Appfire Optimizes Atlassian Cloud Environment After Consolidating Multiple Instances

After experiencing exponential growth through several acquisitions — and going from 40 to 900 employees — Appfire had migrated and merged multiple Cloud and Data Center environments into a single Atlassian Cloud instance. Appfire partnered with Praecipio to optimize their business processes and Atlassian tools and align teams across a single cloud instance, enabling the enterprise collaboration software company to achieve enterprise intelligence and improve decision-making.

While moving to the cloud offers several benefits like centralized administration and improved performance, it doesn’t mean that your processes and tools will work in harmony. That was the case for Appfire after they migrated and merged 21 different instances into a single Atlassian Cloud environment.

Each of the 25 companies Appfire acquired had its unique configurations, processes, data structure, and ways of working. Appfire needed to do a post-migration clean-up and get rid of the clutter (i.e. data, configurations, projects) that no longer served the organization. Developing a post-merger IT integration strategy meant they could standardize processes, build an integrated digital ecosystem, and connect teams across a unified Atlassian Cloud instance.

Identifying all stakeholders that needed to be involved and finding a solution that worked for everyone also proved to be a challenge. Appfire has been creating Atlassian apps long before the Atlassian marketplace existed, so naturally, their organization is filled with Jira experts who already had well-developed, mature processes within their silos. However, those processes couldn’t necessarily scale or work with other teams. 

Additionally, Appfire wanted to improve how they managed data and automated reporting. Like many organizations, Appfire’s teams were manually pulling data from various sources to compile monthly reports. By the time that data was presented to leadership, it was stale and inaccurate, which impacted decision-making. Appfire wanted to use their post-migration clean-up as an opportunity to implement best practices for achieving data consistency that resulted in intelligent insights.

Based on our proven success supporting enterprise-level Atlassian Cloud migrations and Net Promoter Score of 92, Appfire knew Praecipio was the right partner to help build an enterprise-grade platform that allowed them to streamline and scale their SDLC, capacity management, strategic planning, and reporting processes. 

After taking a deep dive into Appfire’s existing Jira projects and interviewing key stakeholders, the Praecipio team designed a roadmap to success that included best practices, project milestones, potential risks, and how to approach teams. This provided Appfire’s leadership with clear visibility into the level of effort required and what to expect during the engagement.

We carried out a multi-phase approach to implementing our solution over 10 weeks. During that time, our team helped Appfire standardize processes, build custom configurations, establish naming conventions, harmonize definitions for work statuses, and streamline data management. Praecipio also provided the objectivity and consensus-building that Appfire needed to help teams find common ground on decisions being made around the vision they were building together. 

Praecipio also set up reporting automation, which enabled teams across the organization to create dashboards and reports with real-time analytics. Additionally, Praecipio designed and delivered training material to educate users about the new standards of practice and processes for the consolidated Atlassian Cloud instance. 

With the help of Praecipio, Appfire built a unified Atlassian Cloud environment that optimized business processes and tools, streamlined data management, and promoted cross-team collaboration. All of our work laid the foundation for improving the quality and accuracy of Appfire’s data output. By simplifying team data entry and organizing data structures, Appfire can generate high-value business intelligence and achieve reporting visibility. 

Appfire now has both big-picture and granular visibility into the progress of their ongoing projects and strategic plans for the next month, year, and even decade. Having access to accurate, real-time insights has enabled teams at all levels of the organization to make smart, timely decisions.