Technology Deployment Guide

Construct needed technology solutions - building anew, repairing the old, or migrating IT assets to a more capable platform - integrating the old with the new.

This guide defines the key activities, artifacts, and roles necessary to achieve an orderly release of technology into the HS Agency usage environments, resulting in the deployed configuration. This transition may include activities to package, distribute, configure, convert, install, and when necessary, de-install and retire the applications, platforms, networking, data files, and user or technical documentation and related IT services. The scope is broader than just those related to the technology items themselves. Activities also involve publicizing the changes, coordinating training among those who will use and administer the IT products.

Collectively, deployment activities achieve the technical goals for a plateau, as noted in the Plateau Plan. Depending on the scope of the change and associated risks, piloting and operational testing may be performed. Software licenses, operational support, service and maintenance agreements, as well as system management and administration procedures may be created, revised, or retired as appropriate.

Deployment requires coordination and interaction with individuals from all affected environments, such as the:

• Business environment, which may change parts of its business practices or work practices. It may, for example, introduce remote or mobile computing or support client direct-access to Human Services via the Web.
• Development environment, which may change its engineering practices to accommodate new or retired technology. It may, for example, involve introducing a new programming language, or decommissioning a mainframe.
• Operational environment, which may change its system monitoring, administration, and management practices and tools. It may require adjusting license agreements for installed or retired applications.

The scope of the coordination varies according to the amount of change expected. Small corrective or perfective maintenance changes may require minimal coordination. Deploying a new application or migrating a significant part of an existing, automated system to a new platform may require more coordination. Coordination includes necessary training of business, developer, operator, and administrative personnel, among others. The training may encompass both the technology and the specific business application.

See the Organization of the IT Planning and Management Guides for the relationship of the processes described in this guide to those of the other guides. Background is provided on the fundamental concepts and principles that apply across the guides. For information on how to customize this guidance, view the Application of the IT Planning and Management Guides pages.

Processes

Change in the usage environment is achieved by deployment projects and coordination within and across plateaus by the IT Evolution Plan. Circumstances for each project determine the specific mix of activities to be performed. Consideration is given to the type of products being deployed and their impact on the HS Agency business users, IT fabrication, or IT technical operation processes.

The common top-level activities are illustrated in the figure and described in the text below. Each deployment project consists of a tailored mix of one or more of these activities.

• Project Management Activities - These activities include practices necessary to plan, monitor, control, and terminate an IT deployment project.
• Engineering Activities - These activities include technical life-cycle practices needed to configure and tailor the technology items for use within each unique setting.
• Acquisition Activities - These activities include life-cycle practices needed to oversee any deployment services or products that would be obtained from outside the HS Agency.
• Support Activities - These activities include life-cycle practices needed to establish an effective project environment supporting the other three sets of activities. This includes CM and QA practices.

Technology Deployment Guide Resources - A consolidated set of items that can be used to implement the activities defined in this guide are listed in the consolidated resources.