FiftyFive modernized the client’s legacy education platform by migrating core workloads to Azure, developing reusable OLAP APIs, updating database logic, and implementing automated testing, CI/CD pipelines, and centralised monitoring. This work enables structured data access and supports the ongoing cloud migration across the school estate.
Build Your Platform With UsThe client provides school management technology used by 15,000+ schools and over one million teachers and MAT leaders across the UK. The client engaged FiftyFive as its software engineering and cloud modernisation partner for a phased transformation of its legacy platform, covering custom API development, database modernisation, testing, CI/CD, monitoring, and cloud migration.
FiftyFive inherited a legacy education platform that constrained scaling, deployment, and recovery while serving a live national school estate. Modernisation had to proceed without interrupting daily operations across thousands of schools still running on-premises infrastructure.
FiftyFive delivered a phased modernisation programme that moved core workloads to Microsoft Azure while keeping the legacy estate operational. We containerised the application, rebuilt embedded database logic as reusable OLAP APIs and Stored Procedures, and established automated testing, deployment, and observability across the platform.
FiftyFive containerised application workloads and established the managed Azure services underpinning the modernised platform.
FiftyFive developed reusable analytical APIs that provide structured access to the client’s education datasets.
FiftyFive built a validation layer to confirm that modernised components reproduced established business rules.
FiftyFive replaced manual releases with standardised, repeatable delivery pipelines.
FiftyFive implemented platform-wide observability so migrated schools could be monitored from a single view.
Project Lead
Back-End Developer
DevOps Engineer
FiftyFive has migrated approximately 60% of the client’s school estate to Microsoft Azure. Migrated schools now operate on containerised infrastructure with centralised monitoring, repeatable deployments, and scaling independent of on-premises hardware.
Approximately 60% of the school estate has moved to Microsoft Azure, with the remaining migration targeted for December 2026.
Reusable OLAP APIs provide structured education data access across a platform serving more than 15,000 UK schools.
The modernised platform supports over one million teachers and MAT leaders accessing educational and administrative information.
Migrated schools gain centralised monitoring, repeatable Azure deployments, and scaling no longer constrained by on-premises hardware.
Legacy application modernisation on Azure moves existing applications to managed cloud services and restructures them for cloud operation through containerised workloads, Azure SQL, APIs, automated deployment, and monitoring.
EdTech platforms migrate school management systems to the cloud to gain independent scaling, faster deployments, centralised monitoring, and reliable disaster recovery across large school estates.
An OLAP API exposes analytical, read-optimised data through structured endpoints. Education platforms use these APIs to provide consistent access to pupil, staff, attendance, and qualification datasets without duplicating business logic.
A hybrid cloud migration moves schools to the cloud in phases while the remaining estate continues on-premises. The application must behave identically in both environments throughout the transition.
Azure Kubernetes Service runs containerised application workloads with orchestration, scaling, and self-healing, allowing education platforms to deploy consistently and scale independently of school hardware.
Legacy database logic is converted by extracting business rules into Stored Procedures, wrapping them in structured endpoints, and validating every output against the original system before retiring legacy components.
Statutory school census data is exposed through validated API endpoints with academic-year handling and date-based calculations. Every response is checked against established business rules before release.
Application Insights captures application telemetry, Log Analytics centralises service logs, and Container Insights monitors Kubernetes workloads, providing one operational view across the Azure platform.
Azure DevOps YAML pipelines define application build and Kubernetes deployment stages as version-controlled code, making releases repeatable, auditable, and consistent across environments.
Azure protects education data through Key Vault for secrets, Azure SQL security controls, role-based access, and centralised logging. Credentials are kept out of application code.
Large school-estate migrations usually run in phases because schools move progressively. Duration depends on estate size, legacy complexity, hybrid operating requirements, and the database logic requiring rebuild and validation.
FiftyFive provides dedicated Azure engineering teams covering cloud migration, API development, database modernisation, DevOps, and QA automation through flexible engagement models and time-zone-aligned delivery.
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