Case Studies

The Situation

After being spun off as a separate, legally traded company, Seahawk Drilling had to establish its own IT infrastructure. As part of the process, Seahawk Drilling brought in Waypoint Business Solutions as a technical consultant to help with the migration of various Microsoft systems, including Windows Server 2003, Exchange 2007 and Office Communication Server 2007. Waypoint’s primary focus was to create the project plan and implement the process for migrating 350 users and desktops to the new domain, as well as configure the associated services. Other affected business applications included JD Edwards, Enterprise One, Hyperion, eRoom, and SkillsXP. The switch also involved a physical move to a new office space, as well as migration of RIMDrill and Maximo, which are applications used on Seahawk Drilling platforms.

The Solution

As the project evolved from the initial consultation engagement, Waypoint became the feet on the ground. Because Seahawk Drilling was becoming its own entity, the project involved unique business factors – limited access to the parent company’s environment, strict security concerns dealing with Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) compliance and no negative impact on operations at the parent company. Despite these challenges, Waypoint successfully accomplished the migration and overcame technical issues during the physical relocation of Seahawk Drilling offices.

The Benefit

The project accomplished goals established at the project inception: Completed migration by the physical move, no major outages, minimal impact to users, zero impact to the parent company environment and a financial close before moving the JDE environment. Seahawk Drilling now utilizes an infrastructure that supports operations while accommodating room for growth of the infant organization. Waypoint was able to quickly adapt to a variety of technical issues presented over the course of the migration, resulting in a seamless transition for the company and its end users.