Implementation Planning.


Like testing, we view implementation planning as a core part of the project lifecycle, rather than a discreet block of work at the end of a project. In our experience, over 90% of implementation issues could have been addressed far earlier in the project, and sometimes these issues cause entire projects to fail or be cancelled.

Core tasks for Implementation Planning:
  • Identifying risk, and agreeing additional project work (Eg. Non-functional testing, additional environments, architectural changes)

  • Calculating a go-live date synchronised with sign-off authorisations, including User Acceptance Test signoff)
  • Physical implementation options, and preferred route (big bang, parallel run, phased). Construction of the plan itself (rehearsals, back-out plans, back-out decision point, communication channels, support process during and post-implementation)
  • Dry-run implementations – normally done from Integration test to UA or UA to "pre-prod" environments. Did it work perfectly? No? Do it again!
  • Running the implementation: physically moving the code.
  • Organising the post-implementation review, and gathering project performance statistics.



    [More]