As the delivery team plans for deployment, or implementation – depending on what you prefer to call it, there is much preparation that must occur. How you prepare for your particular project depends on several things including the following:

  • Customer requirements
  • Type of system being implemented
  • Policies and processes of your organization
  • Logistics of the customer, delivery organization, and implementation site

Personally, the type of implementation prep that I go through with my team is dictated heavily by the needs of the specific implementation and what was planned for and laid out as part of the statement of work and the kickoff sessions with the customer.

In his book “Project Management Nation,” Jason Charvat discusses his vision of typical implementation planning and preparation. While I don’t specifically endorse this process and understand that your specific situation usually dictates how the implementation is handled, I believe that this is helpful and useful information.

Implementation Checklist

The project manager must be sure that the implementation follows the implementation tasks and activities as stated in the project schedule. This forms the basis against which the implementation will be done. Generally, the tasks would be to:

  • Load or install the new system
  • Perform a system test
  • Convert to the new system
  • Verify that an application works with other applications in the system
  • Perform an integration test
  • Perform an acceptance test

The Implementation Plan

The implementation plan, which was developed by the project manager during the design phase, should, at this stage, be approved and communicated to all project stakeholders. A successful project can be ruined by a poor implementation plan. A working implementation schedule should be developed and maintained for all parties to use and agree upon. As the project changes, the project manager must pay close attention to the schedule and update it to reflect the latest changes to the implementation date. This schedule should then be communicated to all project stakeholders.

Implementation plan

It is important to publish an initial implementation schedule for each site early in the project. Many members of the deployment project team will reach a point where they cannot until they know the time, sequence, or date of the implementation. Experience has shown that developing a draft implementation schedule early in the project life, rather than later, resolves many problems. The project manager should remember that the implementation plan could be put on hold if the software development is late for whatever reason. However, if the implementation plan cannot be moved and there is no slack in the schedule, the project manager should immediately escalate this risk to the necessary stakeholders.

Meetings Leading up to Implementation

The implementation plan must be discussed and agreed upon by both the user management and IT support staff in order to ensure that both parties plan their work schedules to match the project schedule. For the majority of IT projects, implementation will most likely occur after hours or over weekends, during a series of working hours per day, or on public holidays.