Migrating to the Cloud and Transforming University of Toronto's Administrative Management Systems

Using a LEAN approach, and limited consulting engagement, University of Toronto migrated its SAP-based administrative management system to the Microsoft Azure platform and converted it to run on a SAP S/4HANA workload. Extensive planning and execution was used in two major phases, culminating in a seamless transformation of our infrastructure. We were able to meticulously test and release each phase of the project by architecting, designing and consulting with our various business stakeholders. This talk will address the steps taken to migrate our platform and 180+ integrations from an on-premises landscape into a securely architected enterprise system delivered on cloud services. We will highlight how we achieved new operational practices, holistic collaboration among business and development teams for testing and validation, but above all realized immediate benefit to our 40,000+ end users. Audiences will gain perspectives on how information technology services teams were involved in conducting cost analysis, designing network architecture, security auditing, partner engagements, and an unprecedented cross-campus business user test cycle. An example of how operational staff transformed into a lean, dev-ops team will also be provided. Our solution was delivered on time, on budget, and incurred no change requests while adhering to the constraints imposed by academic and fiscal cycles.