Business information applications produce benefits to the organization when they are part of the daily production environment. Many tools and processes have been developed over the years to ensure that the right application is produced on a reasonably predictable schedule.  But most project management and development methodologies, because of their focus on the build process, often treat 'production startup and operation' as 'our job is done, we can walk away'. The result is that readying the user environment to successfully exploit the new application is often left as an afterthought.

A production readiness assessment addresses this problem by examining the application, the target environment and implementation approach from a number of perspectives.

• Application business case, scope, design, operational requirements, implementation approach review -- what is going to be deployed and how is it expected to transform the current organization?.
• Development process -- how is the application being built and tested? What has been implemented to facilitate supportability in a production environment? What is the post-implementation support strategy?
• Organizational context review -- where is it going to be deployed, what and who will be affected, are the impacted staff ready and are appropriate management areas supportive, ready and willing to change?
• Baseline assessment -- implementation target environment as it exists now.
• Implementation plans -- what is the approach planned to effect the change?
• Risk review -- what risks have been identified in existing project plans? How are risks managed and appropriate issues escalated? What mitigation strategies have been established and how well do they work?
• Success factors -- what need to go right for the application to be a success? What factors have not been identified but need to be present?

Technology Strategists, through a broad understanding of the technical and business environments, develops an assessment of operational readiness for management and the implementation team. This assessment:

• 'Acceptance tests' the target environment.
• Identifies risks and suggests appropriate mitigation strategies.
• Recommend changes and additions to implementation plans if necessary.
• Recommend changes to application design to improve supportability.
• Propose action plan to enhance success.
• Present situation assessment and recommended approach to management team.

The production readiness assessment process can be effectively utilized at a number of points in the development cycle:

• Planning -- provide a real world perspective to help the team create realistic plans and budgets.
• Development -- assist the team in designing and building a supportable, production-ready system.
• Implementation -- facilitate successful deployment and operation.
• Methodology -- advise project management and development groups on augmenting existing processes and methodologies to incorporate production readiness considerations.

Technology Strategists can also provide consulting and support for the implementation process as an additional measure of assistance for success.. 

Further information on this and related topics may be found on our website http://www.tekstrat.com

Is this topic of interest to you? Your comments on this or suggestion of topics for future newsletters are invited.

Current topics for future newsletters - 'Operational Metrics -- further insights' and 'Business Continuity -- How Mature is Your Program?'

Gregory Latiak

Technology Strategists, Inc.

http://www.tekstrat.com/

Tel: (416)540-7384