In an era where agility and security are paramount, a leading IoT solutions company faced a critical challenge: modernizing its development ecosystem. Although its existing GitLab platform worked, it limited its growth potential and the advanced security capabilities the company required. The objective was clear: a seamless migration of more than 1,600 repositories and over 50 CI/CD pipelines to GitHub Enterprise Cloud (GHEC) with minimal disruption to ongoing operations.

To carry out this complex transition, our client needed a partner with proven technical expertise and a precise methodology. CleverIT, with its deep knowledge of GitHub, DevOps, repository migration, and automation, was the ideal choice to lead the project.

Experience and collaborative methodology
CleverIT’s solution focused on a collaborative and iterative methodology specifically designed to mitigate risks and ensure continuous communication. The team, composed of two DevOps Engineers and a GitHub DevOps Specialist, worked closely with the client’s internal teams.

The project was structured into manageable “waves,” allowing repositories to be migrated in controlled batches. Each wave included key steps:

• Planning and preparation: Definition of scope and alignment with all stakeholders.
• Execution: Migration execution, including the transfer of repositories and configurations.
• Support: Real-time assistance through dedicated Teams chat groups to immediately resolve any user issues.
• Communication: Sending notifications at the beginning and end of each wave to ensure transparency and readiness.

This structured and incremental approach not only ensured a smooth process but also preserved the integrity of all repositories, the permissions of more than 240 users, and existing workflows.

Key results and achievements
The project was an overwhelming success. CleverIT met all technical objectives on time and within the planned schedule. Among the most notable results were:

• Complete repository migration: All target repositories were successfully migrated to GitHub with no data loss.
• CI/CD workflow optimization: The existing pipelines in GitLab CI were reviewed and fully adapted to run on GitHub Actions, including fixes to branch selectors and build triggers.
• Enhanced security: GitHub Advanced Security (GHAS) was enabled across all eligible repositories, providing full coverage for code scanning, secret scanning, and dependency scanning.
• Automation: New scripts and pipelines were developed to automate validations and speed up post-migration adjustments.
• Frictionless collaboration: All teams, AD groups, and permissions were validated, ensuring proper access control and establishing a solid foundation for future improvements.

The collaboration between CleverIT and our client resulted in a seamless transition that not only modernized the company’s development infrastructure but also established a more secure and efficient environment for future innovation.