Microsoft Project 2000 Enterprise Project Planning Workbook (Version 2)

Article
02/20/2014

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Deployment Tool

Applies to:
Microsoft Project 2000
Microsoft Project Central 2000

Download the Microsoft Project Template for use with this planning workbook (136 KB).

Note: Microsoft Project 2000 is required to view the template.

Summary When used together, this planning workbook and deployment template will walk you through an enterprise-wide deployment of Microsoft Project 2000 and its Web-based companion, Microsoft Project Central. The workbook explains the deployment process—from planning to pilot and post-implementation review—while the template details the steps for you.

Introduction

This planning workbook is designed to help you evaluate, understand, plan, test, and deploy Microsoft® Project 2000 and Microsoft Project Central. Microsoft Project 2000 is the next generation of Microsoft project management software. In this release, we have focused on delivering features that make Microsoft Project easier to use, that provide new Web-based workgroup functionality, and that improve performance in specific areas. In addition, we have incorporated many new features that Microsoft Project users have requested.

The following documents are provided to help you understand Microsoft Project 2000 deployment details and create your own Microsoft Project 2000 deployment plan:

The Microsoft Project 2000 Product Enhancement Guide is designed to help you evaluate Microsoft Project 2000 and Microsoft Project Central.
The Microsoft Project 2000 and Microsoft Project Central Enterprise Project Planning Workbook, a companion document to the Microsoft Project 2000 Deployment Template, provides an overview of the phases, considerations and efforts needed for enterprise-wide planning and deployment of this software.
The Microsoft Project 2000 and Microsoft Project Central Deployment Template details the steps and decisions required in planning for an enterprise deployment.

Figure 1: Microsoft Project 2000 and Microsoft Project Central Deployment Planning Template

Our goal in providing this workbook is to make it easier for you to understand the decisions you need to make, identify the contingencies you need to plan for, identify costs and resources, and reduce the amount of time you will need to spend educating yourself and creating a plan. The project plan is designed so that tasks can be added, changed, or deleted as appropriate for your deployment. For detailed technical information on Microsoft Project 2000 deployment, use the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit with this document to create your customized plan.

Each section of the workbook represents a major milestone in preparing to plan and deploy Microsoft Project 2000:

Vision/Scope

Provide an overview of the business case for migrating to Microsoft Project 2000, the goals of the plan, and how the plan will be executed. Included in this phase are the project justification and executive sponsorship. The overall scope clearly defines the boundaries of what is included in the migration to Microsoft Project 2000. It includes the business case for making this change, along with the estimated timing of the deployment, a budget, a description of how you will gain users' cooperation and engender enthusiasm, the service level you plan to provide, and the results you hope to achieve.

Planning

Develop a detailed plan for selecting options and for configuring, distributing, and/or customizing Microsoft Project 2000. The planning documents produced become the basis for all development and are used as a performance metric for the overall project. The template focuses on the decisions surrounding a Microsoft Project 2000 deployment, including data storage and access as well as Microsoft Project Central design and deployment considerations.

Development/Testing

Develop and test customization and/or integration requirements. These items can extend from view customization to template creation to executive management systems integration.

Proof of Concept

Provide an evaluation and lab testing of all physical aspects of the migration and deployment development plan such as integration, coexistence, and deployment in an environment that closely replicates the planned environment.

Pilot

Outline implementation of the entire plan for a representative pilot group of users.

Deployment

Plan a detailed rollout schedule and logistics plan for actual deployment to user's desktops.

Post-Implementation Review

Develop an implementation review, complete with any changes necessary to move forward, lessons learned for the next deployment, and considerations for application development and use of Microsoft Project 2000.

Vision/Scope

The first step in planning your deployment is to define your project objectives. It is in this step that you identify the specific business goals you want to achieve and determine how Microsoft Project 2000 can help you achieve them. This strategy will also help you choose the most useful Microsoft Project 2000 features.

In your project objectives, indicate the specific business concerns that you are addressing. Include specific, short-term objectives—for example, "Deploy Microsoft Project 2000 to 25 project managers and Microsoft Project Central for 2000 resources," as well as more general, long-term objectives such as "Prepare for enterprise project management system."

Make these decisions before you proceed with your deployment planning because these decisions will affect what you do and how you do it. Clear objectives will help you stay on course.

