Declaration Software: pioneering solutions for complex IT migrations

Background

Nero Blanco, a UK-based company specialising in IT migration projects, created Declaration Software Ltd to develop applications that help organisations through mergers, acquisitions, divestitures (MAD) and consolidations.

One of the most complex technical problems in MAD projects is migrating user accounts and permissions. Manually separating, merging or re-creating identity data like Microsoft Active Directory is time-consuming and has a high risk of failure.

Declaration Software created PowerSyncPro to automate and streamline that process. It is a powerful tool that’s scalable to hundreds of thousands of email addresses and logins, with no need for manual processes or scripts.

PowerSyncPro eases the pain and frustration associated with large and complex migration projects. It provides a solution that allows partners to deliver more quickly and reliably, reducing end-user dissatisfaction and mitigating project risk.

By creating Declaration Software as a specialist product company, PowerSyncPro is now available for use beyond just Nero Blanco. Partners and even large clients can benefit directly from PowerSyncPro. This makes the combined expertise of over 50 years of migrations available to anyone doing mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and consolidations.

Problem

A global third-party outsourcing company started the software development. It was quickly clear that, while technically proficient, they weren’t delivering what was needed. They struggled to grasp the technical complexity of identity migration, resulting in software that did not achieve the project's goals.

After this setback, Nero Blanco assigned the work to a different developer. Despite having previously worked with identity products, the developer focused on the platform architecture, missing important experience points without delivering results that had real business value.

It was clear that Nero Blanco needed a partner with strong experience in architecture design and software processes who could deliver the results they needed.

Work

Nero Blanco contacted Equinox IT to take this development work with a balanced approach, covering architecture and software design equally.

The combined Nero Blanco and Equinox IT team adopted Agile and settled on Kanban for development methodology. This way of working allowed the product owners to manage backlog more efficiently, guided by business value and supported by what consultants identify as the most critical features when delivering projects. 

The development methodology allows Nero Blanco more time to satisfy clients and partners by continuously developing new features that enhance the application and simplify tasks. 

Outcome

Using PowerSyncPro, Nero Blanco has delivered substantial projects. In one such case, consultants migrated over 9,000 machines in a large migration over a single weekend. This client had nearly 100,000 users, including accounts used by external clients and suppliers, syncing from 14 different identity providers. 

PowerSyncPro has allowed Nero Blanco to create a template approach for similar projects, taking responsibility for the identity migration, the data migration and the end-user experience. PowerSyncPro administrators can concentrate on requirements elicitation and configuration validation to deliver migration projects faster, more predictably and with fewer interruptions.

Although the software currently targets Microsoft 365 and on-premises Active Directory (AD) instances, the company is in the final stages of testing Google Workspace. There are plans to extend the existing Sync and Migration Agent, adding support for HCL Domino, SQL Server, CSV data and server migration tasks.