DeltaXML: Driving Cloud Maturity with the Well-Architected Framework

About DeltaXML

DeltaXML specialises in XML data integration and transformation solutions, helping businesses efficiently manage and manipulate XML data for various purposes such as content conversion, data migration and document processing.

Its services and software tools assist organisations in handling complex XML workflows with precision and ease, ensuring data consistency and compatibility across different systems and formats.

The Challenge

DeltaXML has an experienced team of AWS-certified professionals managing a relatively mature platform. From this strong position, it has been able to embrace new services with a view to modernising and becoming more Cloud-native. It recently migrated one of its web services from EC2 to an ECS Docker Container utilising EC2 SPOT instances, for example.

However, the team is equally committed to fine-tuning its usage of existing services. For this reason, DeltaXML engaged with Devoteam to conduct a comprehensive review of its workloads against best practices, seeking to validate the security of its AWS accounts and infrastructure ahead of an external audit.

The Solution

Devoteam performed a Well-Architected Framework Review (WAFR) on behalf of DeltaXML. This started with a workshop to understand the current technical and operational landscape as well as the future vision, flagging any major constraints. The environment was then benchmarked against the pillars of best practice, focusing specifically on Security and Cost Optimisation, producing a list of recommendations for closer alignment. DeltaXML leveraged three days of cost-neutral consultation with our Solutions Architects to discuss or implement the following improvements:

Security

Enabling AWS GuardDuty for improved threat and anomaly detection.
Enabling AWS Security Hub to automate best practice checks, aggregate alerts, and support automated remediation.
Refining AWS Config to configure, aggregate and alert against compliance requirements.
Refining AWS CloudTrail to view, search, download, archive, analyse, and respond to account activity across the AWS infrastructure.

Cost Optimisation

Further configuration of AWS Budgets and alerts to ensure costs are proactively controlled.
Implementing IAM controls to prevent users from creating inappropriately sized resources.
Creating and assigning cost allocation tags to all resources to help identify costly workloads.

As part of the review, a Cloud Maturity Assessment was completed. This custom lens, unique to Devoteam, is designed to provide an opinionated view of the current lifecycle position of workloads, along with practical pathways for modernisation. DeltaXML achieved a high assessment score by virtue of using a multi-account structure, ECS utilising Spot Instances, and serverless technologies such as API Gateway and Lambda for some of its applications.

Following completion of the review, DeltaXML opted in to Devoteam’s CloudCare program.

AWS services introduced

GuardDuty, Access Analyzer, Trusted Advisor, Savings Plans/Reservations, AWS Backup, Service Control Policies, Tag Editor, SCPs.

The Benefits

Over the three days, it was useful to not only confirm our infrastructure is on a sound foundation, but to discuss the validity of future plans and implement some AWS features that were being under used and misunderstood.

Peter Anderson
Senior Systems Administrator at DeltaXML Limited

DeltaXML can now enter the external audit confident in the knowledge that its AWS accounts and infrastructure are secure and well-architected, backed by the incremental improvements delivered by Devoteam during remediation and the high cloud maturity score provide by our team of seasoned experts.

While the Well-Architected Framework Review is often used by new or inexperienced teams as a way to drive much needed improvement, it is of equal value to skilled teams with mature environments, such as DeltaXML’s, looking to get an expert perspective on their work and propose use of new AWS services and technologies as they become available – quickly and at no cost.

By opting in to our CloudCare service, DeltaXML now has access to our helpful customer portal with AWS spend reports, Well-Architected status, ‘Ask an Expert’ credit and several financial benefits such as discounts on AWS usage and Devoteam consultancy fees.

Finally, as part of our sustainability partnership with Treeapp, 10 trees were planted on behalf of DeltaXML following completion of the Well-Architected Framework Review.

Devoteam’s representatives made the whole process very easy and engaging. No doubt I’ll be knocking on their door at some point in the future to get another independent review of where our infrastructure is at!”