Project Scope and Business Goals

Project Scope

• Getting a good grip on the project scope is the initial step.
• It's important to write an executive summary for the design document.
• The executive summary should define the project at a high level.
• The summary should include why the organization is investing time, energy, and resources into the project.
• Primary components include servers handling key network functions.
• Servers handle and manage data.
• Servers control info or give access to it.
• Servers handle specific applications.

Business Goals and Objectives

• It's important to thoroughly understand business goals and objectives.
• Setting high-level business goals and objectives.
• The organization may desire zero downtime for file access.
• Zero downtime can be achieved with Distributed File System (DFS) or Failover Clustering.
• Distributed File System Replication allows files to be replicated between servers.
• Replication provides duplicate info in multiple locations across the business.
• Users can access file shares that are geographically distributed.
• Files should be distributed throughout the company across multiple servers.

High-Level Business Goals

• Business goals and objectives should be divided into different levels.
• The "Vision of the Company" should be a 50,000-foot view.
• This includes decision makers like the CEO, CFO, and CIO.
• Executives and managers in the organization should be a 10,000-foot view.
• The VP of sales, HR director, and site facilities manager are good examples.
• IT Staff and technical specialists are at the 1,000-foot view level.

Technical Goals and Objectives for Windows Server 2022

• Emphasize important network components and capabilities.
• The goal could be zero downtime and universal data access.
• Alternatively, allow no more than 4 hours of downtime during off-hours.
• Schedule maintenance at least 2 days in advance.

Scope of Work

• How many servers need upgrades?
• Where are they located geographically?
• Are the servers physical or virtual?
• What operating systems are the servers running on?
• If virtualized, what virtual environment (VMware, Hyper-V, Citrix) is used?
• What core business applications are set for upgrade?
• What extra applications and devices need upgrades or changes to work with the new servers and applications?
• How will desktop configurations be affected?

General Project Rules

• Keep the project as simple as possible.
• Break the project into logical segments.
• Don't forget that staff and users are gonna need training.

Implementation or Migration Time Frame

• A short project scope of 2 to 4 months is possible.
• Project scopes can be 4 to 6 months giving a comfortable window.
• Several weeks should be allocated for discovery and design.
• A similar amount of time should be budgeted for testing and implementation.
• Remembering that change has a learning curve is fundamental.
• Users and administrative staff need to be considered.
• Adjust support and training to accommodate the changes for productivity on the new platform.
• When planning the timeline, set a completion date as a safe strategy.
• The key project phases are discovery, design, prototype, and implementation.
• Allocate time for the design and planning phase.
• Problems might occur if adequate time and energy isn't invested.
• Testing the prototype might miss the mark because the test isn't be clear.
• Flipping a switch may be simple and can occur over a weekend.
• Ensure the solution is thoroughly tested in a lab or test environment.
• A full OS upgrade over several locations can take time.
• Desktop changes may take months or quarters.
• Implementation may not be smooth or even successful.

Design and Deployment Participants

• Evaluate the internal staff's capabilities.
• Consider hiring an outside firm if skills are lacking.
• Define areas where professional help is needed for a smoother project.
• Classroom-style training and manufacturer-sponsored training do not guarantee expertise.
• Training does show IT staff's willingness to learn and commitment.

The Environment Affecting Design and Deployment Decisions

• Changes to the environment will affect how complex it all is.
• This includes upgrading to Windows Server 2022.
• Consolidate and reduce the number of servers on the network.
• Replace unreliable applications.
• Upgrades introduce brand new tools that add support duties in unfamiliar areas.

Discovery Phase: Understanding the Existing Environment

• Have a clear picture of the Windows Server 2022 upgrade.
• Understand the business and technology goals.
• Identify the upgrades of the components.
• Identify the scope of the upgrade.
• Components should have set priorities.
• Be aware of time constraints.
• Determine who's doing the design and implementation.

