cts-289 --project
Hybrid Cloud / Microsoft 365 Migration
This capstone models a 250-user organization modernizing messaging, collaboration, endpoint support, licensing, disaster recovery, and operational support workflows. The project shows how I approach infrastructure planning from both technical and business angles: requirements gathering, migration risk, budget modeling, support readiness, and executive-level communication.
Overview
A 250-user, on-premises-to-Microsoft-365 hybrid cloud migration and IT support operations system design — covering messaging and collaboration migration, endpoint support, licensing, disaster recovery, and day-one monitoring, modeled over a 5-year budget and staged rollout.
Problem
A 250-user organization needed to modernize on-premises messaging, collaboration, endpoint support, licensing, and disaster recovery — plus day-to-day IT support operations — without disrupting service, while controlling cost and risk over a multi-year horizon.
Goals
- Migrate messaging and collaboration to Microsoft 365 with minimal downtime
- Modernize endpoint support, licensing, and disaster recovery alongside the migration
- Model a realistic 5-year budget and staged rollout
- Harden identity and access controls during the transition
- Build in monitoring and support processes from day one
Design Approach
Phased migration model: Pilot → Wave 1 → Wave 2 → Executive → Stabilize, with a least-privilege access control model and a TLS certificate management data model layered in throughout.
- Staged wave rollout over a single cutover, to bound blast radius and allow rollback per wave
- Least-privilege access model applied before, not after, user migration
- Executive/VIP accounts migrated in a dedicated, closely monitored wave
Technical Components
- Microsoft 365
- Azure AD / AD Connect
- Exchange Online
- SharePoint Online
- Microsoft Teams
- OneDrive
- EOP
- MFA / Conditional Access
- Splunk for Azure
- Cisco ThousandEyes
- PowerShell
- Graph API
- Cisco Duo
Business / Operational Value
The $486,760 modeled 5-year budget ties technical migration decisions to a real cost model that management can evaluate. The phased wave rollout bounds blast radius and keeps rollback available per wave, while identity and security hardening applied before migration reduces exposure during the transition window. Full system design is documented as a downloadable PDF; this is a system-design capstone, not a live client engagement.
Skills Demonstrated
- Migration planning and phased rollout risk management
- Identity and access hardening (MFA, Conditional Access, least privilege)
- Multi-year IT budget modeling
- Monitoring and support readiness (Splunk, ThousandEyes)
- Executive and stakeholder communication for a phased cutover