SERVICE SCOPE
What’s in scope.
01
Estate, ownership and urgency
Establish what exists, where it runs, what it supports and who owns each decision. Review the support deadlines, exposures and business changes that create genuine urgency.
02
Routes and dependencies
Assign a considered route to each workload: retain, retire, replace, rehost, replatform or refactor. Record the application, data, integration and operational links that determine the order of work.
03
Foundation and decision gates
Identify landing-zone, identity, governance and security work that must precede migration. Separate decisions supported by current evidence from those requiring a deeper application, data or control review.
A map leaders can use.
Combine the technical findings with assumptions and decision ownership so the output supports programme planning.
✓
Estate inventory and owner map.
✓
Dependency view and workload decision register.
✓
Foundation gaps, risk and assumption log.
✓
TCO range with the inputs stated.
✓
Prioritised wave plan, decision roadmap and executive readout.
When the whole-estate map fits.
Use it for multiple workloads or business units, incomplete visibility, data-centre change, acquisitions or several related Azure concerns. Use a focused review when one application, legacy deadline, control issue or cost question is clearly the immediate priority.
01
Make connected decisions visible before scheduling work
Use the map when the organisation has several related triggers: an estate refresh, a data-centre change, acquired systems or competing application and data priorities. The goal is to create a coherent view of decisions and dependencies, not to assume that every workload will follow the same technical route.
The map should connect discovery evidence with business ownership and the reason for change. Azure assessment tools can contribute applicable readiness, sizing and cost inputs. Those outputs need to sit alongside vendor constraints, business calendars and foundation requirements so leaders can distinguish a recommended sequence from an untested list of projects.
02
Prepare cross-functional evidence and decision owners
Bring the best available inventory, architecture, costs, licences and important contracts. Identify business-service owners, shared dependencies and known gaps in recovery, access or support. Include planned business changes that may alter the value of retaining or replacing a workload.
The customer’s leaders should agree the criteria used to prioritise workloads and the authority for accepting risk. The output should include route decisions, dependencies, a sequenced plan and the assumptions behind cost ranges. Record which recommendations need further assessment before delivery can be priced. The map becomes useful when each unresolved question has an owner and each proposed wave has a clear reason to exist.
03
Decisions the assessment should make visible
Decision
Evidence to examine
What to agree
Priority
Business impact, support concerns, change demand and dependencies.
The criteria used to sequence work and resolve competing priorities.
Assessment depth
Known evidence, confidence and unresolved technical questions.
Which decisions are ready and which require focused investigation.
Programme ownership
Business sponsors, platform teams and application responsibilities.
Who approves routes, accepts assumptions and maintains the roadmap.
BEFORE YOU DECIDE
Practical questions.
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Is the output a fixed-price migration quotation?
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Can Azure Migrate contribute?
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Does the map guarantee an Azure destination?
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How is the map different from a server inventory?
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Can the map include systems that remain outside Azure?
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How detailed should the cost estimate be?
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Who keeps the roadmap current?
BUILD YOUR BUSINESS CASE
Give each application a reason for its next move.
The problem to solve.
An application list is not a modernisation roadmap. It needs a view of business value, technical constraints and the dependencies that determine the sequence.
What success should look like.
Build an ordered set of options with owners, prerequisites and a useful first pilot, so leadership can compare the next investments.
Bring these into the discussion.
A useful starting point for your team and the people approving the investment.
Useful reading for your proposal.
Evidence, examples and questions to take into the decision.
Insight
20 August 2026
Architecture choices
Look beyond the code when comparing options
Use a hosting and identity example to identify architecture dependencies.
Read the insight
Insight
25 August 2026
Prioritisation
Bring supportability into the roadmap
Tie application lifecycle decisions to owners and planned change.
Read the insight
Insight
13 August 2026
Investment framing
Check that the roadmap solves the right problem
Challenge whether the proposed technology change addresses the operating constraint.
Read the insight
LET’S GROW.
Work through the next step with Braintree.
Bring the portfolio and the business priorities. We can help turn a list of applications into an ordered decision plan.
