Cloud adoption plan and Azure DevOps

Azure DevOps is a set of cloud-based tools for Azure customers who manage iterative projects. It also includes tools for managing deployment pipelines and other important aspects of DevOps.

In this article, you learn how to quickly deploy a backlog by using a template. The template aligns cloud adoption efforts to a standardized process. This process is based on guidance in the Cloud Adoption Framework.

Create your cloud adoption plan

To deploy the cloud adoption plan, open the Azure DevOps demo generator. This tool deploys the template to your Azure DevOps tenant. This tool requires the following steps:

1. Verify that the Selected Template field is set to Cloud Adoption Plan. If it isn't, select Choose template to choose the right template.
2. Select your Azure DevOps organization from the Select Organization menu.
3. Type a name for your new project. The cloud adoption plan has this name when it's deployed to your Azure DevOps tenant.
4. Select Create Project to create a project in your tenant that's based on the strategy and plan template. A progress bar shows your progress toward the deployment of the project.
5. When deployment is finished, select Navigate to project to see your new project.

After your project has been created, continue through this article series to learn how to modify the template to align to your cloud adoption plan.

For more support and guidance on this tool, see Azure DevOps Services demo generator.

Bulk edit the cloud adoption plan

After you deploy your project plan, you can use Microsoft Excel to modify it. It's easier to create workloads or assets by using Microsoft Excel compared to the Azure DevOps browser experience.

To prepare your workstation for bulk editing, see Bulk add or modify work items with Microsoft Excel.

Use the cloud adoption plan

The cloud adoption plan organizes activities by activity type:

• Epics: An epic represents an overall phase of the cloud adoption lifecycle.
• Features: Features are used to organize specific objectives within each phase. For instance, migration of a specific workload is a feature.
• User stories: User stories group work into logical collections of activities based on a specific goal.
• Tasks: Tasks are the actual work to be done.

At each layer, activities are sequenced based on dependencies. Activities are linked to articles in the Cloud Adoption Framework to clarify the objective or task at hand.

The clearest view of the cloud adoption plan comes from the Epics backlog view. For help with the backlog view, see view a backlog. From the backlog view, it's easy to plan and manage the work required to complete the current phase of the adoption lifecycle.

Align the cloud adoption plan

The overview pages for the Strategy methodology and the Plan methodology refer to the strategy and plan template. The template organizes the decisions and data points. The data points align the template for the cloud adoption plan with your specific plans for adoption. Consider completing the exercises in the Strategy methodology and the Plan methodology before your new project begins.

The following articles support alignment of the cloud adoption plan:

• Workloads: To capture workloads that might be migrated or modernized, align features within the cloud migration epic. Add and modify those features to migrate your top 10 workloads.
• Assets: Each asset (virtual machine, application, or data) is represented by the user stories under each workload. Add and modify those user stories to align with your digital estate.
• Rationalization: As each workload is defined, the initial assumptions about that workload can be challenged. The workload might result in changes to the tasks under each asset.
• Create release plans: Iteration paths establish release plans by aligning efforts with various releases and iterations.
• Establish timelines: To define the start and end dates for each iteration, create a timeline to manage the overall project.

These five articles help with the alignment tasks required to start managing your adoption efforts. The next step gets you started on the alignment exercise.

Next steps

Start aligning your plan project by defining and prioritizing workloads.