AWS Certified Solutions Architect Professional SAP-C02 Practice Question

The correct approach is to centralize the collected data, analyze it in context of business drivers, and use that analysis to plan the migration in manageable stages. This is the core principle of a well-structured migration.

First, using AWS Migration Hub to aggregate the data from AWS Application Discovery Service provides a single pane of glass for assessment and tracking. Next, a comprehensive portfolio assessment must be performed, which involves not just technical data but also business context like criticality, compliance, and application owners. Based on this enriched data, a thorough analysis using the 7 R's (Rehost, Replatform, Repurchase, Refactor, Relocate, Retain, Retire) should be conducted to determine the best migration strategy for each application. Finally, organizing the migration into waves is a critical best practice. This involves grouping applications based on dependencies, complexity, and the chosen migration strategy. Starting with less complex applications as 'quick wins' builds momentum and allows the team to learn before tackling more complex systems, while still keeping the overall data center exit timeline in view.

Calculating TCO is a crucial part of the business case, but focusing on it exclusively ignores other vital factors like technical complexity, business criticality, and dependencies, which can lead to a suboptimal migration sequence. A 'lift-and-shift' of all possible applications might seem fast, but it fails to capitalize on modernization opportunities and can move existing problems to the cloud, negating long-term agility and cost benefits. Prioritizing the most complex systems like mainframes first is a high-risk strategy that can derail the entire migration program if early waves encounter significant problems.