Prerequisites for a Production Pilot

Before you start your first pilot in production, your test lab must be stable and your testing teams should have finished integration and application testing. Be sure to validate the components of your design before you implement them on your corporate network. For example, validate the protocols you plan to use, the replication traffic across your wide area network (WAN) links, and your backup and restore procedures. You should not introduce any new technologies or procedures into the pilot that have not been tested in the lab. If one of your goals for the pilot is to test the rollout process, the installation team should have thoroughly developed, tested, and documented the process. Resolve any outstanding problems with your design or develop a contingency plan.

You also need to develop and validate a series of tests that the installation team can run after upgrading the computers. These tests ensure that the installation is working properly before you turn it over to the users.

Before you begin deploying the pilot, obtain management approval of your pilot plan. Start working on the pilot plan early so that you have your communication channels in place and the participants prepared by the time you are ready to deploy the pilot.

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