Migrating a document generation system

The situation

The business relied on an internal system to build its contract and compliance documents. The documents had to keep coming out right while the system underneath them was replaced, so a single big-bang switch was not an option.

The approach

The engagement ran in three stages:

1. Analysis of the existing system. We mapped how the system built documents: its inputs, templates, rules, and outputs, including the behavior nobody had written down.
2. Analysis of business usage. We looked at how the business actually used it: which documents mattered most, who produced them, and when. That told us what had to keep working at every step and what order to move things in.
3. Gradual migration. We moved the system to the new stack piece by piece rather than all at once, so each step could be checked before the next one started and the business kept producing documents throughout.

The outcome

• The existing system analyzed and documented
• Business usage mapped to set the migration order
• Migration to the new stack completed gradually, with no disruption to the business