# Unified Operations life cycle
<a name="unified-operations-phases"></a>

The Unified Operations Support plan contains different phases, from pre-onboarding, through continuous improvement, that help you get the most our of your cloud environment. This topic covers key points of each phase.

**Contents**
+ [Unified Operations pre-onboarding](uops-pre-onboarding.md)
+ [Unified Operations onboarding](uops-onboarding.md)
+ [Unified Operations Pre-event or migration planning](uops-pre-event-planning.md)
+ [Unified Operations Event migration or cutover](uops-event-migration-cutover.md)
+ [Unified Operations Post Go-live or event](uops-event-post-golive.md)
+ [Unified Operations Workload incident management](uops-workload-inc-management.md)
+ [Unified Operations Post incident](uops-post-incident.md)
+ [Unified Operations Continuous improvement](uops-continuous-improvement.md)

# Unified Operations pre-onboarding
<a name="uops-pre-onboarding"></a>

During the pre-onboarding phases, AWS gathers information from you needed to start the onboarding process, including the following information:

**Environment discovery and technical validation**
+ Understanding of your workload architecture and your key AWS services.
+ Your future planning needs, such as migration or events.
+ Pre-requisites, such as a list of your AWS accounts and AWS Regions.
+ Your specific business needs.

# Unified Operations onboarding
<a name="uops-onboarding"></a>

**Onboarding kickoff**
+ Meet the team (customer and AWS allocated resources).

**Onboarding workshop**
+ Identify critical workloads.
+ Conduct deep architecture review of the workloads.
+ Review roles and responsibilities (RACI review – AWS and your roles and responsibilities).
+ Review Incident and Change management workflows (ITSM).
+ Communication protocol - tooling and processes, escalation path, on-call schedules
+ Identify and define the critical alarms (in Amazon CloudWatch, your 3rd party APM or custom monitoring tool).
+ Build runbooks for critical alarms.

**Service onboarding**
+ Your AWS account onboarding to AWS Security Incident Response.
+ Critical alarm onboarding to rapid Incident Management.

# Unified Operations Pre-event or migration planning
<a name="uops-pre-event-planning"></a>

Pre-event or migration planning in AWS Unified Operations includes the following key elements.
+ **Context gathering :** Workload discovery and architecture.
+ **Operational Readiness Review (ORR):** Systematic assessment against AWS best practices and runbooks to identify potential issues before they impact the event.
+ **Risk assessments:** Identify, list potential risks, and mitigation plans.
+ **Review Events:** Secure the cut-over or migration event support.

# Unified Operations Event migration or cutover
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Event migration or cutover in Unified Operations includes the following key elements.
+ **Real-time bridge to resolution:** AWS experts join your communication channels to monitor events and resolve issues during critical business periods.
+ **24/7 comprehensive support:** Round-the-clock expert assistance with immediate guidance for resource scaling needs. .
+ **AWS engineering:** Work directly with engineers who understand your business, delivering tailored solutions.

# Unified Operations Post Go-live or event
<a name="uops-event-post-golive"></a>

The post go-live or post event process in Unified Operations includes the following key elements:
+ Spin-down engagement and event-specific resources.
+ Conduct event reviews.
+ Update runbooks and documentation based on learnings.
+ Perform retrospectives to identify areas for improvement.

# Unified Operations Workload incident management
<a name="uops-workload-inc-management"></a>

Workload incident management includes the following key elements:
+ AWS Support case creation.
+ Engagement with you and an AWS Incident Management Engineer (IME) for context-aware incident management.
+ Joining or creation of incident bridge call.
+ Monitoring of AWS service health and large-scale event (LSE).
+ Rapid recovery of critical applications or workloads.

# Unified Operations Post incident
<a name="uops-post-incident"></a>

Post-incident analysis for critical incidents is conducted by the assigned Domain Specialist Engineer (DSE). DSE takes a broader analytical approach after resolution, conducting comprehensive root cause analysis to identify any gaps in processes or tooling. The DSE transforms insights into actionable improvements by updating response playbooks, recommending preventive measures, and suggesting architectural enhancements to help prevent similar incidents in the future.

# Unified Operations Continuous improvement
<a name="uops-continuous-improvement"></a>

Continuous improvement includes the following key elements:
+ Update Critical Workload Reviews, proposing AWS service-specific recommendations and resilience guidance .
+ Review old and new cases on a continuous basis, and provide troubleshooting guides for identified technical issues.
+ Apply lessons and oversee implementations and testing.
+ Discuss technical issues, configurations, past, and upcoming projects and milestones.
+ Review new feature implementation plans with risk assessments and performance optimizations.
+ Conduct Monthly or Quarterly Business Review (MBR / QBR).