# Continuous assessment and improvement This stage of assessment focuses on two aspects: + Ongoing detailed application assessment, for each wave of applications + Continuous evolution and improvement of your portfolio The first aspect, ongoing detailed application assessment, focuses on detailed discovery and analysis, down to the architecture and technology levels, to fully understand each application in a given wave, the proposed AWS design, and the migration strategy. This assessment of migration readiness is a prerequisite to starting a given migration wave. The second aspect, continuous evolution and improvement of your portfolio, focuses on portfolio management and how you plan to improve applications over time, including the evolution and tracking of the business case. The primary migration outcomes of this stage include the following: + Validated migration scope for each wave + A documented target architecture and migration strategy for applications in a given migration wave + Identified and validated migration patterns and tooling + Documented requirements (security, AWS infrastructure, and operations) and migration cut-over considerations for each wave The primary optimization outcomes of this stage include the following: + Portfolio rationalization models and business outcomes + Proposed architecture and technology changes, and their expected benefits + Platform requirements (security, AWS infrastructure, and operations) + An implementation plan # Understanding continuous assessment data requirements Data requirements for continuous assessment and improvement of the application portfolio are a combination of data requirements from previous sections. To continuously manage the portfolio migration and its evolution, see the following sections to understand data requirements: + For wave assessment and application optimization, use the data requirements from the [Prioritized applications assessment](understanding-detailed-assessment-data-requirements.md) section. + For continuous portfolio management, use the data requirements of the [Portfolio analysis and migration planning](understanding-complete-assessment-data-requirements.md) section. + For defining the wave plan, see the [Wave planning](wave-planning.md) section. # Detailed wave assessment The detailed assessment of applications, ahead of a migration wave and as a key enabler for migration, has the same requirements and recommendations as the [prioritized applications assessment](prioritized-applications-assessment.md) stage. The goals are to understand in detail the current state of the applications in a given wave, and to produce a future state architecture design and migration strategy, including operational aspects, tooling, and specific migration patterns. Apply the [prioritized applications assessment ](prioritized-applications-assessment.md) to the group of applications in a given wave. Repeat this process ahead of each wave in your migration plan. The key is to schedule enough time in between the detailed assessment and the start of the wave. The amount of time needed will be dictated by the requirements of platform and migration teams that are implementing the wave requirements and performing the migrations. Work with those teams to schedule the detailed wave assessment and the wave. We recommend implementing a factory-like model emulating a production line. # Assessment for optimization and modernization The assessment process for workload optimization and modernization already migrated into AWS is similar to the assessment of workloads to be migrated into AWS. What will change, primarily, is the sources of data to conduct the assessments. In AWS, there are several out-of-the-box tools and services that you can use to obtain more information about your applications running in AWS. What and how to optimize and modernize your applications will be based on your unique drivers and circumstances. Optimization focuses on applying changes to the current architecture and technology to reduce cost, adapt performance requirements, and to incorporate lessons learned. Modernization focuses on taking your application to the next level, such as adopting serverless models and microservice architectures. Follow the guidelines of the [prioritized applications assessment](prioritized-applications-assessment.md). To further aid your optimization and modernization efforts, see the following resources: + [AWS cost optimization](https://aws.amazon.com/aws-cost-management/aws-cost-optimization/) provides information on IT optimization and saving on your IT costs. + [AWS Compute Optimizer](https://aws.amazon.com/compute-optimizer/) recommends AWS resources for your workloads to reduce costs and improve performance by using machine learning to analyze historical utilization metrics. + [AWS cost and capacity optimization services and tools](https://aws.amazon.com/ec2/cost-and-capacity/) help to manage compute resources so that you can spend more time building and less time managing compute costs + [Amazon S3 Storage Lens](https://aws.amazon.com/s3/storage-analytics-insights/) delivers organization-wide visibility into object storage usage and activity trends. It makes actionable recommendations to improve cost-efficiency and apply data protection best practices. + [Database Freedom](https://aws.amazon.com/solutions/databasemigrations/database-freedom/) facilitates migration to AWS database and analytics services. + [Amazon CodeGuru](https://aws.amazon.com/codeguru/) is a developer tool that provides intelligent recommendations to improve code quality and identify an application's most expensive lines of code. + [AWS hybrid cloud services](https://aws.amazon.com/hybrid/) deliver a consistent AWS experience wherever you need it—from the cloud, to on premises, and at the edge. **Additional resources** + [Cost optimization and innovation: An introduction to application modernization](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/modernizing-with-aws/cost-optimization-and-innovation-an-introduction-to-application-modernization/) (blog post) + [Optimizing the cost of serverless web applications](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/compute/optimizing-the-cost-of-serverless-web-applications/) (blog post) + [Windows on AWS](https://aws.amazon.com/blogs/modernizing-with-aws/) (blog) + [Modern applications](https://aws.amazon.com/modern-apps/) + [Application modernization](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CdEDhWdmutQ) (AWS re:Invent 2020) + [AWS microservices guide](https://pages.awscloud.com/microservices-guide.html) # Iterating the wave plan As the migration program moves forward and more waves are migrated, it is key to evolve the migration wave plan based on lessons learned and changing business priorities. In particular, for long-running migration programs, it is important to reassess business drivers and organizational change, and to ensure that the migration wave plan is still valid. Similarly, lessons learned from the migration will influence the wave plan composition and the scope of each wave. To avoid losing visibility into what is happening, keep the [wave plan](wave-planning.md) up to date. The plan should reflect and track what is being delivered, and it should manage and assess change to the migration scope. # Evolving and tracking the business case As the migration proceeds, especially for long-running programs, it is inevitable that business pressures will cause migration and modernization priorities to be regularly re-examined. We recommend that you both evolve the business case as new information becomes available, and that you track actual commercial performance against the expectations documented in the detailed business case. These recommendations include the following: + New structural change in the organization affecting business priorities and impacting IT strategy and the application portfolio with it + Increased commercial importance of one part of the application portfolio or the changes to it that migration and modernization are targeted to achieve + Availability of actual resource utilization data for migrated applications, including refining sizing and quantifying and confirming cases for incremental modernization + Availability of data on effort consumed in IT operations and support activities, and analyses of possible operational improvements and automation + Availability of data measuring changes in software development and maintenance cycle times, software defect by development stage and service availability information, and root cause analyses for areas open to further improvement By tracking performance against the business case, you can evolve the case to include further improvements that can be more readily assessed and quantified after migration starts. The program governance organization is much better equipped to respond to changing business pressures and to steer the transformation in a direction that drives the greatest value at a manageable and acceptable level of risk. This is particularly important for the IT productivity, resilience, and business agility benefits within the case. These are typically both the larger and the more difficult drivers to assess ahead of time. By tracking the performance of these drivers, the team can dive deep and resolve problems that are hindering benefits realization. Or the business case can be adjusted to prioritize initiatives that achieve the most ongoing financial performance optimization.