There are lots of ways to measure the success of a big migration project. Nailing the deadlines, verifying all data arrived at the destination – that’s basic. However, a positive end user experience is always a priority. Recently The DORIAN Group reached a higher level of appreciation: the migration was so successful that their client asked for a post-project report to help them integrate The DORIAN Group’s best practices into all of their internal IT processes.
After completing a recent national, multi-tenant migration project for a large veterinary hospital chain, Marco Comerchero, Founder and Principal at The DORIAN Group, shared his team was asked to present a final wrap-up deck.
“The project was green across all of the client’s metrics – on time and on budget. The client was thrilled with how smooth the migrations went, as well as how they never had to answer to upper management regarding project delays or problems. Now they’re planning to apply The DORIAN Group’s framework to each project the company does moving forward.”
The National Veterinarians Association (NVA) had grown to over 1,300 sites by acquiring veterinary hospitals in the U.S. and Canada. It was time to consolidate by migrating 420 separate tenants, with over 25,000 processed mailboxes, to a single shared tenant. The migration project itself took about nine months, including planning and prep.
“The NVA family of hospitals is one of strength, but also one of unique perspectives. Each hospital has its own story and team – and set of tools,” explained Shane Proch-Wilson, VP of Enterprise Transformation and sponsor of the project. “We were charged with delivering not one solution, but a flexible design that allowed our team to consider the nuances and differences of every site. A successful migration and high satisfaction scores in concert was the goal.”
“We ramped up the project like a hockey stick,” explained Marco. “In our first week we did five migrations, then pretty quickly we were consistently doing 10-20 migrations per week. Still, it was important to stay flexible to the needs of the client. We had a continual improvement, post-mortem process with each site so we could incorporate feedback efficiently and iterate quickly.”
The DORIAN Group focuses primarily on large scale, high impact, digital transformation initiatives with a specialty in M&A – achieved through white-glove service. The National Veterinarians Institute project was more than a series of migrations: it also required detailed requirements gathering as well as meticulous mapping of the source tenant to the destination tenant to integrate the client’s unique business logic. With a project of that pace and scale, data engineering, change management, communications, and post-migration support were vital.
“The DORIAN Group’s combination of diligence and empathy ensured on-time delivery with a proactive helping hand,” said Shane. “Little touches like day-of check-ins and donuts on conversion day helped the teams get through the conversion day with a smile on their faces.”
Kennedy Petersen, Head of Communications for The DORIAN Group, worked hand-in-hand with the client’s internal communications team to develop a multi-faceted plan. In the end, the team created 62 highly tailored and designed informational training resources for leadership, management, and staff. Messages to managers provided just enough information to be easily digestible, and The DORIAN Group also created a series of videos, PDFs, in-site signage, and a comprehensive SharePoint site.
“People working in any kind of business are running around all day and don’t always have time to absorb every detail in an email. Professionally designed physical posters grabbed the attention of staff as they walked by. We also received input that videos should be brief enough to help people digest information efficiently,” said Kennedy. Reference PDFs with more details were available on the SharePoint project site.
“The Dorian Group’s combination of diligence and empathy ensured on-time delivery with a proactive helping hand,” said Shane. “Little touches like day-of check-ins and donuts on conversion day helped the teams get through the conversion day with a smile on their faces.”
The DORIAN Group was pleased to partner with the National Veterinary association to deliver a highly complex initiative, at scale, on time, and on budget.
We can execute the most complex requirements under any budget or timeline; from any source to any destination.