Optimizing Cloud Infrastructure for a Government Agency Using Domain-Driven Design: Enhancing Speed, Flexibility, and Collaboration
A government agency that makes higher education more accessible and affordable for families and individuals wanted to evolve its end-to-end customer experience. This case study covers how SingleStone guided the agency in redesigning its technology suite and architecture with a focus on flexibility, nimbleness, and speed.
THE CHALLENGE
Client Background:
A government agency dedicated to making higher education more accessible and affordable for families and individuals needed to evolve its end-to-end customer experience.
Challenge Overview:
- Outdated Technology Stack: The agency’s tech stack, including Tomcat, Maven, and Shogun, was significantly outdated, limiting the agency's ability to innovate and improve efficiency.
- Slow Transition to Modern Tech: Despite planning to transition everything to Angular since 2018, the agency had only reached a 40% completion rate after nearly four years.
- Lack of Testing Efficiency: The current setup lacked the ability to perform unit testing, with testing only possible once the code was deployed, leading to inefficiencies and potential issues.
- Need for Speed and Flexibility: The agency required significant improvements in speed (for public-facing websites, investment processing, etc.) and needed a more flexible and nimble architecture.
Key Pain Points:
- Slow Technological Transition: The agency struggled to keep pace with modern technology advancements, hampering their ability to innovate and improve services.
- Testing Limitations: Inability to conduct unit testing before deployment created inefficiencies and increased the risk of issues post-deployment.
- Organizational Stagnation: The outdated tech stack and slow transition affected workplace culture and overall organizational agility.
THE SOLUTION
Strategic Cloud Migration Using Domain-Driven Design:
SingleStone set out to strategically migrate the agency’s existing infrastructure over to AWS services. Using a Domain-Driven Design (DDD) approach, a framework was created to rearchitect the system in a way that was optimal for the cloud.
Key Actions Taken:
Domain-Driven Design (DDD) Approach:
- Common Language: Established a common language around technology, business architecture, and investment criteria for prioritization decisions.
- Framework Creation: Developed a framework to rearchitect the existing infrastructure, ensuring it was optimal for cloud deployment.
Cloud Migration Strategy:
- AWS Integration: Strategically migrated the agency’s existing infrastructure to AWS services, enabling a more agile and scalable environment.
- Workplace Culture Enhancement: The migration and new framework led to a noticeable improvement in workplace culture, with team members becoming more connected to the customer experience, business value, and business purpose.
Collaboration and Communication:
- Increased Engagement: The new cloud-based architecture and realignment of organizational structure fostered better collaboration and communication across teams.
- Modernized Approach: The modernized approach resulted in increased employee retention and overall job satisfaction.
THE OUTCOME
Key Achievements:
- C1 and C2 Level Diagrams: Created using the C4 model (Context, Containers, Components, Code) to clearly define the new architecture.
- Bounded Contexts and Message Flows: Developed through DDD, ensuring clear communication and functionality across systems.
- Future State Roadmap: Provided a roadmap containing robust future state recommendations to guide the agency's continued evolution.
- Multi-Team Collaboration: Utilized an all-hands Miro board to boost multi-team collaboration and alignment.
- Organizational Realignment: Proposed an organization realignment to mirror the bounded context suggestions, enhancing overall efficiency and effectiveness.
Long-Term Impact:
- Enhanced Speed and Flexibility: The agency now operates with a cloud-based architecture that supports faster and more flexible service delivery.
- Improved Collaboration: The new framework and realignment have fostered a more collaborative and engaged workplace culture.
- Strategic Agility: The agency is better positioned to adapt to future technological advancements and continue improving their customer experience.