Stabilizing
During the Stabilizing Phase, the Operations Readiness feature team implements the training program developed previously, and then takes the lead in implementing related operational tasks associated with deploying the pilot. At the end of the Stabilizing Phase, the Operations Readiness feature team conducts a deployment readiness review, which is the last opportunity to make a decision about whether to deploy the solution across the organization.
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Roles and Responsibilities
Integrating IT Operations
Deployment Readiness Review
Milestone: Operations Readiness Review
Roles and Responsibilities
During the Stabilizing Phase, the team is focused on deploying the pilot and training the operations staff. Table 6 describes the specific responsibilities for each team role.
Table 6. Roles and Responsibilities During the Stabilizing Phase
Roles |
Responsibilities |
---|---|
Release manager |
|
Change owner |
|
Training coordinator |
|
Communications coordinator |
|
Documentation coordinator |
|
Testing coordinator |
|
Integrating IT Operations
As part of the release management process, the Deployment feature team will work in conjunction with key stakeholders and business partners within IT Operations to create a test plan that enables these business partners to develop confidence in the release and its ability to perform in a production environment. During the pilot, the Deployment feature team will perform these tests jointly with members of IT Operations, who should be actively involved with the release and long-term support of the release.
After the release is deployed in the pilot environment, users and administrative staff can monitor and evaluate performance based on real-world conditions. If this process leads to the conclusion that the release does not meet expectations, it should be backed out. The Operations Readiness feature team will provide feedback directly to the Release Management Role Cluster regarding the successes or failures encountered during the pilot of a release. All test results will be documented and verified against the expected results. Testing failures should be investigated and evaluated to determine whether the failure is acceptable or whether components in the release need to be reworked. The pilot is also helpful in determining the level of operational support that will be needed after full implementation.
After the pilot is complete, the next step is to evaluate the test results and determine the action to be taken: Move forward with the release, or return to the change owner or release manager for additional work. The release manager, the change manager, and the change owner are the primary participants in this discussion, but it may also involve representatives from the operational support teams. If there were issues identified during the testing that affect the user community or service levels, it is necessary to discuss workarounds and expected problems with the service desk representatives and to ensure that the workarounds will be available to the service desk before deployment.
Deployment Readiness Review
The deployment readiness review is the final operations management checkpoint and approval step before rollout. It should not be confused with the readiness review described in the “Developing a Training Program” section, which is more limited in scope and is only intended to gauge the proficiency levels of the operations staff who will maintain the solution.
The deployment readiness review ensures the readiness of the release for deployment and includes the operability and supportability of the release, as well as the readiness of the target production environment to support and operate the deployed release. This release readiness review decides whether to deploy the release. Delegates from each the feature team, the management team, and key stakeholder groups should participate in the review. The core MOF documentation, available at https://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/mo/mof/rlsrdy10.mspx, provides details about the release readiness review.
Milestone: Operations Readiness Review
Table 7 shows all deliverables, and their descriptions, that should be completed at the conclusion of this phase.
Milestones are synchronization points for the overall solution. For more information, see the Plan, Build, and Deploy Guide.
Table 7. Deliverables
Deliverable ID |
Description |
---|---|
Deployment Readiness Review |
The review is the final operations management checkpoint and approval step before rollout. |
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