Tufts University’s Atlassian Adoption

THE JOURNEY FROM LEGACY TOOL TO AN AGILE PROJECT MANAGEMENT TOOL

How Empyra helped Tufts University to adopt a modern and agile, single shared, easy to use project management tool for all users to bring transparency and improve productivity.

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About Tufts University

Tufts University, a renowned private research university inMassachusetts, was founded in 1852. Being a member of the Association ofAmerican Universities, a selective group of 64 leading research universities inNorth America, Tufts University is considered to be one of the most prestigiousuniversities in the United States and offers over 90 undergraduate and 160graduate programs.

Problem Statement

The existing tools were not connected and all the users were not using the same tool, and this was creating information silos.
The existing tool was cumbersome and only supported waterfall methodology, resulting in lower productivity, rigid processes, and delayed output extensive training was needed to manage workflows.
There were several small Jira implementations throughout the university that needed to be consolidated as it was leading to limited organizational visibility and information silos across teams.
Licenses of the existing tool were set to expire and would not be renewed and the licenses for the new tool were awfully expensive.

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Solution Delivered By Empyra

Migration to Atlassian Products, i.e., Jira Software and Jira Service Management

Data Migration to Atlassian Tools

Configuration and setup of JSW and JSM projects per specifications

Provided Training for Jira Admin on access management and designing workflows

Trained University employees for Agile ITSM in fast-paced and complex IT environments

The Challenges

Tufts University is a 170-year-old American University with more than 6600+ employees and offers over 90 undergraduate and 160 graduate programs, as well recognized among a group of 64 leading research universities in North America

Unhappy with its previous system for several reasons, Tufts University selected Empyra to provide better control to manage workflows and replace the overpriced legacy tool that work on waterfall methodology, which was killing productivity and resulting in huge amount of operational cost.

Tufts University knew modern tools like JSM and JSW had the potential to deliver much more. This prompted the University to look for a strategic delivery partner that could provide Support, Training, and Consultancy expertise across the complete Atlassian suite of products.

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Delivering The Solution

The Initial Project

Transformation happens when progressive and futuristic leadership joins the organization that’s and what happened with Tufts University when Empyra reached out to the University IT Operation supervision team. We found the existing setup was not only awfully expensive, but also cumbersome to use. The absence of transparency in their system affected coordination and project schedule resulting in delayed output.

Requirements gathering

Empyra head started by engaging in more than half a dozenworkshops with different sets of stakeholders from multiple developmentdepartments for distinctive OnDemand accounts. The workshops pinned down TuftsUniversity’s initial requirements and then examined the more complex elements,including the need to consolidate the approach. Empyra’s research wasexhaustive to pin down what was needed. The process was conducted in atransparent and collaborative way with regular status update for Tufts Universitystakeholders, which ensured stakeholders always understood what decisions werebeing made and why.

Implementing the solution

Implementation is a crucial part of the new tool adoptionjourney where the employees face difficulty to use a brand-new user interface.We divided implementation into three stages to deploy the JSM and JSW for ahassle-free experience for employees with a very short learning curve forbetter adaptability of the Atlassian Products.

Jira and Jiraservice Management Migrations

Stage 1

Migrated to Atlassian Products i.e., Jira Software and Jira Service Management following standardized processes.
Migrated all the existing data to Atlassian JSM & JSW from their legacy tool.

Stage 2

Configured and Set up JSW and JSM projects per specification.
Created User accounts, helped Tufts University to design their workflows as per requirement, and developed project boards

Stage 3

Hands-on training for university employees on Agile ITSM, access management and creating workflows.

Benefits Delivered toTufts University

Empyra helped The Tufts University enable seamless collaboration between employees with zero redundancy & silos in the organization, and all employees are now active JIRA Service Desk users. Through rapid collaborative delivery, Empyra provided the best experience of adopting flexible and reliable Atlassian Products – Jira Service Management & Jira Software.

Extensive training and support helped the University adopt the Jira Service Management faster and improve efficiency and productivity.

How Empyra Made A Difference

Empyra is a provider of strategic consulting services and custom solutions to organizations in various industries since 1994. We are one of the best Atlassian Platinum Enterprise partners in the United States. With over 20 years of experience in enterprise consulting, we’ve acquired proven expertise in areas such as agile coaching/transformation, technical advisory, configuration, DevOps, ITSM, product implementation, data management, integrations, and app development.

We pride ourselves on not simply being experts at implementing software but, helping drive teams to maximize their use of these tools in a sustainable, productive, and standardized way. Therefore, we believe to shake hands with our customers for their success and achieve heights in their respective industries.

Why Choose Empyra For Atlassian Support Services

30+ Years of Experience

End-to-End Service Coverage

Industry-Specific Solutions

Proven Delivery Methodology

Dedicated Support & Training

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What Our Customers Have to Say

"Empyra has been extremely helpful in getting Cohen & Company’s Atlassian environments up and running. They have been able to provide great guidance in the options available and also have been able to execute on implementation of those options in a timely and effective manner. They have helped us bring in other departments outside of IT to utilize the service desk options to manage requests and workflows with great reviews from those teams."

Chief Technology Officer

Cohen and Company

"The Empyra consultant has allowed us to take the use of Atlassian's Jira product to new levels across the organization, providing significant improvements in workflows in IT as well as many Finance and Operations teams. There have been some complex requests that Empyra have dealt with, and all have been completed professionally, collaboratively, and efficiently. Empyra have always been super responsive, and are keen to work with the various OTC teams to solve their individual business needs."

Roger Abrahams, Senior Vice President - IT

OTC Industrial Technologies

"As our exclusive Atlassian partner, we brought Empyra in to plan, execute and manage our Atlassian migration to the cloud. From pre to post migration activities and support, Empyra was there to support our project team every step of the way. The migration went as smoothly as possible, and there was no major impact to our business operations."

Sr. Manager, Portfolio Management

"I was very pleased with the consistent can-do attitude the Empyra team brought to each meeting, they quickly came up with solutions, suggestions, recommendations on our various challenges and pitfalls during the migration. My team and I really appreciated that the Empyra team made themselves available 24/7 to troubleshoot with us or answered any questions raised in a timely manner."

Sr. Manager, Portfolio Management

"I'd like to extend a heartfelt thank you to the Empyra team for their exceptional support during our migration of Confluence and Jira from server to cloud including 14 managed apps. Their expertise and dedication were instrumental in navigating this complex transition smoothly. We truly couldn't have achieved this milestone without their guidance and hard work. Their efforts were a crucial factor in the success of our migration project, and we are deeply appreciative of their partnership. Thank you, Empyra, for being such a reliable and effective ally in our journey to the cloud!"

Gavi Ornelas-Morales, Tools Support, Supervisor

University of California Office of the President