Defining Pilot Objectives

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Explicitly state the objectives of the pilot. Use the objectives to identify criteria for measuring the success of your pilot.

Many organizations have primary pilot objectives, such as:

• Ensure that the system works properly in the business environment.

• Ensure that the design meets the business requirements.

• Build user support for the Windows Server 2003 deployment project.

Many organizations have additional objectives, such as:

• Test the deployment process.

• Train the installation team.

• Create documentation for the full deployment.

• Train the support and Help desk teams.

• Train the administrative teams.

• Gather information for estimating future support requirements.

• Gather information for estimating actual hardware requirements.

  Note

  • Sometimes a pilot reveals that there is a greater amount of data in the production environment than anticipated and that storage requirements exceed those that were proposed in the test lab. As a result, hardware requirements might exceed those previously estimated.

• Meet the baseline requirements for functionality that were established in testing.

• Develop and test end-user training materials.

You might need to define objectives that are related to specific technologies, such as Active Directory, or to your network infrastructure. If you plan to conduct multiple pilots, define the objectives for each.

If possible, use the objectives to develop metrics for evaluating the pilot. For example, if your team’s objective is to gather information for estimating future support requirements, establish baseline metrics for current system functionalities, such as system availability, performance, and reliability, and collect similar metrics for the system after the pilot is complete. These metrics can then be used to evaluate the success of the pilot and to estimate the level of support required.