Uniting NSW.ACT: Transition to a Secure and Modern Cloud Environment

The Company

Uniting NSW.ACT is an organisation that supports the work of the Uniting Church in NSW and the ACT through social justice advocacy, community services, and spiritual care. Their mission is to inspire people, enliven communities, and confront injustice. Uniting provides services for people of all ages, aiming to address systemic issues and help those experiencing disadvantage to live their best lives.

The Challenge

Uniting faced a significant operational challenge due to the need to exit their current data centre by the end of September 2024. This urgency arose from the termination of their lease and escalating costs.

The data centre served as their primary facility for hosting critical IT infrastructure for several years. However, increasing lease costs, operational inefficiencies, and strategic shifts towards cloud-based solutions necessitated a transition away from this facility. This required careful planning and execution to ensure business continuity and cost efficiency.

The Solution

Uniting decided to migrate their business IT services from the data centre to the Microsoft Azure Cloud. To facilitate this, they needed a well-governed foundational cloud environment in alignment with Microsoft’s Cloud Adoption Framework (CAF). The existing Azure infrastructure was outdated and lacked proper governance, creating potential security vulnerabilities and management challenges.

To address these issues, Uniting partnered with AC3 to design and deliver the Azure Assessment and Plan stage. This included setting up an Azure Landing Zone and establishing network connectivity to the Azure Cloud, coupled with robust security and governance policies.

The Azure Landing Zone established baseline security and governance, created the hub network and cloud connectivity, and set up a dev/test spoke network, demonstrating the advantages of a well-defined cloud environment. All deployments were done using Azure Bicep, providing a proper Infrastructure as Code (IaC) deployment base for future needs.

The Result

The Azure Landing Zone project was completed on time and within budget, allowing Uniting to efficiently plan and execute their migration. This project brought several key benefits. The new Azure Landing Zone was set up successfully, enabling Uniting to move their existing systems from the old data centre and introduce new ones into a well-organised cloud environment. They also transitioned older subscriptions to this new setup, which helped identify and address potential security issues.

The project also provided Uniting's IT team with a solid foundation for future deployments, boosting their efficiency and productivity. Detailed guidelines for future Azure setups and automated processes were shared, ensuring that all new systems would have robust security and monitoring tools in place.

Uniting now has a secure and modern cloud environment ready for new systems. This transition not only improved security for their existing setup but also strengthened Uniting’s ability to continue their mission with more reliable and efficient IT infrastructure.