When you document your project scope, indicate the areas, functions, and environments that your Microsoft Project 2000 implementation will cover. For example, you might be interested in updating or scaling your Web server to handle the additional requirements for Microsoft Project Central.

The major steps of the Vision/Scope phase are shown in Table 1.

Table 1 Major steps of the Visio/Scope phase

Evaluate Microsoft Project 2000 features	Microsoft Project 2000 is the result of a research and development effort focused on this entire spectrum of customers and offers major feature additions and enhancements. Microsoft Project 2000 and Microsoft Project Central provide knowledge workers with the flexibility to collaboratively plan and track projects and to deliver the results their business demands. It is the single planning tool needed in an organization. These product enhancements are grouped according to Microsoft's design goals: · Improve team productivity by involving team members and other stakeholders in project management · Increase the usefulness of Microsoft Project data for users · Extend project management across the organization Review each of these key areas and identify the features that will be most beneficial to your organization.
Evaluate corporate objectives for project management	As you review features, keep in mind your organization's short-term, mid-term, and long-term plans.
Formulate preliminary cost/benefit analysis	As your computing organization moves to Microsoft Project 2000, it is important to understand how the software can provide benefits to overall operational functionality. A cost/benefit analysis can provide a clearer picture of the gains the software can provide for your organization.
Determine project scope (lab, pilot, international/regional deployment, etc.)	Used effectively, a project plan can clearly identify specific phases of your overall deployment process and provide a clear and functional road map. While it is not necessary to follow a deployment process in a prescriptive manner — as you would an installation procedure — a software deployment process does provide a conceptual framework for your deployment project and makes it easier for your deployment teams to assess progress.
Determine major milestones	The first milestone is when the project team and executive sponsor agree on the overall direction for deploying Microsoft Project 2000 in your organization. As part of defining your direction, outline the high-level business and information technology (IT) goals of your deployment to provide a clear direction for implementation. Also, clearly define which features of Microsoft Project 2000 will be included during various phases of your deployment.
Secure executive sponsorship and funding	Deploying new software — specifically software that may have a broad impact, such as Microsoft Project 2000 — in an enterprise environment is a large task that requires executive approval and funding as well as a planning effort. Completing the previous tasks in this phase will help you develop a scenario that will secure project sponsorship and support.

Planning

Every deployment project proceeds through a life cycle — a process that includes planning deployment activities and determining IT goals and objectives, designing and developing features, conducting a pilot project, and installing the software in your production environment. The principal function of any software deployment planning process is to establish the order in which your deployment team specifies, implements, tests, and performs the required activities.

This document, combined with the deployment template and the Microsoft Project 2000 Resource Kit, will provide the necessary information to understand and deploy Microsoft Project 2000 and Microsoft Project Central.

The major steps of the Planning phase are shown in Table 2.

Table 2 Major steps of the planning phase

Assemble project teams/define roles	Microsoft Project 2000 and Microsoft Project Central deployment activities fall into many categories. In small implementation projects, one person might fill several roles; in large implementation projects, several people might be assigned to each role. Unlike previous versions, Microsoft Project 2000 can require expertise from various skill sets within your organization, from database and Web specialists to project managers and desktop users.
Review/detail current computing environment	Before you design your Microsoft Project 2000 environment, you must thoroughly understand your current computing environment. Documenting your existing computing environment will help you define where you are and determine what you want to do, and will contribute to the success of your deployment. Diagrams are a useful way to deal with the concepts. Where appropriate, create these diagrams and include them in your project plan documentation.
Preliminary design objectives	Describe the different types of users, the key tasks they perform, the way these tasks are currently performed, and the way performance can be improved in the new enterprise project management environment. Large organizations with multiple sites and international organizations should detail their geographical issues.
Identify coexistence strategies	Describe and document strategies for legacy project management tools and the interaction with operating systems and desktop components (for example, browsers) in the organization, detailing coexistence and/or migration scenarios.
Establish test lab environment	Isolate the lab from your production environment so you can verify your deployment decisions without affecting your production environment. Plan your testing to use your existing equipment to maximum advantage and proceed logically. Start by testing mission-critical features.
Perform risk assessment	When you plan to deploy any new software, it makes sense to plan for the unexpected. Even the best deployment plans can be affected by changes in business needs, economics, user requirements, or disruptions such as power outages or storms. A risk management plan helps you identify potential risks before they occur and prepares you for a quick response if they should occur.
Define communication strategy	A detailed communication plan will enhance the effectiveness of your deployment project. With proper communication, your work in planning and deploying Microsoft Project 2000 is more likely to complement and integrate with the work of other teams deploying new IT projects. This plan helps management to assist project teams in overcoming obstacles and prepares users to take advantage of the new software. An effective communication strategy identifies the needs of several types of audiences, such as executive management, project teams, the IT organization, and users at all levels. Keeping people informed keeps them involved. Use your communication strategy to build enthusiasm and support for the project, the new technologies, and the business processes that the technologies support.
Define education/training strategy	Educate your users about Microsoft Project 2000 features and functions before you deploy it. You probably will need to define different levels of training based on the deployment strategy you have defined (for example, project manager, resource, executive).

