Chapter 2 - Preparing for a Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Deployment Project

Chapter 2

About This Chapter

Many organizations have developed their own strategies and procedures to manage complex information technology (IT) projects. A successful deployment starts with some preparation, goes through a planning and design verification process, and ends with customer or end user satisfaction achieved through an efficient rollout in the production environment. This sequence of events should not be changed. It is not advisable, for instance, to implement Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server before the deployment concepts have been tested. Prepare, plan, test, and then implement. Within each project phase, however, you can accomplish individual activities in any order or, even better, concurrently.

Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither is an Exchange 2000 organization. You should split the project into manageable units and carry out the implementation in small stages. Do not forget to define long-term goals, though, to give your deployment team guidance through the entire project. Strategic thinking and tactical approaches are keys to success. After every delivery step, assess the outcome and project status. Unexpected results may require a reevaluation of the progress. Find out what went wrong, improve your plans if necessary, test them again, and then accomplish the next delivery step. This is learning by doing.

This chapter explains how to manage an infrastructure deployment project based on the core principles of the Microsoft Solutions Framework (MSF). Lesson 1 discusses the individual phases in the project life cycle. Lesson 2 then focuses in greater detail on the actual task of preparing the project.

Before You Begin

To complete this chapter, you must

• Have a general knowledge of the process, enterprise architecture, and infrastructure models in the MSF. The Microsoft Solutions Framework Reference Guide is available at http://www.microsoft.com/msf/
• Be familiar with the key features and functionality of Exchange 2000 Server, as discussed in Chapter 1, "Introduction to Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server"