Enterprise Systems’ OCRchive Migration to AWS Cloud

Background

Enterprise Systems developed OCRchive as an on-premise monolithic application. The application’s architecture facilitated the upload of large files, making it suitable for clients with significant data processing needs and slower connections. However, with the increasing availability of high-speed internet and growing demand for integrations, Enterprise Systems recognised the need to migrate OCRchive to the cloud.

Solution

After careful consideration, Enterprise Systems chose Amazon Web Services (AWS) as their cloud platform, leveraging the team’s expertise in the AWS ecosystem. The migration process began with a comprehensive security review and penetration testing to ensure the application’s integrity and protect sensitive client data.

To optimize the application’s performance and scalability, the team re-engineered OCRchive’s architecture. The team replaced the database queue implementation with Amazon Simple Queue Service (SQS), enabling efficient message queuing and decoupling of services. Additionally, the authentication system was replaced with Keycloak, an open-source identity and access management solution, allowing seamless integration with third-party identity providers like Google and Microsoft.

To handle unpredictable and infrequent compute requirements, we used AWS Lambda, a serverless compute service. This allowed the application to scale automatically based on demand, reducing infrastructure costs. For heavy compute tasks, such as document processing, we used Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (EC2) instances.

To maintain cost-effectiveness and streamline infrastructure management, the infrastructure team implemented a comprehensive infrastructure as code (IaC) solution from the outset. This approach enabled the creation of new instances without service requests, ensuring a smooth and efficient deployment process.

Results

The first production clients were successfully onboarded OCRchive Cloud in late 2023. The team developed custom integrations using AWS Serverless to process webhooks for new document creation, enhancing the application’s functionality and user experience.

To ensure the application’s reliability and performance, we implemented monitoring and alerting using Amazon Simple Notification Service (SNS). This allowed the team to proactively identify and resolve any issues, minimising downtime and ensuring a seamless experience for clients.

The migration project provided an opportunity for our people to leverage and expand their AWS skills, positioning the company for future growth and innovation in the cloud computing space.

Data Migration

To facilitate a smooth transition from on-premise to cloud, data migration scripts were built and tested. These scripts will be reused as additional clients migrate their data from on-premise installations to the cloud-based OCRchive. This approach ensures data consistency and minimizes disruption during the migration process.

Conclusion

Enterprise Systems’ successful migration of OCRchive to the AWS cloud demonstrates the company’s commitment to investment in modernising solutions that meet the evolving needs of their clients. By leveraging AWS services and the team’s expertise, we can successfully support our customers’ requirements and grow the platform.