Development/Testing

Your design documents detail the software features that will be implemented and how they will be configured and deployed. All of these elements must be aligned with the scope and objectives of the deployment project.

Describe the different types of users, the key tasks they perform, the way these tasks are currently performed, and the way performance can be improved or modified with the new software environment. Large organizations with multiple sites and international organizations should detail their geographical issues.

The major steps of the Development/Testing phase are shown in Table 3.

Table 3 Major steps of the Development/Testing phase

Overall development testing	Your deployment planning should reflect your primary goals. These goals might be business- related or they might relate to the development itself. In most cases, business-related goals will drive the initial development decision. Business-related goals are involved when making implementation choices and can be used to evaluate possible trade-offs. Usually some form of business goal compliance table is prepared, which is used in later stages to identify the technologies and product features to be implemented in the final design. These technologies and features will enable the business-related goals. Depending on your goals for deployment, numerous options for development may be addressed, including but not limited to: · Integration with existing applications · Template development · Web enhancements · Training To facilitate the development goals, various tools are available from the Microsoft Project Web site. Once the key development areas are identified, resources should be assigned to manage and develop the required modifications or systems.
Infrastructure	The multitude of advance features in Microsoft Project 2000 requires a well-planned design for the various components. The location and types of servers (Microsoft SQL, Internet Information Server, etc.) and even browser configuration settings need to be reviewed.
Desktop	Microsoft Project 2000 shares features for deployment customization. Through the Custom Installation Wizard, which will be available via the Microsoft Project Resource Kit, specific installation options can be predefined for different installation options. It is important to design and test these configurations prior to deployment.
Microsoft Project Central configuration	The use of Microsoft Project Central in conjunction with Microsoft Project 2000 provides a powerful tool for project collaboration and information dissemination. Careful consideration must be given to implementation of the Microsoft Project Central solution, including browser and server installation and connectivity. During this phase the configuration is developed to support enterprise use of these tools.

Proof of Concept

Isolate a lab from your production environment network so you can verify your design without affecting your production environment. This does not mean you should simply set up a full production environment in your lab. You do, however, want to set up a representative sample of your production environment. You should plan your testing so that you can use the equipment you have to maximum advantage and precede logically. Start by testing features that are mission-critical to your organization. Testing is a checkpoint against progress. You cannot measure progress unless it has been verified by testing.

The major steps of the Proof-of-Concept phase are shown in Table 4.

Table 4 Major steps of the Proof-of-concept phase

Proof-of-concept preparation	A key factor in the success of your Microsoft Project 2000 implementation is thorough testing based on realistic scenarios. Realistic scenarios require a test environment that simulates your production environment as much as possible. In this test environment, the planning teams can verify their assumptions, uncover deployment problems, and optimize the deployment design. Such activities reduce the risk of errors and minimize downtime in the production environment during and after deployment.
Deploy development solution to proof-of-concept lab machines	Before you begin testing, modify the lab setup as necessary to meet the requirements specified in the test case. When performing tests, follow the written test case carefully. You need to know the precise steps that the tester performed before you can accurately assess the results or reproduce the test to compare it over time. As you perform the tests, analyze the results against the criteria in the test case to determine if the test passed or failed. If a test failed, it might be due to a problem with the test itself, the lab setup, or the proposed design.
Perform full-cycle risk assessment	Although you might record problems and bugs in your incident tracking system, you also need a tracking system to record test results. A tracking system helps you monitor testing progress and the success rate of tests. This information is useful for management reporting, reviewing trends, and validating staffing levels. When you use the lab to manage change, it becomes part of a larger process. This process identifies the information flow and the sequence of activities from the time a change is proposed to the time it is implemented. The process you develop depends on the changes you perform, the teams involved, and the corporate culture.

