Case Study
Delivering a Last-Minute Cloud Migration for Massachusetts DIA
The Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents oversaw the state's workers' compensation system and faced an urgent cloud migration deadline. M&S Consulting delivered the migration on time with zero downtime.
2 min read
Zero
Downtime during migration
On Time
Deadline met
AWS
Target environment
100%
Workloads migrated
Client
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Dept. of Industrial Accidents
Engagement
Cloud Migration, AWS Government Cloud
Technologies
AWS, Cloud Migration, Government IT
01THE CHALLENGE
A government deadline. A mission-critical system. No tolerance for downtime.
The Massachusetts Department of Industrial Accidents administers the state's workers' compensation system, a program that processes claims and delivers benefits to injured workers across the Commonwealth. The system runs continuously. Any disruption affects real people waiting on real decisions.
The Department faced a hard deadline: migrate the legacy on-premises infrastructure to the cloud by a fixed government date. The timeline was tight, the environment was complex, and the risk of downtime was unacceptable.
Previous migration planning had stalled. When M&S Consulting came in, there were months left on the clock, not years. The question wasn't what the ideal migration approach would look like; it was what a safe, executable migration looked like given the time available.
02THE SOLUTION
A zero-downtime migration executed against a non-negotiable deadline.
M&S Consulting scoped a cloud migration strategy built around the constraint that mattered most: zero downtime. The approach used AWS cloud infrastructure, with a lift-and-shift foundation supplemented by targeted optimizations where the timeline allowed.
The migration was staged to allow continuous operation throughout. Systems were moved in sequence, with rollback capability maintained at each stage. The cutover was executed during a low-traffic window with full monitoring in place.
Zero-downtime design
Migration architecture built around continuous operation, every stage had rollback capability and parallel running periods.
AWS government cloud
Migrated to AWS infrastructure meeting Massachusetts state government security and compliance requirements.
Staged sequencing
Systems migrated in priority order with complete validation at each stage before proceeding.
03THE RESULTS
On time. Zero downtime. Workers' compensation system in the cloud.
M&S Consulting delivered the cloud migration on the government deadline, with zero downtime throughout the process. The Department of Industrial Accidents' workers' compensation system continued operating without interruption, and the organization met its compliance deadline.
The cloud environment has provided the operational improvements expected: better uptime, reduced infrastructure maintenance burden, and the flexibility to scale capacity on demand.
Zero
Downtime
The workers' compensation system operated continuously throughout the migration, no service interruptions.
On Time
Government deadline met
Migration completed before the hard compliance deadline, the only acceptable outcome for a government program.
100%
Workloads migrated
All legacy infrastructure successfully migrated to AWS without workload loss or data integrity issues.
AWS
Target platform
Cloud infrastructure meeting Massachusetts state government security and compliance requirements.
More proof from similar engagements
Sports & Non-ProfitRacing Against Time: How M&S Consulting and IBM Helped Team USA Capture Silver
Real-time sensor analytics helped Team USA's cyclists and speed skaters make in-session adjustments. The women's pursuit team went from sixth in the world to setting a world record trial and winning Olympic silver at Rio 2016.
Silver
Olympic medal, Rio 2016
TelecommunicationsKeeping the Lights On: Business Continuity for Charter Spectrum Reach
Charter Spectrum Reach needed a robust Business Continuity Plan to protect its television, internet, and phone services from any disruption. M&S Consulting designed and delivered a resilience framework that keeps critical services online.
99.9%
Service uptime maintained
Financial ServicesRebuilding a Mission-Critical Financial Platform
When our team joined in late 2021, a mission-critical financial system was running across nine separate isolated platforms. M&S Consulting consolidated and rebuilt the platform into a unified, resilient architecture.
9 → 1
Isolated systems consolidated
Work with us
Let’s talk about AWS.
Whether you’re assessing where to start, stuck in a stalled program, or ready to move, we've been here before. A conversation costs nothing.
- Response within 1 business day
- 20+ years delivering complex programs
- 250 consultants across the country