A well-known healthcare organization in the United States needed to migrate from GitHub Enterprise Cloud to a self-managed instance of GitHub Enterprise Server (GES) in Azure. This decision responded to a critical need: to meet compliance standards, improve internal control, and unify identity management through Enterprise Managed Users (EMU).

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A Strategic Shift to Strengthen Control and Security

The client faced several critical issues that limited their operational capacity:

• Limited control over cloud infrastructure
• Poor integration with centralized authentication systems
• Risk of losing historical data (pull requests, issues, releases)
• Concern over potential loss of secrets and users during the migration
• Dependence on unverified actions from GitHub Marketplace

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The CleverIT Approach: Phased Migration and Full Automation

As a top GitHub partner and specialists in the platform, CleverIT proposed a two-phase plan to minimize risks and ensure a complete migration.

• Phase 1: Migration of repositories and organizational configuration using a custom tool based on github-gei. 
• Phase 2: Migration of users to Enterprise Managed Users (EMU) through the export of active users, mapping of new IDs, and automated replacement of mannequins with EMU accounts.

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Additionally, we implemented:

• Custom pipelines to automate and validate the migration process
• A detailed inventory of migrable and non-migrable items
• Extensive technical documentation to support future management

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In this project, our partnership with GitHub and Microsoft was key to implementing best practices, licensing GitHub Enterprise Server in Azure with native EMU integration, and providing extended support to the client.

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The Impact of CleverIT and GitHub

The migration resulted in significant improvements for the client, including:

• Successful migration of repositories with full history intact.
• Repositories adapted to GES structure with EMU, without loss of functionality.
• Fully automated mannequin user replacement process.
• Pipelines implemented for deployment and testing in custom branches.
• Adjusted permissions and workflow triggers for controlled environments.

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Thanks to this project, our client now operates with greater autonomy, enhanced security, and alignment with top governance standards—strengthening their software development capabilities without compromising operational continuity.

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