After a successful project planning and implementation, it is important to put the developed system, the developed application or the constructed platform into a productive state and to operate it in the long term. In this area we also offer a range of services with many years of experience.

Going live and Initial Operation

In the transitional area between project implementation and support, a developed system must be put into production and put into operation after successfully completing tests (functional tests and load tests). In the case of smaller systems or systems that are only to be used by a small number of users, this procedure can be implemented quickly, although in individual cases special features of the specific operating environment must be taken into account. Due to higher security requirements, configurations often need to be modified and a rollback must be prepared in case unforeseen problems occur despite careful preparation. In particular, this sketched application case occurs when a new application version is to be implemented.

If it is a larger system with a large number of users, which may be used by many companies (e.g. typically for B2B applications), then the productive launch can also be a longer process. In such cases, the rollout of the application takes place step-by-step by using an authorization system to access the application after a certain time frame. Usually the rollout starts with selected users (key users). In preparation for such a rollout, special documentation is created for end users, which can also be used in the context of training courses to be held.

Provision of Second Level Support

Once an application or platform has been created and put into live operation, the system is usually used by a higher number of users. The experience of the users often varies. Possible and simple operating errors are implemented in first level support and are often offered by call centers. Second level support, on the other hand, is mainly concerned with providing assistance with configuration or administration tasks that are rarely performed and are complex. The goal is to effectively relieve the users and prevent problems.

Other applications include complex operating sequences. Here, problems can also occur with a user-friendly interface. The reasons for this often lie in the fact that such complex operating sequences are rarely required and that detailed knowledge of the business processes depicted is often also necessary.

In order to be able to provide these services at a high level of quality, our support staff are trained in the software systems to be supported, so that even complex support requirements can be implemented very well. The receipt, processing and documentation of support cases is done with the help of modern ticket systems such as Jira. In order to be able to offer services with service level agreements, all our service employees have the appropriate knowledge according to ITIL. Internally, our support processes are aligned with these best practices and include organizational processes such as incident management, problem management, service level management or capacity management.

Provision of Third Level Support

In addition to the support of use cases already described in the section on second level support, problems can arise that are much more profound and also require a considerably higher level of technical know-how. Corresponding problems can arise from several situations. For example, requirements for the application or platform may have changed or errors may have been discovered that only became apparent after the development process and going live and after intensive use.

In both cases the necessary changes are not so extensive that a new development project has to be started. In addition, two different situations can exist:

• The application or platform should be further developed in the long term.
• The application or platform should only be supported.

In the first situation, in addition to detailed knowledge of the technical implementation, closer cooperation with the development team is also required. Our third level support ensures that the employees deployed not only have detailed knowledge of the application or platform, but also master all technologies used within the application or platform.

Administration and Support of Runtime Environments

Even if Kubernetes is a modern, powerful runtime environment for very complex applications or platforms, it is necessary to plan administration and support services for long-term operation. For this purpose we offer corresponding services. These services include the following:

• Monitoring of a Kubernet cluster including error analysis and troubleshooting
• Support in the development and management of a multi-cluster solution (e.g. for the implementation of multi-level staging systems)
• Planning of administration and support tasks
• Extension of an existing Kubernet cluster (inclusion of further compute nodes)
• Update of the Kubernetes version
• Collaboration with the development team to create a continuous delivery and deployment system