracle licensing. This report included recommended designs and options, and was presented to the department before beginning the transition.
The next step was a Proof-of-Concept (POC) to ensure the process would meet performance requirements and eliminate the risk of any failures during the migration. Blue Crystal provided a detailed migration plan to ensure the department could stay compliant with their licenses, and then implementation began.
The migration wasn’t without its challenges, ultimately justifying the department’s choice in a safe partner. Blue Crystal had to navigate using AWS Direct Connect to bypass the public internet, retention of some on-premises applications, and meticulous planning for a seamless integration. Blue Crystal used a range of AWS services for the process including: EC2 z1d instances using the Optimize CPU options, Transit Gateway, S3
Results
The Department for Education’s payroll system was successfully migrated to the new system, which brought several immediate benefits.
Their payroll processing is now up to 50% faster, they have reduced incidents around system reliability, eliminated complexities and costs of large-scale capital replacements, and improved data security and redundancy. The migration itself was also cost-neutral in terms of software licensing and there was no impact on pay runs during the change.
The Department for Education’s payroll system was successfully migrated to the new system, which brought several immediate benefits.
Their payroll processing is now up to 50% faster, they have reduced incidents around system reliability, eliminated complexities and costs of large-scale capital replacements, and improved data security and redundancy. The migration itself was also cost-neutral in terms of software licensing and there was no impact on pay runs during the change.
