Chapter 5: Planning the Migration

Introduction

Although the migration project has already started, it is not until you have finished the analysis and assessment activities that you are able to judge the scale and scope of the migration. At this stage, you are able to:

• Initiate the migration project by confirming its intentions and deliverables.

• Catalog and analyze issues and risks that may jeopardize the migration.

• Produce plans and schedules for the coming stages of the project.

• Identify, agree on, and allocate resources to the project.

This chapter presents a project framework based on the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF). This framework is a methodology for running software projects and illustrates how software development cycles can be used to create quality software on time and within budget.

Every software development project is part of a larger software development life cycle. During the life cycle, all of the activities necessary for creating, shipping, or deploying software repeat with each release. The repeated steps include specifying the project deliverables, implementing them, testing the resulting modules, and creating documentation. The MSF process model is milestone-based, as is the traditional waterfall model, but it also includes the spiral model often promoted for Rapid Application Development (RAD).

The milestones specified in the process model in Chapter 3, The Migration Process, should be considered review and synchronization points rather than freeze points. The milestones give the team a tangible goal to work toward, as well as a time to make adjustments, if necessary. In the process model, a milestone concludes each phase. To promote objective measures, each milestone should be easily quantifiable and should correspond to the completion and approval of a project deliverable .