Software Project Transition Planning

Transition Phase The transition phase is the phase where the product is put in the hands of its end users. It involves issues of marketing, packaging, installing, configuring, supporting the user-community, making corrections, etc. A usable subset of the system has been built with acceptable quality levels and user documents It can be deployed to the user community For some projects the transition phase means the starting point for another version of the software system For other projects the transition phase means the complete delivery of the software system to a third party responsible for operation, maintenance and enhancement.

Objectives Achieve independence of user (users can support themselves) Deployment baseline is complete and consistent with the criteria in the project agreement The final baseline can be built as rapidly and cost-effectively as possible.

Entry Criteria The product and artifacts—in particular a software product—are sufficiently mature to be put into the hands of its users.

Preparing for Transition Hardware preparation: purchases, installation Software preparation: licenses, rehosting, data Site preparation: facilities, equipment, communications Staff preparation: training, teambuilding, change readiness Operational test: criteria, procedures, personnel, instrumentation, analysis

Activities Test the product deliverable in a customer environment. Test of deployment baseline against the acceptance criteria. Fine tune the product based upon customer feedback Sales rollout kit development Field personnel training Deliver the final product to the end user Finalize end-user support material

Exit Criteria An update of some of the previous documents, as necessary, the plan being replaced by a “post-mortem” analysis of the performance of the project relative to its original and revised success criteria; A brief inventory of the organization’s new assets as a result this cycle.

Evaluation Criteria Is the user satisfied? Are actual resource expenditures versus planned expenditures so far acceptable?

Documentation The Unified Process suggests the following typical set of documents. Management artifacts: Artifacts used to drive or monitor the progress of the project, estimate the risks, adjust the resources, give visibility to the customer or the investors. Technical artifacts: Artifacts that are either the delivered goods, executable software and manuals, or the blueprints that were used to manufacture the delivered goods.

Management Artifacts An organizational policy document A Vision document A Business Case document A Development Plan document An Evaluation Criteria document Release Description documents for each release Deployment document Status Assessment documents

Technical Artifacts User’s Manual Administrator’s Manual System/Developer’s Manual: A Software Architecture document, describing the overall structure of the software. Detailed software documentation (e.g. use cases, class diagrams, …).

Group Exercise Create a transition plan for your project. You do not need to send this to me; this is, however, part of your final deliverable.