Modernization advisory for inherited data estates. The estate is larger than the roadmap assumes.
Reports, pipelines, jobs, models, SQL logic, notebooks, and manual workarounds have accumulated for years.
Data modernization advisory
Modernize inherited data estates without pretending they started clean.
I help data and technology leaders turn inherited complexity into a defensible modernization path. The work starts with the decision that is blocked, then moves through current-state evidence, architecture options, and delivery support where needed.
Gosta Bostrom — former consulting partner and principal architect. 18+ years across data strategy, architecture, BI modernization, delivery leadership, and executive advisory.
The starting point
Modernization rarely starts from a clean slate.
Most teams inherit platforms, reports, pipelines, ownership gaps, and business logic that evolved over years. Before choosing a target architecture, leaders need a clearer view of what exists, what still matters, what depends on what, and where risk is hiding.
Dependencies are partly known and partly folklore.
Teams know the critical outputs, but not always the upstream packages, stored procedures, jobs, semantic models, or ownership gaps behind them.
Platform decisions get made with weak evidence.
Without a clearer current-state view, modernization becomes a debate about whether to migrate, rebuild, retire, consolidate, or leave things alone.
AI-ready architecture depends on old reality.
Databricks, Fabric, Power BI, Snowflake, dbt, and AI initiatives all run into the same inherited complexity if the foundations stay unclear.
How we assess
Separate what is known from what still needs to be tested.
The method maps the current estate, records the strength and limits of the evidence, compares practical options, and turns the findings into a decision-ready action plan.
See how the assessment method works Decision
Current-state evidence
Confidence and caveats
Practical options
Next action
Services
Match the help to the work in front of you.
A focused assessment, architecture engagement, roadmap, or fractional leadership role can stand alone or provide continuity through delivery.
Explore services and engagement optionsEstate Review
Clarify what exists, what matters, where evidence is thin, and which risks need investigation.
Platform Architecture
Shape practical architecture options for BI, cloud data platforms, semantic layers, governance, and AI-ready foundations.
Modernization Roadmap
Connect evidence and architecture choices to sequencing, funding, delivery capacity, and partner scope.
Fractional Leadership
Add senior architecture and delivery judgment when the team needs continuity beyond a short assessment.
Modernization assessments
Understand the inherited estate before committing to the target.
For legacy Microsoft BI estates, TangleMap is the current named accelerator inside an evidence-led assessment. It speeds discovery; consultant judgment still shapes the conclusion.
What the assessment adds
- Inventory across SQL Server, SSRS, SSIS, SSAS, and SQL Agent estates
- Dependency evidence with coverage and confidence gaps visible
- Complexity, warning, and modernization-path inputs for consultant review
What we build next
Define the data product before building another bespoke pipeline.
NextState is the temporary working name for NextState Data's data-control-plane project, now in private Open Core development. It separates the product a team needs from the loaders, transformations, checks, publication scripts, and recovery procedures used to operate it.
- 01 DefineMeaning and policy
- 02 PlanAffected scope
- 03 BuildHidden candidate
- 04 VerifyEvidence and consequences
- 05 PublishControlled visibility
- 06 RecoverLast-known-good
Why NextState
Senior judgment grounded in strategy, architecture, and delivery.
The work is grounded in 18+ years across data strategy, enterprise architecture, BI modernization, governed analytics, delivery leadership, and executive advisory.
About the practitionerTelecom and media modernization
Led analytics modernization across a multi-brand environment supporting roughly 800 analytics and reporting users and data related to millions of customers.
Compliance-sensitive reporting
Improved trusted reporting and data quality in a large partner ecosystem where governance and confidence mattered as much as tooling.
Reusable platform delivery
Designed reusable data platform, governance, and delivery accelerators across client environments.
Start here
Start with the decision or delivery gap that needs senior help.
A short conversation can usually tell whether the useful next step is an assessment, architecture review, fractional leadership role, or focused delivery support.