Pilot

After you verify your Microsoft Project 2000 implementation scenario in your test environment, you need to test it in your production environment with a limited number of users. A pilot reduces your risk of encountering problems during your full-scale deployment.

The primary purposes of a pilot are to demonstrate that your design works in the production environment as you expected and that it meets your organization's business requirements. A secondary purpose is that the pilot gives the installation team a chance to practice and refine the deployment process.

The pilot provides an opportunity for users to give you feedback about how features work. Use this feedback to resolve any issues or to create a contingency plan. The feedback can also help you determine the level of support you are likely to need after full deployment. Ultimately, the pilot leads to your decision to proceed with a full deployment or to stop and rethink your solution.

To minimize your risk during deployment, plan on having several pilots. For example, you might have one pilot for project managers and another one for resources utilizing Microsoft Project Central.

The major steps of the Pilot phase are shown in Table 5.

Table 5 Major steps of the Pilot phase

Planning	The pilot sets the tone for the full deployment, so it is important that you plan carefully, communicate well with the participants, and evaluate the results thoroughly. Creating a plan for your pilot helps you think through the issues and set expectations for everyone involved. If you have multiple pilots, you might have multiple pilot plans. For example, each subteam might have its own pilot and write its own plan.
Deployment	Schedule a time during non-business hours to perform the entire process, test the new set-up thoroughly, and then back out everything. As you deploy the pilot, remember to validate all your backups. Label them clearly and store them in a safe place. Verify each step as you perform it. As you proceed, keep records of how long installation takes so you can refine your schedule. Have a system administrator who has full security privileges, including rights to administer mail and database server passwords, available during the deployment. Remember to keep track of any corrections to the documentation. Make corrections as you go and test the corrections on the next upgrade. Identify and document any inefficient steps and methods, and use the information to refine the rollout process.
Evaluate the pilot	Your team needs to monitor progress throughout the pilot, fixing and retesting problems that arise. Have your problem-tracking system in place at the very beginning of the pilot and encourage the pilot users to utilize it for reporting their problems. Users often neglect to report problems, either because they think the problem is insignificant or because they found a way to work around it. To accurately assess your pilot, however, you need the users to report every problem. As the pilot finishes, you need to obtain input from a variety of sources to evaluate the success of the pilot. The more information you accumulate during the pilot, the more accurately you can evaluate it at the end.
Post-pilot evaluation	At the end of the pilot, evaluate its success and recommend the next steps to management. Management can then decide whether to continue the project beyond the pilot. To help you with the evaluation and recommendation, analyze information from a variety of sources.

Deployment

The final stage in deployment planning is to define how to create a smooth transition from pilot to production. Your goal is to deploy Microsoft Project 2000 successfully and efficiently, with minimum interruption to your users, the network, and the core business functions of the organization. Deploying Microsoft Project 2000 to the production environment shares many characteristics with deploying Microsoft Project 2000 in the pilot phase.

The major steps of the Deployment phase are shown in Table 6.

Table 6 Major steps of the Deployment phase

Communications	Inform users about Microsoft Project 2000 before you deploy it to their computers. Some organizations require user training before any new technology can be deployed to their computer. If this is a strategy you are considering, allow for additional resources and costs.
Education/training	Educate the community. Make sure the teams are aware of the deployment plans as a whole, the scope of their responsibility and involvement, and changes to the plan or schedule. If required, complete the training outlined in your education/training strategy document.
Install Microsoft Project 2000 components	You have completed all the phases of the plan and are ready to install and verify the server, client, and custom components of Microsoft Project 2000.

Post-Implementation Review

While creating this plan, be sure to include a review of how everything went. Include in this review future applications and development needs that may have been discovered during the implementation process. This phase should not only include a critical review of the overall process, team, and results, but should also focus on taking advantage of the new features that make Microsoft Project 2000 an enterprise-class business tool. Once implementation has commenced, use this section for that formal review. Your plan should include a process for obtaining user feedback and should review all major areas of the plan.