In DataCore Up Close – Part 6, we discussed the preparations required before installing your system for production use.  These preparations included preparing legacy data for migration, ensuring training materials and an implementation plan are generated, assisting the users in preparing for user acceptance testing, and completing a pre-visit checklist.  In this article, we'll discuss the actual deployment of a system for production use.  This phase produces the most tangible and visible results of the entire project and is the phase wherein changes are the most costly. Accordingly, it requires the most careful project management and adherence to our Project Delivery Methodology.

Ok - you've defined your requirements, DataCore has built and tested the system to meet those requirements as well as industry standards, you have prepared your legacy and work in progress data for migration, and training materials and an implementation plan have been generated.  So now, you're ready to install the system, right?  YES!!  Now we can put our Implementation Plan into action.

At this point, you've already completed and faxed to DataCore the Pre-Visit Checklist to help ensure your site is prepared for our User Acceptance Test implementation visit.  This will be followed by a production implementation visit later. More about that below.  Once we arrive on site, we will install the software developed up to this point on the designated server and workstations and train a subset of your users so they can adequately perform user acceptance testing. User acceptance testing usually takes our clients anywhere from one week to a month to complete - depending on your requirements and expectations.  And, we cannot stress enough the importance of user acceptance testing.  Remember, this testing is your opportunity to accept the system and to verify that the system works as you expected.

Depending on the quantity and quality of your legacy data, we may also perform a full or partial data migration test during this visit. This test helps validate and refine the Data Migration Plan; benchmark the data migration time requirements to validate the final implementation schedule, and also gives the user acceptance testers real world data to perform testing with.

During your user acceptance testing, DataCore requires that you maintain a log of bugs and potential feature changes.  At the end of, or at previously agreed upon timeframes during the testing, DataCore, you, and your users will discuss the log and address each item as appropriate:  DataCore will fix any bugs and retest in house prior to installing fixes into your production environment.  DataCore will also address any substantial new feature requests as changes to the original project scope, which underlines the importance of foreseeing as many feature requirements as possible back in the Define phase. For change of scope items, DataCore will prepare a cost and schedule estimate, so you can determine whether to include the feature with the current implementation, postpone it for the future, or cancel the request.

Once user acceptance testing is complete and you have accepted the system, it's time to migrate your legacy and work in progress data during our production implementation visit.  It is during this visit that fixes for any bugs found during user acceptance testing and any change of scope features are installed. DataCore will have already performed test migrations off site, and possibly on site, to eliminate potential migration problems.  Depending on the quantity of data to be migrated, the import process can take one or more days during which, if you are migrating from an existing EDM system, the old system will be inaccessible.  The planning of this "down" time and coordination of document production with the new system is a key point of the Data Migration Plan.  Once the migration of the production data is complete, or while the migration is occurring, DataCore will train the rest of your users on the system.  We will provide the software manufacturer's training materials as well as "cheat sheets" written by DataCore for the features specific to your implementation; or at additional cost, we can provide detailed custom training materials.  Training is performed at your site with your own data on your own computers to most closely approximate actual working conditions.  Every student is given a combination of lecture, demonstration, hands-on exercises, and personal assistance to ensure that they completely understand how the new system works. A DataCore individual then stays on site for an extra day or so to assist in the production usage of your new system, and answers any questions you or your users may have.

Voila!  You're up and running with your new system!

To learn about the Close phase of a project, click here to continue.