Transcript Developing and Implementing a Rollout Plan

Developing and Implementing
a Rollout Plan
February 5, 2007
2:00pm EST, 11:00am PST
George Spafford,
Principal Consultant
Pepperweed Consulting, LLC
“Optimizing The Business Value of IT”
www.pepperweed.com
© 2007 Jupitermedia Corporation
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Main Presentation
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Agenda
• Release Management Overview
• Release Plans
• Rollout Plans
– What they are
– Elements of Rollout Plans
• Getting Started
Note: This presentation is available by either emailing:
George at [email protected]
Kendra at [email protected]
© 2007 Jupitermedia Corporation
What Is a Release?
• A collection of authorized changes to an IT service
– New services
– Modifications to an existing service
– Ending a service – sometimes decommissioning takes a lot of
work and needs to be properly managed
• Can contain new and revised hardware and software in
three categories – Major, Minor and Emergency
• Release Unit – describes the IT infrastructure portion
that is released together
– Hardware, Software, Documentation, Media, etc.
• Type of Release
– Full, Delta, Package
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Why Release Management Matters
• 29% of projects delivered on-time with expected
features, 53% were challenged and 18% outright
failed outright1
• The majority of the causal factors are nontechnical including:
– Lack of project planning
– Poor requirements definition
– Correct stakeholders not involved, or not involved
early enough
– Poor communications
– Insufficient management oversight
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Corporation
1. “Third Quarter
2004
CHAOS Report”. The Standish Group.
“The focus of Release
Management is the protection of
the live environment and its
services through the use of formal
procedures and checks.”
– ITIL Service Support Volume
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Release Management Provides
Quality Assurance
• Are the correct requirements identified?
– Breadth and depth
• Are the requirements met when tested?
– What testing is needed? Unit, Integration, load?
• Is the organization ready for the deployment?
– Staffing, training
• Can the release be deployed successfully?
– Is there capacity? Is support ready? Is the business ready?
• What did we just learn? (Post Implementation Reviews)
– What went good? Bad?
– What would we do again?
– What would we change?
• Plays an important role in regulatory compliance and security
– All requirements need to be known, tested and deployed with a
reasonable assurance of success
– A great many Incident and Problems can be traced to human error that
Change and Release Management can help safeguard against
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The Trinity
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Change Management
Is the set of standardized processes
and tools used to handle change
requests in order to support the
business while managing risks.
[Risk Management]
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Release Management
Uses formal controls and processes to
ensure requirements are met and
safeguard the production environment.
[Quality Management]
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Configuration Management
Focuses on tracking and documenting
configurations and then providing this
information to other areas including
Change and Release Management.
[A combination of Knowledge
Management and Information Broker]
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The three process areas must work together
and share information.
Major Release Mgt Activities
Planning &
Development
•Release Policy
•Release Planning
•Design, develop and/or
buy services
•Build and Configure the
Release
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Testing & Approval
•Beta Testing
•Unit Testing
•Integration Testing
•Load Testing
•Security Testing
•User Acceptance
Testing
•Release Acceptance by
Operations
Preparation and
Introduction to
Production
•Roll-out Planning
•Communication
•Awareness
•Training
•Distribution
•Installation
Dependencies
Business Needs
Release Policy
Release Plan
Rollout Plan
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Release Policy
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Defines the Release Management process
Sets the scope of control
Establishes roles and responsibilities
The release numbering scheme
Frequency of releases
Critical business times to avoid
Expected deliverables for each type of release
Release documentation
Backout plans and their testing
How the Release Management process will be
controlled via KPIs, meetings, audits, escalation, etc.
• Management and use of the Definitive Software
Library (DSL)
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Release Planning
• Determine contents of the Release
• Distribution schedule that is agreed upon with all relevant
stakeholders
• Site Surveys
• Review configuration data from CMDB – does preproduction still
mirror production? If not, what actions are needed?
• Resource Requirements – internal, customers, vendors
• Defining roles and responsibilities
• Procurement planning - vendor selection, negotiation, etc.
