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Problem #1
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Development and maintenance
 Huge demand for DMG services plus focus on short-term
benefits led to shortcuts in code development
 More time is now spent on maintenance and support
activities than developing new features
 Current technology stack and code base does not support
agile development
 Aging code base and technology stack is not adequate to
meet current and future demands
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Problem #1
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DMG’s technical debt
 New features take longer to develop
 Testing takes longer
 Software deployments take longer
 System has become less stable
 Extremely difficult to troubleshoot issues
 Code base is “brittle”
 New developers take longer to ramp up
 Not an attractive job for developers
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Problem #2
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Scalability
 Ingest and export processes not able to handle burst
traffic loads
 Exponential growth in storage usage and related costs
 Peak sizing can result in excess capacity
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Scope of Complexity
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Plan of Record with MCS
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DMG looking to leverage MCS to obtain asset
management back-end services and storage
 Migrate cineSHARE users/assets in phases
 Then migrate EAGL to MCS-DMR in one shot
DMG focuses on maintaining customer-facing
applications
 Expected benefits
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Better scalability and performance
Increased agility to create innovative solutions
Lower long-term storage costs
Cost savings from reduced headcounts (back-end services and
infrastructure)
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Assumptions
Necessary DMR services will be available in MCS
solution
 “MCS-DMR” services are functionally and
architecturally adequate
 MCS can meet new SPE feature requests in a
timely manner
 MCS charges SPE at cost
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Impacts of Assumptions
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Focused on short-term fixes to DMR rather than
implementing complete fixes that would be “thrown
away” once DMR was re-platformed on to MCS
 Further contributes to technical debt

Deferred work on enhancements (e.g. review and
approval) if those features were available or
planned in MCS
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Concerns / Risks
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“MCS-DMR” is built on the same legacy code base as EAGL
Less than 50% of DMR services are enabled in current MCS
solution
MCS estimates for closing the DMR and cineSHARE feature
gaps are troublesome from a timing perspective
Migration costs will increase due to complexity of a phased
approach
The “MCS-DMR” integration is a moving target - both sides
are drifting since the branch of code
Will MCS and SPE priorities stay aligned?
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Alternative Plan with MCS
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Migrate client applications to MCS from both EAGL and
cineSHARE as and when required features are
available
 Attractive because avoids a big switch over and can be started
soon
 Complex because of dependencies between features and
because of sharing of assets
 Assumes Ci UI will work for migrated users

Use MCS for relevant new workflows, e.g. review and
approval
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New Platform
Needed to continue DMGs mission efficiently
Build a new digital media platform using modern web technologies,
protocols and design practices
 Target cloud deployment
 Leverage open source/best of breed technologies
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 Ruby on Rails, ElasticSearch, Node.js, MongoDB
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Benefits
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Timely response to customer needs
Faster development
Less maintenance
Continuous Delivery
○ Continuous Integration/Automated Testing
○ Continuous Deployment
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Options
Replace entire stack (DMR, Eagl, etc)
1.
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Complete split from MCS, development burden falls on DMG
Replace application layer, keep DMR (either DMG or MCS)
2.
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Imperfect solution, likely intermediate solution
Constrained by existing DMR interfaces, likely need a services
layer to isolate them
Allows MCS to carry on with plan of record
Explore with MCS a common path to a new platform
3.
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Does MCS see same issues with code base?
E.g. DMG moves application layer to new platform, MCS
moves DMR to new platform.
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New Platform: Architectural Map
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Insert diagram
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Benefits of New Technology Stack
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Faster development – less lines of code to achieve
functionality
Easier to maintain – Ruby and JSON
Easier to ramp up new developers
Better support for open source tools
Better integration for external apps
Better design for future demands
Support for continuous integration and deployment
Enhances collaboration and innovation
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