Understanding Legacy Technology in GovernmentWe recently finished a discovery to help us learn more about some of the biggest legacy problems across government...In our discovery, we wanted to get a better understanding of what people identify as legacy technology, and the problems it presents. We also wanted to find out what support GDS could give the cross-government community. At this point, we didn't focus on finding a specific solution or exploring a specific content strategy, as that would limit the field of our research.Although we currently offer some advice on how to move away from legacy systems, user research from the Service Manual and Technology Code of Practice shows that organisations want more comprehensive information.Each government organisation has a unique infrastructure and set of services, which in turn means they have unique legacy issues. We aimed to discover how we could improve government guidance for legacy migration, and the best format for these improvements.Government Digital ServiceGDS_ddb0a580-05db-11e6-8f6e-3108f26a1bf3United KingdomLucy CareyCo-AuthorClaire AshworthCo-Author_2781373e-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b22To improve government guidance for legacy migration_27813810-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b22DefinitionDefine legacy technology_2781389c-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b221Defining legacy technology is tricky -- By the end of the discovery, it was clear that we could not group legacy technology under one definition. Our research found that when people talk about legacy, they can mean any of the following:infrastructuresystemson-premise hardwarebusiness and IT processesold digital servicesThere were some commons reasons why the participants considered technology as legacy. This was when the technology was:old and at the end of lifeno longer receiving support from the supplierimpossible to updatepresenting unsolved and unsolvable problemsinherited, with inadequate documentation for current usersunable to meet current standardsno longer the most efficient option, in terms of cost and technically_2781398c-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b22MigrationEnable migration of legacy systems_27813a0e-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b222Migrating from legacy is hard and data is the biggest barrier -- While migration is technically hard, teams know what they need to do. And, they often have established strategies to complete a migration. It's usually non-technical factors that stop a migration project. We split these factors into 8 categories [documented as objectives in this StratML rendition]Organisations frequently find there is:* a fear of data loss and data ownership* concern about where to store data* data in an old system and in a poor state* a lack of corporate knowledge about the systems holding the data and how the data was encoded* data duplication and difficulty in discovering the authoritative source of data* difficulty in finding all of the services that rely on the data* a lack of trust of new data coming and 'polluting' the legacy data* difficulty in keeping all the different data sources synchronisedBusiness & CultureConsider the current processes and culture of the organisation._27813a86-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b222.1Commercial IssuesConsider the commercial decisions and spending models used by the organisation._27813b12-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b222.2DataConsider data the organisation holds and how it uses it._27813b94-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b222.3Of all these issues, participants consistently raised data as the biggest problem. Migrating an organisation's data is complicated and the amount of work is often underestimated.Financial IssuesConsider the budget for IT departments and cost of technology and resources_27813c16-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b222.4Guidance & PolicyConsider work already being done by the organisation that serves as a source of information for other projects, and the policies that organisations have to follow_27813cac-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b222.5Resources & ResponsibilityTake into account the people, budget, equipment and corporate knowledge that organisations have available to them_27813d2e-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b222.6Also, who owns the decision-making process, who owns the technology, who is responsible for the different aspects of running the organisation technologySuppliersTake into account those who provide technology and support for that technology_27813dba-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b222.7SecurityConsider how to secure technology when migrating especially when an organisation is inexperienced using cloud-based technology_27813e50-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b222.8StrategiesConsider a combination of strategies to migrate from legacy systems_27813edc-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b223How organisations are dealing with legacy technology -- Just as there are many different types of legacy technology, there are also many ways of migrating from it. And, there's no one-size-fits-all solution. Organisations usually look at a combination of strategies depending on their size and the complexity of their infrastructure.Small PartsMigrate the business away from legacy in small parts_27813f68-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b223.1Most organisations have an overarching IT strategy in line with their business strategy but some are taking an alternate approach to legacy. A common tactic is to migrate the business away from legacy in small parts, rather than all at once.As one participant said:"I think we have to accept that there's going to be legacy stuff out there, and there's going to be unsupported systems. So it would be better to accept that we've got that and come up with strategies for how we're going to manage that."AssistanceHelp organisations migrate from legacy systems_27813ffe-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b224What we’ll be doing next -- GDS can help organisations in several different ways based on the feedback we’ve received. On the basis of this initial discovery, we believe that we need to do further research on the following topics:StrategyDevelop a high-level strategy for dealing with legacy_27814094-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b224.1Case StudiesIdentify suitable case studies_2781412a-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b224.2PatternsIdentify legacy patterns and anti-patterns_278141d4-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b224.3CommunityCreate a community to share information and help each other with legacy technology_278142ce-6e84-11e8-9dca-bc5367751b224.42018-05-242018-06-12https://gdstechnology.blog.gov.uk/2018/05/24/understanding-legacy-technology-in-government/OwenAmburOwen.Ambur@verizon.net