Gathering Data for the Assessment

The best way to conduct an assessment is to use a prepared template. HP consultants use a template to collect data from customers. Using this template, we work with the customer to identify key people in the company who would be required to provide the information needed to complete the template. We scheduled meetings to cover each phase of the assessment, and invite appropriate people when the phase that needs their expertise is scheduled. Even a small county government office took two days of interviews to complete the templates.

You will spend a considerable amount of time planning a migration from Windows NT to Windows 2000 or Windows 2003. However, migrating from Windows 2000 to 2003, isn't nearly as complex because the AD infrastructure will be complete. However, acquisitions, mergers, divestitures, company DNS name changes, and other changes can dictate a redesign of the existing AD.

Still, even with a Windows 2000 to 2003 upgrade, you should make a thorough assessment to provide for design changes to take advantage of Windows 2003 features. Make a thorough health check of the Windows 2000 infrastructure, including AD replication, File Replication Service (FRS), DNS/WINS, and any outstanding, unresolved errors. This is a good opportunity to take a critical look at the infrastructure to correct any problems. If you were one of the early adopters of Windows 2000, you know that we know a lot more about Windows 2000 in terms of best practices than we did three or four years ago. When you upgrade to Windows Server 2003, it is a good time to take a fresh look to see whether changes could be made to improve performance and clean up infrastructure problems, group memberships, and the like. Windows 2003 features such as Universal Group Membership Caching, IFM, and improvements in AD replication performance for the Intersite Topology Generator (ISTG) might change the placement of Global Catalogs (GCs), cause a redesign of the backup and recovery strategy, or dictate a change in the design of the replication topology.

The subheadings following in this section are similar to those used in the Readiness Assessment template that HP uses for customer projects. Included under each heading is a brief description of what that section should include. The deliverable to the customer is a comprehensive report detailing the findings conducted in the assessment review meetings and in private interviews with key staff members . This is an iterative process. As you develop the plan, you continue to find more questions that the customer must answer. Even conducting your own assessment, you'll find that you need to continue to gather more information as the project goes on. The next section provides details on creating the template for the assessment document.