Executing Your Plan

The last step, of course, is to put your directory service into production (finally!). Doing so means executing each of the five pieces of your production plan:

1. Gather needed resources.

2. Perform prerequisite tasks .

3. Roll out the service.

4. Check your progress against your success criteria.

5. Publicize your new service.

Before you start to execute your plan, make sure that you know where to turn for outside help. Create a list of contact information for hardware vendors, directory software vendors , suppliers of other software you're using, and anyone else whom you may need to ask for help. During the most critical phases of your rollout (for example, when your first important directory-enabled application comes online and begins using your directory), we suggest that you put on alert the people you may need to turn to for help.

Hopefully your rollout will go smoothly, but it may not. For example, you may encounter a critical bug that did not show up during your pilot. Or you may find that part of your design just won't work with the software you have or in the environment in which the service needs to run. If this happens, do not despair. Regroup and consider whether you need to revisit your design or conduct another pilot before proceeding with your production rollout. It is important to know what kinds of problems would lead you to halt the rollout and which ones could be dealt with while the rollout proceeded.

Finally, remember to keep everyone informed about your progress. Communicate openly with your management, colleagues, developers, and end users about how the production rollout is proceeding. Try not to promise more than you can deliver. After you have met all or most of your success criteria, let everyone know that you consider the directory service to be in production. And don't forget to thank everyone for their hard work and help in reaching this major milestone!