Project implementation
To implement a project means to carry out activities proposed in the application form with
the aim to achieve project objectives and deliver results and outputs. Its success depends
on many internal and external factors. Some of the most important ones are a very well
organised project team and effective monitoring of project progress and related
expenditures.
Prepare the infrastructure. Many solutions are implemented into a production environment
that is separate and distinct from where the solution was developed and tested. It is important
that the characteristics of the production environment be accounted for. This strategy includes a
review of hardware, software, communications, etc. In our example above, the potential desktop
capacity problem would have been revealed if we had done an evaluation of the production (or
real-world) environment. When you are ready for implementation, the production infrastructure
needs to be in place.
Coordinate with the organizations involved in implementation. This may be as simple as
communicating to your client community. However, few solutions today can be implemented
without involving a number of organizations. For IT solutions, there are usually one or more
operations and infrastructure groups that need to be communicated to ahead of time. Many of
these groups might actually have a role in getting the solution successfully deployed. Part of the
implementation work is to coordinate the work of any other groups that have a role to play. In
some cases, developers simply failed to plan ahead and make sure the infrastructure groups were
prepared to support the implementation. As a result, the infrastructure groups were forced to drop
everything to make the implementation a success.
Implement training. Many solutions require users to attend training or more informal
coaching sessions. This type of training could be completed in advance, but the further out the
training is held, the less information will be retained when implementation rolls around. Training
that takes place close to the time of implementation should be made part of the actual
implementation plan.
Install the production solution. This is the piece everyone remembers. Your solution needs
to be moved from development to test. If the solution is brand new, this might be finished in a
leisurely and thoughtful manner over a period of time. If this project involves a major change to
a current solution, you may have a lot less flexibility in terms of when the new solution moves to
production, since the solution might need to be brought down for a period of time. You have to
make sure all of your production components are implemented successfully, including new
hardware, databases, and program code.
Convert the data. Data conversion, changing data from one format to another, needs to take
place once the infrastructure and the solution are implemented.
Perform final verification in production. You should have prepared to test the production
solution to ensure everything is working as you expect. This may involve a combination of
development and client personnel. The first check is just to make sure everything is up and
appears okay. The second check is to actually push data around in the solution, to make sure that
the solution is operating as it should. Depending on the type of solution being implemented, this
verification step could be extensive.
Implement new processes and procedures. Many IT solutions require changes to be made
to business processes as well. These changes should be implemented at the same time that the
actual solution is deployed.
Monitor the solution. Usually the project team will spend some period of time monitoring
the implemented solution. If there are problems that come up immediately after implementation,
the project team should address and fix them
