Simcrest, Technology Solutions That Fit
Deployment Phase
The Deployment phase is where all the efforts of the project team come together for a successful transition to the new solution.
Activities in this phase prepare the infrastructure and application environments, as well as the End User, for the final cutover of the system. This includes the review of timelines, identification of primary roles, assignment of specific tasks, and the preparation of necessary tools and checklists. Activities in this phase will produce a Go-Live Plan with specific checklists as well as a formal Test Plan and End User Training Plan; will see the live and test environments set up and configured with some subset of the customer's dataset loaded; fully test the system functionality and the infrastructure load capacity as well as training remaining End Users; and perform final system cutover, live data validation and transition to the next phase of the project.
During the Deployment Planning activities in this phase the implementation team reviews the Go Live activities, determines the resources needed and identifies the timeline. A Test Plan and End User Training Plan are also created at this time.
Setup and Configuration of the live environment as well as the test environment follows the Deployment Planning activities. System and User Acceptance Testing and Load Testing may produce results that require a return to activities in previous phases. Following the System Testing and Load Testing activities, a formal System Signoff will occur, acknowledging acceptance and approval to continue with the Go-Live activities.
The remaining End User training must take place as close to the final cutover date as possible so the information remains fresh in their minds.
Following the Final Data Migration, an acceptance walkthrough is done and data is validated against legacy system values. In order to launch the system, the consulting team will require approval. A meeting shall be arranged whereby the implementation team reviews the project deliverables and the critical acceptance criteria for the project are reviewed. As with all phases, documentation and approval of these steps may be required for regulatory compliance.
There will be times when systems will go live without having met all acceptance criteria. This may occur when there are external circumstances that affect the project. For example, the financial accounts may have to be run on the new system at the start of a calendar period. This means that the system must go live regardless of the acceptance criteria being met.