Geographical Considerations

• Connectivity among devices should be reviewed.
• Review the logical and physical network components.
• Existing diagrams and documentation may have information.
• It's important to answer questions like how domain names systems are handled (DNS).
• Also, how are dynamic host configuration protocols handled (DHCP).
• Are there any Virtual Private Networks (VPN)?
• Are there any Virtual Local Area Networks (VLAN)?
• How the routers are configured and what protocols are in use should be understood.
• Know what types of circuits connect the offices.
• Digital subscriber line (DSL), T1, and fiber are good examples.
• It's important to know the guaranteed throughput or SLAs.
• Planning for connectivity failures through partially or fully meshed environments.
• What is the connection to the outside world?
• What is the connection to other orgs?
• What are the org's current security strategies?
• Even the best security can be defeated by a modem plugged into a plain old telephone line.
• A disgruntled ex-employee can also defeat security.
• Identify remote access like access to email, network file and print resources.
• Also support needs for PDAs and mobile devices like smartphones, tablets andiPads.
• Know how mobile devices and remote workers access the network.
• Geographically diverse companies bring added challenges.
• Gather the same level of information on all the sites that will be involved in and affected by the migration.
• Is the IT environment centralized or in a fiefdom structure?
• One location might manage the whole environment or be decentralized/distributed.
• In a decentralized setup each office may operate as its own fiefdom.
• Know distribution of personnel locations like how many support personnel are at each site.
• You should know the key hardware and software personnel are tasked with supporting.
• It's good to know how many end users will need support.
• Different offices have specific support requirements.
• Wide-area network problems and challenges can vary.
• How is directory information replicated between sites?
• What domain design is in place?
• Maybe the company already has Active Directory in place.
• Single domain set ups may have simple organizational unit (OU) structures.
• Multiple domains may have complex OU structures.
• Global Catalog placement should also be clarified.
• How is the internet being accessed?
• Does each office have its own internet connection, firewall, and router, or is it accessed through one location?
• The answers to these questions directly impact the design and testing of the solution.

Managing Info Overload

• Study key network software applications like managing the amount of data.
• Know where the data lives on the network, like 1 server or 10 servers.
• User files should be reviewed for growth.
• Database info is vital for database performance and maintenance.
• Mail databases and Exchange pose challenges as well.
• Older mail systems are typically more limited in size.
• Email is a primary tool for many companies.
• Inboxes and other folders have become primary storage.
• Organizations use Microsoft Exchange for email systems.
• Users have personal stores for online and offline access that need to be accounted for.

Design Phase for the Vision and the Plan

• The most important document is the overall design document.
• The overall design should document all the design and implementation decisions and steps.
• Include discussions that have taken place to date.
• State why the project has been invested.
• Clarify the scope of the project.
• Provide details of the results.
• The second document created should be the migration document.
• Providing the road map of how the end state will be reached.

Collaboration Sessions

• A formal collaboration and education process should be pursued.
• Make sure the project's end state is defined in detail.
• The process should involve interactive brainstorming and knowledge sharing.
• Stakeholders should work with facilitators who have expertise with the technology.

Structured Design Document

• Summarize the goals and objectives that were gathered.
• Show a detailed picture of the end state with new technologies and devices are implemented.
• Include key design decisions from the discovery process and collaboration sessions.
• The Executive Summary is the scope of the Windows Server 2022 implementation.
• All the project's goals and objectives.
• Provide a high-level summary that is focused on current problems.
• Decisions should be clarified after the discovery process through the collaboration sessions.

Elements of Design Documents

• List the approach involving high-level phases and the tasks to implement the solution.
• Include the end state details, such as the configurations, number and placement of Windows Server 2022 systems.
• Add a Budget Estimate that includes basic costs.
• List Time for the Project Plan to guide the design.
• Illustrate the process of building and testing of needed tech.
• Note who is doing what during the project.
• List the Speed Versus Risk trade-offs with different "what if?" scenarios with complete tasks.
• Creating the Migration Document should detail the process in the project plan.
• The project plan does not need to be 100% complete for testing and implementation.
• Refer to the Table of Contents for process questions.

Prototype Phase - Create a Key Element Lab

• Create a lab where elements of the design can be created.
• Define design features to be configured and tested.
• Specifics of exactly what will be in the prototype lab.
• Results of the lab are great to review.
• Key results are hard evidence of the quality of the design and the completeness of the migration document.

The Pilot Phase

• Deployment teams should be raring to go with all the new tech.
• Pilot processes vary in complexity.
• The complexity varies based on the scope of changes made the network infrastructure..
• Identify the first group of users moving to the new Windows Server 2022.
• An immediate fallback strategy is crucial in case things don't go to plan.
• Migration processes can be debugged during this phase.
• The first server in the Pilot phase will be an initial Windows Server 2022 server accessed by users.
• Rolling out the pilot phase can be performed in subphases.
• Each subphase sees an increase in the number of users.

Design Phase for the Vision and the Plan

• The number of pilot users should be validated.
• Study the application complexity with different pilot user types.
• Role complexity, geographical diversity of the pilot users should be factored in.
• Fixing of problems in the Pilot stage.
• Document results.

Migration

• 10% of the organization's users should have been rolled out and tested at this point.
• Applications should be thoroughly tested.
• Help desk and support personnel should be trained.
• Common issues should be clearly documented.
• Verify end-user satisfaction.
• Supporting the new Windows Server 2022 Environment.

O core do escopo do projeto e metas de negócio. É importante escrever um resumo executivo para o documento de design. O resumo deve definir o projeto em alto nível e incluir por que a organização está investindo tempo, energia e recursos no projeto.