How it works
The engagement, step by step
Ten steps from first conversation to handover. Nothing moves before step four.
The ten steps
- 01
Intake
You complete the questionnaire and send the document package. We ask follow-up questions until the picture is complete.
- 02
Assessment
We review your infrastructure, spend and funding position, and tell you whether you are a realistic candidate for the credit programmes.
- 03
Cost estimate
We produce a written estimate covering one-off migration cost and ongoing AWS run rate, with assumptions listed.
- 04
Your approval
You sign off the scope, the sequence and the estimate. You also sign the expectation confirmation sheet. Nothing moves until this is done.
- 05
Credit routes
We identify which programmes apply to you, in what order, and what evidence each one needs.
- 06
Applications
We prepare and submit the applications. Each one is tracked separately because each one is decided separately.
- 07
Migration
Workloads move in the agreed sequence, lowest risk first, with rollback available at each stage.
- 08
Attestations
We assemble the proof of completed migration that AWS requires before releasing staged credits.
- 09
Monitoring
We watch actual spend against the forecast for the first billing cycles and flag divergence early.
- 10
Handover
Documentation, access, cost dashboards and open items are handed to your team in a recorded session.
What you hold before anything moves
By the end of step four you have all of this in writing. If any of it is missing, the migration does not start.
A written cost estimate
One-off and ongoing, with every assumption listed next to the figure it affects.
A defined scope
Named workloads, named services, named regions. What is in and what is explicitly out.
The credit programmes that apply
Which ones you can apply to, which you cannot, and the honest read on each.
The migration sequence
The order workloads move in and why, with rollback defined for each stage.
A document checklist
Everything we need from you, listed once, so there are no repeated requests.
A timeline
Calendar dates for each stage, including the parts that depend on AWS rather than on us.
Status clarity
One current status for the engagement, which you can ask about at any time.
Named owners
Who does what, on our side and yours, with a single point of contact each way.
Step four
The expectation confirmation sheet
Before any work begins you sign a short document confirming you understand the following. It exists because credit expectations are the single most common source of dispute in this work.
It is one page. We would rather have an uncomfortable conversation in week one than an expensive one in month six.
- Estimated amounts are projections based on the information provided and are not guaranteed.
- Maximum amounts published by AWS represent a ceiling, not an entitlement.
- All credit decisions are made solely by AWS. DTCS does not influence or guarantee any outcome.
- Migration credits and AWS Activate are separate programmes with separate criteria and separate decisions.
- Approved credits may be released in stages against proof of completed work.
- You remain responsible for AWS charges regardless of whether any credit is approved.
- Work outside the agreed scope is quoted separately before it is started.
Engagement statuses
Every engagement sits in exactly one of these at any moment. Ask us which, at any time.
- 01Not yet assessed
- 02Information incomplete
- 03Estimate in progress
- 04Estimate approved by client
- 05Migration credits submitted
- 06Migration credits approved
- 07Migration in progress
- 08Migration completed
- 09Attestation submitted
- 10Activate application submitted
- 11Activate under review
- 12Credits confirmed
- 13Project completed
Start at step one
The intake takes most teams a couple of hours to complete properly. The assessment that follows costs you nothing.