How do you grow your AWS consulting business? One way is to use nOps for Well-Architected Framework Reviews (WAFR) and systematically build up a portfolio of repeatable work packages that helps you grow.

If you follow the three practices in this article you will be creating better remediation plans and proposals: they will be faster to make, of much higher quality and value, and you’ll be building a library of reusable work packages. 

How is this true? Let’s begin with a question: 

“What is the most important part of a Well Architected Framework Review?” 

It’s none of these things.

If the most important outcome of a WAFR is the remediation actions, then:

  • To perform the remediations you need an approved remediation proposal.
  • To create a remediation proposal you need the WAFR report.
  • To create a report we need the recommendations from the assessment.

Therefore, the most important part of a WAFR are the recommendations you make for each of the WAFR questions you have addressed. 

It’s the recommendations that make your remediation proposal better.

Therefore, the quality of your remediation proposal depends on how good you are at recommendations.

There are three reasons why recommendations are the secret to winning remediation proposals:

  1. Prepare recommendations before the assessment. These link WAFR questions to your work package solutions.
  2. If you don’t have prepared recommendations, add custom recommendations as you go through the review where you can, even if the recommendation is to “Investigate further” with details.
  3. Automagically include recommendations in your WAFR report and use these recommendations as the backbone of your remediation plan and proposal.

You can do all three of these with nOps Recommendations Templates. 

Here’s how.

 

1. How to prepare WAFR recommendation templates to match your work packages

You know that WAFR SEC-2 is about securing identities and access to the cloud. You have solved this before. In fact, you’ve documented a work package in your professional services portfolio that it’s something you offer in a WAFR remediation proposal.

You want to create a prepared recommendation that links SEC-2 to your work package using Recommendation Templates.

First, you create the recommendation template in the nOps Partner Dashboard.

Next, you use the prepared recommendation in the WAFR assessment in the nOps Client Dashboard.

Now your prepared recommendation is added to SEC-2 and when you have completed the assessment and generated the report, the recommendation will appear.

These are automatically included in the nOps WAFR report. In your remediation proposal you can clearly and convincingly link your work packages to WAFR questions, which is simple and powerful. 

You can’t do this with any other tool on the market, including the AWS Management Console native tool.

 

2. How to add custom recommendations to WAFR questions during the assessment

As you progress through the WAFR assessment you will find questions that are important to the remediation but you don’t have a prepared recommendation or work package. 

Or, you do have a prepared recommendation and work package but it’s not quite right for this client and situation. 

So what do you do? You create a custom recommendation during the assessment.

Take SEC-3, for example. 

Your standard, off-the-shelf work package PS-SKU-WAFR-SEC-3 has a standard recommendation template in nOps but it’s not quite a fit for this client and this situation.

So you add a new recommendation.

And now that is attached to SEC-3 during the assessment it will appear in the WAFR report and it can help with the creation of the remediation plan and proposal: and as the client was involved in this recommendation, it should have no difficulty in being approved.

 

3. How to include recommendations in your WAFR report and remediation plan and proposal

Using nOps, the first part of this is done automatically when you export your WAFR report.

Each recommendation is provided on its own slide.

To include this in your remediation plan and proposal, just transcribe them from the report into your other documents.

 

How to get started with nOps Recommendations Templates

If you’re not already an nOps customer or partner, then go here to get signed up.

Once you have access to the nOps Partner Dashboard, you can apply each of the three steps and start writing batter remediation proposals faster and grow your AWS consulting Well-Architected practice.