After a large merger in mid-2015, Paysafe, a fintech company providing payment solutions worldwide, had several instances of Atlassian products spread across the globe. With 4 JIRA Software, 3 Confluence, 2 Bitbucket, 2 Bamboo and 2 HipChat server instances, our team made the bold decision to unify them into a single instance for each product. Further complicating the already daunting task were 6 active directories of users, a diverse set of admins, and different levels of organizational maturity across our development, product, and business teams. A year after we set sail, Paysafe now has a single production instance of the majority of these products, with little impact to users, no data loss, and improved performance. In this session, we will outline our journey into the uncharted waters of consolidation focusing on our 4 JIRA instances, as this was the most critical and challenging mission in our quest. Together with our Atlassian Solution Partner, Nemetschek Bulgaria, we will share tips and best practices on limiting downtime, eliminating the risk for loss of vital data, and the unification of user management. Radostina Kavrakova, IT Product Support Manager, Paysafe Group plc George Stoyanov, Senior Software Engineer & Project Leader, Nemetschek Bulgaria

1. A Brave Journey in Merge Waters
How Paysafe Consolidated Their Atlassian Tools
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2. A global payments provider
Formed after a major fintech merger
Heavily regulated industry
Tough security requirements
Differences
Culture, development cycles, technology stacks

3. Our team at a
glance
!
18+ years of experience
One of the first software houses in Bulgaria
A trusted partner for companies
worldwide
Preferable provider of software development
services and solutions
Atlassian partner since 2012
Full Atlassian stack services
50+ successful client
implementations
6 Atlassian Marketplace add-ons

4. Paysafe’s Atlassian Stacks
Sofia & London New Stack
AD

5. Paysafe’s Atlassian Stacks
Sofia & London New Stack Calgary Vienna
AD

6. 6
Active directories

7. OUR JOURNEY
At a crossroads
Aug 2015 Oct 2015 Nov 2015
Corporate
acquisition

8. Continue with
multiple stacks
At a
crossroads
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
!

9. At a
crossroads
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
!
New stack
But keep existing tools for reference &
regulatory requirements

10. At a
crossroads
Option 1
Option 2
Option 3
!
Consolidate
Support single instance for each tool

11. Paysafe’s initial requirements
No data loss Keep active
backlogs
Server mode
But on a cloud
storage
Links
Between tools, to
ADs, SSO

12. Nemetschek Bulgaria’s questions
Live data or just
reference
Time & effortData needed
Agile & add-on data?
AUG
2015

13. Test
Evaluate
Give options

14. OUR JOURNEY
At a crossroads
Aug 2015 Oct 2015 Nov 2015
Corporate merger
Proof of concept
Dec 2015

15. Proof of
concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
Instances
JIRA Version
6.4.5
Projects

16. Proof of
concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
Automation
Approach
Instances
JIRA Version
6.4.5
Projects

17. Proof of
concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
DIRECT MERGE EXTERNAL
MERGE
XML XML XMLXML

18. Plan
Proof of
concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
SQL

19. Proof of
Concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
Preparations
JIRA version & add-ons
Must be same on both systems
Active Directories
Merge user groups and members
Duplicates
General configurations, projects,
workflows, boards

20. Proof of
Concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
Preparations
JIRA version & add-ons
Must be same on both systems
Active Directories
Merge user groups and members
Duplicates
General configurations, projects,
workflows, boards
Integrity checks
JIRA systems free from consistency
problems

21. Proof of
Concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
Tips & Tricks
Same-name projects
Not enough to rename projects
Broken filters
Do not delete filters, fix them.
Broken agile boards
Create and use one universal filter

22. Proof of
Concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
Configuration merge
Projects configuration
Easy when using add-on and systems
are consistent
Backup & Import
Project import via XML working OK if
all configurations are set
Linking
ADs already linked; Confluence and
other Atlassian systems to be
configured

23. Proof of
concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
DASHBOARDS / AGILE / ADD-ONS
SQL

24. Proof of
concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
DASHBOARDS / AGILE / ADD-ONS
CSV CSV
SQL

25. Proof of
concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
Results
Consolidated Instance
Reviewed and accepted
Plan
Detailed for each options

26. Proof of
concept
Plan
Execute
Evaluate
JIRA Merge Options
Partial Consolidation
JIRA + reference systems for
agile & add-on data
Full consolidation
JIRA + agile & add-on data

27. Merge them all
DECISION

28. Paysafe’s final requirements
No data loss Keep active
backlogs
Server mode
But on a cloud
storage
Links
Between tools,
6 ADs
SSO

29. Paysafe’s final requirements
No data loss Keep active
backlogs
Server mode
But on a cloud
storage
Links
Between tools,
6 ADs
SSOOn internal hosting

30. OUR JOURNEY
At a crossroads
Aug 2015 Oct 2015 Nov 2015
Corporate merger
Proof of concept
Dec 2015 May 2016
Atlassian stack
merge starts

31. 1st JIRA
merge
Planning
Execution
Result
!
Get access to all
systems involved
Ensure limited
downtime, weekends
only
Communication

32. 1st JIRA
merge
Planning
Execution
Result
!
Test again
No-downtime stage

33. 1st JIRA
merge
Planning
Execution
Result
!
AD
Sofia & London New Stack

34. 1st JIRA
merge
Planning
Execution
Result
!
6 ADs!

35. 1st JIRA
merge
Planning
Execution
Result
!
Success

36. Next steps
2nd JIRA merge
!
6 ADs!
Calgary

37. Next steps
2nd JIRA merge
!
6 ADs!

38. Next steps
2nd JIRA merge
!
3rd JIRA merge
Vienna
6 ADs!

39. Next steps
2nd JIRA merge
!
3rd JIRA merge
6 ADs!

40. Next steps
2nd JIRA merge
!
3rd JIRA merge
In the meantime
Confluence merges

41. Next steps
2nd JIRA merge
!
3rd JIRA merge
In the meantime
Confluence merges
6 ADs!

42. Next steps
2nd JIRA merge
!
3rd JIRA merge
In the meantime
Resulting stack
6 ADs!

43. OUR JOURNEY
Corporate merger At a crossroads
Proof of concept
Atlassian stack
merge starts
AUG 2015 OCT 2015 NOV 2015 DEC 2015 MAY 2016AUG 2015

44. OUR JOURNEY
JIRA & Confluence
merges complete
JUL 2016 OCT 2016
First JIRA Merge
6 ADs!
Bitbuckets merged
Bamboo in
progress
NOW
6 ADs!

45. JIRA for everyone

46. One team to merge
them all
Takeaways
The team
!

47. Make decisions when
due
Takeaways
The team
Be Agile
!

48. CommunicateTakeaways
The team
Be Agile
Communication
!

49. Takeaways
The team
Be Agile
Communication
Practical advice
!
Invest in cleaning
your instances
Always use test
instance
Link other tools early

50. Thank you!
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G E O R G E S T O Y A N O V | S E N I O R S O F T W A R E E N G I N E E R & P R O J E C T L E A D | N E M E T S C H E K B U L G A R I A