• Back-out Plans
• A quality management plan
– Requirements definition, development/procurement per standards,
appropriate testing, & implementation
• Definition of acceptance criteria with the Customer and other
stakeholders
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Release Planning Inputs
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Service Catalog
Service Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
Project Management Standards
Release Policy
Requests for Change (RFCs)
Projected Service Availability (PSA)
CAB Meeting Notes / Minutes
Forward Schedule of Change (FSC)
Maintenance Windows / Change Windows
Business Priorities
Business Schedule / Financial Calendar
Dependencies
Resource Constraints
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Release Planning Outputs
• Release Specific
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Release Plan
Test Plans
Training Plans
Support Plans
Acceptance Criteria
Updated Configuration Items (CIs)
Recording of Known Errors for use by Support
• Documented in
– Change Management records
– Records could be in a Configuration Management
Database (CMDB)
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Rollout Plan Elements (1)
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A Rollout Plan is the actual project management of the Release based on the highlevel Release Plan
The Rollout Plan is all about tactical execution
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Detailed Work Breakdown Structure with dates
GANTT charts showing dependencies and progress are of tremendous value
Human Resource Plan
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Internal
Vendors
Customers
Configuration Items
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Names, dates, milestones, control gates, etc.
New ones that will be installed
Existing ones that will be changed
CIs for decommissioning including secure disposal method
Plans for each location taking into account:
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Time zone differences
Vendor support
Cultural / Political issues
Other dependencies
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Rollout Plan Elements (2)
• Purchase/procurement plan for required CIs
• Budget Plan
• Communication Plan
– Awareness
– Meeting schedules
• Project Change Management Plan
• Security Plan
• Incorporate other aspects of project management based on your
organization’s needs
– What management is needed to deliver projects that meet
expectations?
– What controls are needed to create a reasonable assurance of
outcomes?
Refer to
– Projects in Controlled Environments v2 (PRINCE2)
– PMI’s Project Management Body of Knowledge (PM BOK)
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Do Not Forget
• The Business
– Customer(s)
– Key Users
• Development
• Change Management
– ITIL-related
– Project-related
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Other ITIL processes
Testing
Security
Vendors
Legal
Compliance
© 2007 Jupitermedia Corporation
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IT Operations
Project Management
Remote sites
DR/BCP
Critical Success Factors
Key Process Indicators
Risk Management
Controls in general
Design what works for
your organization!!
Getting Started (1)
• Release Management really needs to leverage Change and
Configuration Management processes to excel
– Only approved changes can be released
– Need Configuration Management to understand relationships, current
builds in production and to understand risks
– What can you do today?
• Begin with the next complex project
– Think of what you need to avoid the next failure
– What activities would mitigate risks to an acceptable level to
management?
• Work with development, not around development
– Leverage the existing SDLC if possible or assist in the creation of one
• Must involve relevant vendors
– Vendors must follow the same controls and processes or risks are not
properly managed
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Getting Started (2)
• Review stakeholders to make sure all that are needed are engaged
– Engage due to business need or perception not just for awareness
– Either too few or too many can be problematic
– What about security, legal and/or compliance? They’re often
overlooked
• Prove the concept of Release Management and rollout planning
• ITIL says Release Management is for large projects but all changes
/ releases use aspects of Release Management
• Funding is often included in project costs
• Begin in a manner that is realistic given your resources, timeframe
and needs then evolve the process over time
• One of the keys to Release Management and rollback plans is the
communication aspect
– Manage expectations
– Keep the stakeholders informed as to progress and issues
– Avoid surprises
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Getting Started (3)
• Remember – the introduction of a process, or changes to an existing
process, require organizational change
• Do not overlook the “soft” people and organizational issues.
• Identify what you can successfully achieve today and start
– Ground process design by always analyzing if organizational needs are
being met
• BE SURE TO ASK THE BUSINESS AND NOT JUST IT!
– At the outset, go for the 70% solution and learn – do not lock up in
“analysis paralysis”
• Continuous process improvement over time is where the real gains
will be made
© 2007 Jupitermedia Corporation
Process References
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For a definitive reference, see ITIL’s Service Support Volume
http://www.itil.co.uk/
Microsoft’s Operations Framework
http://www.microsoft.com/technet/itsolutions/cits/mo/smf
British Educational Communications and Technology Agency (BECTA)
http://www.becta.org.uk/tsas
IT Process Institute’s Visible Ops Methodology
http://www.itpi.org
PMI Project Management Body of Knowledge
http://www.pmi.org
Projects in Controlled Environments version 2 (PRINCE2)
http://www.prince2.org.uk/web/site/home/Home.asp
For additional material, use Google and search on keywords such as
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“SDLC template”
“Project Management template”
“Release Management template”
“Release Plan”
“Rollout Plan”
“Fallback Plan”
© 2007 Jupitermedia Corporation
Thank you for the privilege of
facilitating this webcast
George Spafford
[email protected]
http://www.pepperweed.com
Daily News Archive and Subscription Instructions
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