Lesson 5: Building a Support and Maintenance Team | MCSE Training Kit (Exam 70-222): Migrating from Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 to Microsoft Windows 2000 (MCSE Training Kits)

This lesson explores the core staffing requirements for the migration process.

After this lesson, you will be able to

Identify the roles to be filled when creating a support and maintenance team.

Estimated lesson time: 10 minutes

Required Roles

Members of the migration team need to play a number of roles. While a single individual won't always be required for each role, you should allocate resources for each role. The roles described in the following sections have been identified by Microsoft Consulting Services (MCS) as crucial to a project's success.

Deployment Team Leader

This person must have considerable experience in all the areas touched by the deployment process. He or she will act as overall leader of the project and keep stakeholders informed about the progress of the migration. The deployment team leader might be required to perform the role of evangelist for change in promoting the project at all levels.

Product Team Leader

This person must have intimate knowledge of the operating systems, network infrastructure, and applications in use in the organization at all levels. He or she will be invaluable when considering how the existing systems are to be upgraded.

Corporate Standards Leader

The corporate standards leader is in charge of the set of standards that govern how systems are deployed and used within the organization. This job encompasses operating systems, server systems, network infrastructure, and end-user applications. Examples of corporate standards on the desktop include having a logon banner, having a bitmap listing the help desk telephone number, using certain colors for menus, removing Network Neighborhood from the desktop, and having a specific set of drive mappings (for example, H: for home folder, P: for programs, and U: for utilities).

If no standards are in place, the migration to Windows 2000 is a good occasion to implement them. Either way, the corporate standards leader must ensure that the upgrade is placed in the context of existing procedures, or that the introduction of new standards—and the possible upset of end users (for example, if there is a new standard to remove My Computer from the desktop)—is managed properly.

Network Infrastructure Leader

Many organizations separate the management of the network from the management of the operating systems and applications. A migration to Windows 2000 will significantly impact the networking infrastructure; therefore, a person with intimate knowledge of the network will be required to take a major role in the project. Bear in mind that other issues are allied to the network, such as electronic mail and database-driven applications, which might also need specialized input. You should identify these issues and seek appropriate expertise.

Training and Help Desk Leader

The issue of training and support should be designed into the project and not considered as an afterthought toward the end of the process. To this end, sig-nificant training input will be required. A person with training and help-desk experience (or perhaps one person for each role) will be required to promote the appropriate level of knowledge within the organization, from specialized training for support staff to information for end users concerning changes.

The person responsible for training should also be consulted as the migration plan is developed so that training needs can be identified and addressed before they become a problem.

Site Deployment Leaders

The migration is likely to take place on a number of different sites. At each site, a deployment leader should be involved in the planning and given responsibility for the migration at his or her site. Such people will probably already be heavily loaded with local support issues and will therefore appreciate being consulted on the migration procedures at the earliest possible stage.

Schema Change Leader

A centralized management team needs to control schema extensions, access, and deletions. The schema change leader must have a deep understanding of business issues as well as the technical issues associated with the impact of additions to the schema.

Security Team Leader

Many corporations are looking to migrate to Windows 2000 because of its enhancements to all areas of security. However, to work with legacy systems, all the same back doors to a NetBIOS system exist. The security team leader will manage a team that understands the security loopholes inherent in maintaining compatibility with Windows NT and downlevel clients. The team must also understand how to use the latest enhancements to security, such as smart card integration, IPSec, and certificates to strengthen all security aspects of the original Windows NT environment. The security team leader will also represent the team at design and deployment meetings to analyze potential showstoppers from a security perspective.

Building the Team

You should identify and bring together the people involved in each of these roles at the start. Everyone must understand the need for the migration and the goals to be met. The team must communicate effectively, and this process should be made integral to the project. Everyone must also be aware of the importance of risk assessment so that any critical issues are identified and targeted early on, as well as throughout the project development. To this end, get all the members of the team together early in the project and jointly attack the planning issues. Such a brainstorming approach allows you to create designs which are jointly owned by all in the team.

Lesson Summary

In this lesson, you learned about the roles to be taken by personnel in the migration project. You identified the deployment team leader, product team leader, corporate standards leader, network infrastructure leader, training and help desk leader, site deployment leader, schema change leader, and security team leader roles, and the function performed by each.

You also learned of the importance of building a team from the start, so that those undertaking the effort feel that they are participating in the planning decisions and to also actively perform risk assessment. To these ends, the design of the early parts of the plan are best created by brainstorming with all members of the team present.