Developing

Article
03/05/2008

The main focus during the Developing Phase is to initiate the corrections outlined in the Planning Phase and apply them in test environments, to determine whether they provide the proper corrective actions in support of the deployment. Corrective actions could range from network configuration modifications and current bandwidth-use monitoring to switch and virtual LAN configuration changes. Monitoring the environment during testing is crucial to predicting timing during the actual deployment. Any changes made in test environments must be documented and presented to the organization’s Change Management team. The changes should be classified and can range from required—those that are a high risk to deployment if they are not implemented—to optional but still recommended—those that are a low risk but may improve the deployment process. Work with the Test feature team during this phase to facilitate this task.

Figure 6 shows the interval during which these testing and problem-resolution tasks occur for the infrastructure remediation process.

Figure 6. Testing and resolving deployment issues

Roles and Responsibilities

Table 8 lists the focus for the different role clusters when testing and resolving deployment issues.

Table 8. Roles and Responsibilities During the Developing Phase

Role Cluster	Focus
Product Management	Customer expectations
Program Management	Deployment plan management Project tracking Updating plans
Development	Issue resolution Configuration documentation
User Experience	Training Usability testing Updated training plan
Test	Functional testing Deployment testing Performance evaluation Issue identification Issue reporting and status Documentation testing Updated test plan Evaluation reporting
Release Management	Rollout checklists Updated rollout and pilot plans Site preparation checklists

Prepare for Deployment Testing

The information documented during the planning process is used to construct testing environments that are as close as possible to the actual production environment. The Release Management Role Cluster coordinates this process.

During the construction of the test environments, focus on any infrastructure modifications outlined in the proposed deployment architecture document. After the environments are constructed (refer to the Test Feature Team Guide for a description of the required test types), monitor the deployment results closely to identify whether additional modifications are required. If so, add these modifications to the original deployment architecture description.

As a rule, every step of the deployment is tested in the lab before being put in production. Performing tests in a test environment mitigates some of the risks associated with deploying complete computer images. In particular, it reduces the potential for disruption caused by incompatibilities between the version of Windows being deployed and the applications that users typically run on their computers.

Note Use this process to test future changes to the standard computer build or even the network infrastructure. If changes are made to the production environment during this phase, the same changes must be made to the test environments. In addition, any changes made to the test environments must also be reproduced in the production environment during the actual deployment.

Use the test environments to learn how to upgrade systems and perform trial runs of every type of deployment that will be used. Because the test environments replicate the production environment, staff members can use the lab for professional training on any new technical feature of Windows that will be used either during the deployment or after the deployment is complete. This dual purpose of testing and training can enable the organization to get the maximum value from the test environment in this deployment.

Important The process used to build the test environments should be well documented and, if possible, automated. An automated process makes it easy to rebuild the environment the same way each time. Without automation, errors can be introduced into the labs. Rebuilding the test environments without automation also uses staff time and incurs additional costs. In addition, not automating the build process often results in the test environments not matching the production environment exactly. For these reasons, the cost of not automating the process may exceed the cost of automating it.

The Test feature team uses several environments for testing and refining processes and procedures at each level of testing. The Infrastructure Remediation feature team must monitor these tests at each level to refine the modifications required in the production infrastructure in support of the official deployment.

Milestone: Deployment Architecture Validated

At this milestone, the infrastructure modifications are initiated, and the deployment architecture is refined. Table 9 describes the deliverables for this milestone.

Table 9. Deliverables

Deliverable ID	Description
Deployment Architecture Validated	The initial deployment architecture has been deployed in test environments and refined as testing proceeds. The deployment architecture documentation has been updated.

Developing

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Roles and Responsibilities

Prepare for Deployment Testing

Milestone: Deployment Architecture Validated

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