Planning Exchange 2010 Deployment Project

One of the Crucial part before executing any project is Planning, Which is really hard when it comes to Designing a Solution for a kind of  Quite Complex Scenarios.

I was going thru few articles but cant find the detailed one, but finally i referred one book Exchange 2010 Best Practices written by Siegfried Jagott & Joel Stidley

It gives you the complete picture about your Exchange 2010 Project Planning, This is completely based on MOF as well as this also talks about live experience.

As per the Microsoft Operation Framework there is four layers Called “Plan, Deliver, Operate and the operation layer called Manage.

This Exchange Project Plan has touched the each layer of Microsoft Framework, Which talks what are do we need to do when as this is important to know about each of this and what we should talk about.

Plan

In this we are mostly going to ask question with client or gather information in the first meeting.

Business Question

  • What are the organization’s strategic business objectives?
  • What are the budgetary goals for these types of projects ?
  • Are there any internal business roadblocks that could cause delays or objectives to the business requirements?
  • Do any internal business processes or departments need extra attention to ensure the success of the project ?
  • Which tasks should be handled by current IT staff, consultants, or other outsourced resources?
  • What are the business reasons for adopting the particular technology?
  • Are there business drivers for the migration or for the new implementation or technology?
  • What industry-specific system requirements are needed ?

Technical Question

  • What are the most important technology goals and objectives for your organization?
  • What are the service-level requirements the messaging system and related services should meet?
  • What are the functional requirements for the messaging system?
  • Which IT skills and resources are strategic to the organization?
  • Which tools and third-party applications need to be included in the design?
  • How many users need to be included and where are they located?

Deliver

MOF includes five main steps in this phase: Envision, Project Planning,
Build, Stabilize, and Deploy. But as per real experience this has stretch with four more steps.

Envision

  • Step 1: Envision: Identify business and technical requirements.
  • Step 2: Assess.
  • Step 3: Evaluate the new solution(s) and potential designs.
  • Step 4: Build a proof of concept.
  • Step 5: Create a design.

Project Planning

  • Step 6: Develop the deployment and obtain buyoff.

Build/Stabilize

  • Step 7: Implement a pilot. Begin pilot, adjust the plan, and complete deployment.

Deploy

  • Step 8: Deploy.
  • Step 9: Post-implementation review

Step 1: Envision:

  • 1.1 Service and Organizational Level Agreements (SLAs or OLAs)
  • 1.2 Operational costs
  • 1.3 Network costs
  • 1.4 Backup and restore cost and performance improvements
  • 1.5 Improved provisioning processes (for example, HR Systems)
  • 1.6 Exchange enhancement that enables larger mailboxes
  • 1.7 Reducing licensing costs
  • 1.8 Return on investment (ROI) and budgetary considerations
  • 1.9 Data retention and isolation
  • 1.10 Auditing and compliance requirements
  • 1.11 Message archiving requirements
  • 1.12 Antivirus and anti-spam functionality
  • 1.13 Client access
  • 1.14 Security requirements
  • 1.15 Line-of-business application integration
  • 1.16 Performance planning
  • 1.17 Capacity planning and management

Step 2.Assess :

  • 2.1 Identify and prioritize currently deployed applications by how crucial they are to business functionality.
  • 2.2 Identify the clients that are currently in use.
  • 2.3 Document service-level and organizational-level agreements in place.
  • 2.4 Inventory the hardware currently in use.
  • 2.5 Document the network infrastructure design.
  • 2.6 Identify where the messaging servers are currently located, the number and size of local mailboxes and public folder replicas, and the number and average size of the e-mail messages sent and received.
  • 2.7 Identify the Active Directory Domain Services (AD DS) configuration.
  • 2.8 Update any messaging configuration documentation to ensure that all data needed to complete a project plan is available.
  • 2.9 Identify the people involved in managing Exchange and all of the dependent services.
  • 2.10 Perform a risk assessment
  • 2.11 Document the executive escalation path.

Step 3: Evaluate the new solution(s):

  • 3.1 Here you Evaluate the Product (Software & Hardware)
  • 3.2 Looks about the Feature which would require for the clients
  • 3.3 Third Party Prducts (Antivirus, Mobility, Archival)

Step 4: Build a proof of concept:

  • 4.1 Prepare :

Verifying functionality is critical in the test environment.
This testing allows time to verify assumptions, verify
functionality, and create a detailed and accurate
deployment design. This is also a good time to learn
more about the product. To prepare for this work, gather
all of the software, hardware, and configuration guides that
are being considered for use in the design.

  • 4.2 Deploy Proof of Concept:

Deploy an isolated test environment that is as close as
possible to the expected production environment and
allows testing to be completed. Testing in this phase should
include potential migration scenarios.

  • 4.3 Test :

Perform the test scenarios and note the detailed results. Be
sure to note any changes to the test scenarios
because of new or changed features.

  • 4.4 Review Test Results:

After the testing is completed, the issues and potential
changes should be reviewed. The reasons for any
unexpected results should also be captured. For instance,
did the test fail because a feature or function didn’t work as
expected, or were there limits reached?
The review should categorize each issue’s criticality and
then each issue should be addressed by changing the
design, opening support cases with the appropriate
vendors, or adjusting the current process to accommodate
the new functionality. Any user behavioral changes should
be documented and later clearly communicated to the
affected users.

Step 5: Create a Design

  • 5.1 Define Client Standards
  • 5.2 Define Network and Security Designs
  • 5.3 Define Antivirus and Anti-spam Design
  • 5.4 Define Application Compatibility and Integration
  • 5.5 Define Infrastructure Changes
  • 5.6 Define and Re mediate Risks
  • 5.7 Develop Communication Plan
  • 5.8 Develop Marketing and Training Plan
  • 5.9 Define Migration Process

Step 6: Develop the deployment and obtain buyoff.

  • 6.1 Create Design Milestones
  • 6.2 Obtain Project Resources
  • 6.3 Define Education and Training Requirements and Communications Plan
  • 6.4 Obtain Executive Buy-in

Step 7: Implement a pilot. Begin pilot, adjust the plan, and complete deployment.

  • 7.1 Pilot Planning
  • 7.2 Implement the Core Exchange 2010 Infrastructure
  • 7.3 Pilot Deployment
  • 7.4 Evaluate the Pilot Process
  • 7.5 Pilot Evaluation

Step 8: Deploy:

  • 8.1 Create Migration Plan and Schedule
  • 8.2 Complete Deployment Communication and Training
  • 8.3 Implement the Exchange 2010 infrastructure
  • 8.4 Perform Migration

Step 9: Post-implementation review:

  • 9.1 Operate
  • 9.2 Operations
  • 9.3 Service Monitoring and Control
  • 9.4 Customer Service
  • 9.5 Problem Management

At Last the its Manage where you can take care for these Points.

Manage

Governance, Risk, and Compliance

Change and Configuration Management

Process Improvement and Management

Cheers,

Ashwini Kumar

 

Exchange 2013 has been announced

Exchange 2013 has been announced

http://www.microsoft.com/exchange/en-us/exchange-preview.aspx

Exchange 2013 Preview Can be Downloaded From here

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-US/evalcenter/hh973395.aspx?wt.mc_id=TEC_116_1_33

Stay Tuned, I am in the preparation of Posting More on Exchange 2013.