Phase: Kick-Off

At the kick-off meeting expectations are set following a preliminary review of the project goals and design presentation, stakeholder’s roles are identified and agreed upon, and the scope of work is reviewed.

Deliverables

• Stockholders/roles document
• Action items document
• Document of scope modifications
• Discovery & Assessment

Phase: Discovery

This is a business, process, and technical assessment, used to define the project objective,understand the existing environment,and identify the factors that could affect and will be affected by the project, as well as to determine who (client-staff, Consul-vation and other vendors) needs to play a role and in what capacity. Common actions items include: interviewing stakeholders, gathering current documentation, assessing existing infrastructure, documenting findings.

Deliverables

• Informal technical design
• Detailed project plan

Phase: Design

During the design phase, technical details are formalized, research is conducted, vendors are evaluated and selections made, design documents, justifications and explanations are finalized. Common action items include: research technical possibilities, evaluate potential product vendors, formalize design goals, and prepare formal documentation.

Deliverables

• Formal technical design
• Formal project plan
• Proof of concept

Phase: Proof of Concept

Before deploying into a production environment, Consul-vation brings the solutions to the lab where testing, configuration and documentation can be done in a controlled setting without disruption to the client’s live environment. The objective is to discover any unforeseen factors in the design or project plan that would otherwise be revealed during the production deployment where the risks and the costs are substantially higher. Common action items include: product procurement, lab setup, design review & modifications, testing and observation.

Deliverables

• Refined design
• Refined project plan
• Validation of design and plan
• Status report
• Demonstration as needed

Phase: Pilot

The pilot deployment takes the design and implementation out of the lab and into a production environment, where factors such as existing equipment, processes and people come into play. Doing a complete deployment without first testing the plan with a small subset of the environment can lead to high costs as lessons learned along the way are applied haphazardly. By applying the lessons of the pilot program to the project plan and in some cases the design, we are not forced to adapt on the fly. Adversity cannot be planned, but we can plan for its impact. Common action items include: deploying to pilot environment, modifying design and project plan as needed, conducting review.

Deliverables

• Refined project plan
• Status report
• Results document
• Deployment instructions
• Refined design (as needed)

Phase: Deployment

At this stage, there is enough information and experience that a deployment becomes a simple execution of the plan. Lessons and technical details have been refined and tested within the environment, and the implementation is left to following the project plan.

Deliverables

• Status reports
• Updated Documentation

Phase: Close-Out

Upon completion of the deployment stage, we assess the new state and compare it with the original state. From a technical standpoint, we create and refine technical documentation so that existing staff can resume maintenance and administration as needed.

Deliverables

• Documentation Hand-Off
• Meeting documentation
• Hand-Off