Content

Purpose

Audience

Exchange Deployment Planning Services Overview

PLAN the Engagement

Getting Started

Planning Phase Engagement Timeline

Envision

Prepare

Delivery Planning

Agenda Hourly View

Sample One-Day Agenda

Sample Three-Day Agenda

Sample Five-Day Agenda

Sample Ten to Fifteen-Day Agenda

Technical Resources

CONDUCT the Engagement

Delivery Completion

REPORT the Engagement

Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide the engagement and delivery resource(s) with an overview of the tasks and content required to deliver the Exchange Deployment Planning Service engagement.

Audience

This document is intended for the Microsoft consultant or Partner technical specialists delivering a S&EDPS engagement and should not be distributed to customers.

Exchange Deployment Planning Services Overview

Exchange Deployment Planning Services is a Microsoft-funded, partner-supported planning offering. It should be considered an accelerator for an Exchange deployment or an introductio to deeper planning. This engagement is not a substitute for full envisioning and planning phases of a project.It will however form an ideal introduction to an engagement for full envisioning, design, and deployment.

Assumptions

As a partner and/or consultant preparing to deliver the a Exchange engagement, the document assumes that you have the required Exchange product knowledge to create/update the required deliverables with current content.

Stages

The stages in a Planning Services engagement described in this document are listed below. A detailed explanation of the activities in each engagement are located in the Planning Services Engagement Guide.

  1. PLAN the Engagement
  2. CONDUCT the Engagement
  3. REPORT the Engagement

PLAN the Engagement

Certification Requirements

In order to deliver Exchange Deployment Planning Services, the engagement delivery consultant must meet the requirements to deliver a Exchange Deployment Planning Services engagement. One must successfully meet the Certification Requirements to become S&EDPS certified.

It is highly recommended that the consultant has directly delivered Exchange implementation projects in the past. Additionally, the consultant must be fully aware of the provided content for proper and efficient delivery.

Technical Skill Requirements

The skill sets that are listed in the following table are recommended for members of the delivery team, so they can successfully deliver this engagement.

Product / Required Skills
Primary Technical Skills /
  • Exchange
  • Microsoft Lync Server Or Skype for Business
  • Active Directory Domain Services
  • Microsoft SQL Server® 2012 or greater database software
Internet Information Services 7.0
  • Windows Hyper-V

Secondary Technical Skills /
  • Familiarity with Microsoft Office 2013 or greater
  • Security configuration of Web Servers
  • Patch management
  • Office migration
  • Networking
  • Microsoft Internet Explorer® 10.0 or greater Internet browser
  • Microsoft Systems Center familiarity

Facilitator Soft Skills /
  • Sales experience or other experience speaking to business decision makers about Office and Exchange Products and Technologies
  • Industry knowledge or specific business process knowledge relative to the customer engagement
  • Group facilitation experience and skills

Deliverable Creation Process

Deliverables were designed to build on each other as demonstrated by the diagram below. Output from the One-Day engagement is used to create the output for the Three-Day engagement; and the Three-Day gives information necessary to build customizations for the five-, ten-, and 15-Day engagements.

Creating the Conceptual Design, Logical and Physical Architectures

The output of the One-Day S&EDPS engagement provides you with users, business services, and information worker (IW) products necessary for the solution. With these elements, you can derive a conceptual design. When you create a conceptual design, consider including Users/Actors (e.g., persons and systems, products required, Skype for Business, business services required, etc.).

Getting Started

Planning the Exchangeengagement involves gathering information from the customer, assembling content and planning the timeline. Adequate knowledge of the customer’s shortand long-term goals and proper planning will help make for a successful engagement. This section provides guidance in gathering information and preparing the optional and required deliverables to conduct the Exchange engagement.

Planning Phase Engagement Timeline

The Planning phase timeline for the engagement is presented below to assist with the planning effort.

Activity / Time Line
Email customer the Exchange pre-engagement questionnaire / T-3 weeks
Review pre-engagement questionnaire and formulate plan / T-2 weeks
Prepare slide decks and required documentation / T-2 weeks
Practice presentation / T-1 week
Gather materials for on-site delivery / T-2 days
Deliver Presentation/Planning Services Engagement / T-0 days

Envision

Prior to creating any deliverables, customer requirements need to be gathered for a complete understanding of the topics that need to be delivered. In addition, thought should be put into how to deliver the engagement and related presentations that will provide the greatest impact for the customer. This section will assist with the preparations needed for a successful engagement.

Pre-Engagement Preparation

After you have received the name of the customer, the subcomponents of S&EDPS that the customer has opted for, and the date of the engagement, there are a few prerequisites that will help ensure a successful engagement.

The Pre-Engagement Questionnaire

The survey questionnaire is a document within the Exchange Deployment Planning Services materials. It is a brief questionnaire used to gather the minimum information required to prepare the materials delivered during the engagement and gain a better understanding of the customer situation and environment.

This questionnaire should be delivered to the customer after the Pre-Engagement Kick-Off Teleconference and should be completed by the customer, several days in advance of the engagement. Explain to the customer that it is not necessary to provide all of the information within the questionnaire, and delivering separate documents that contain the necessary information is adequate, as long as the information is easy to locate and extract. In particular, diagrams are preferred to text descriptions or lists, as they can be more easily utilized during the workshop.

The questionnaires are focused on specific topics within Exchange. Questionnaire templates are provided below to assist with gathering detailed requirement information from the customer.

  • Pre-Engagement Questionnaire
The Pre-Engagement Customer Conference Call

The pre-engagement conference call is a mandatory part of the S&EDPS. This call helps you to complete the Pre-Engagement Questionnaire and agree on the technical focus area for the Envisioning Workshop. Be sure to provide a list of all of the technical drill-downs available to the customer, and let the customer choose which topics to cover. The conference call also acts as a pre-engagement introduction, which helps you to become familiar with the customer sponsor for the engagement.

The call enables the customer to schedule the appropriate people to attend the various topics during the presentation. Ensure that the customer has chosen a time where the attendees’ schedule is clear so they can maximize the benefit of the engagement.

Another important aspect of the conference call is to let the customer know the requirements for any technical PoC time to which they have agreed. Review the Pre-Engagement Questionnaire with the customer so that the customer can begin to gather the required source media, hardware, and product installation keys.

Make sure that the customer can provide a meeting area with a whiteboard and larger display or projector so everyone can see the presentation and demonstration.

Sample Conference Call Agenda
Time / Topic
10:00 a.m.– 10:10 a.m. / Introductions
10:10 a.m. – 10:25 a.m. / Pre-Engagement Questionnaire Review
10:25 a.m.–11:15 a.m. / Finalize Agenda Items for the presentation portion of the engagement
11:15 a.m.– 11:30 a.m. / Logistics, room requirements, projector, Internet access, lab requirements, tools to be run, etc.

Prepare

Engagement Scenarios

An ExchangeDeployment Planning Services engagement is comprised of one of the technical scenarios, listed below:

  • Exchange Deployment Planning
  • Office 365 FastTrack Planning
Recommended Practices

This section provides a summary of recommended practices for you to consider before you customize and deliver the engagements.

  • Determine the Envisioning Workshop length and build an agenda before customizing slides.
  • Based on the customer feedback and objections from the Solution Briefing, work with the customer to establish Envisioning Workshop topics and a session length (for example, one day or five days). Develop the Envisioning Workshop agenda before customizing slides.
  • Maintain the recommended presentation module structure.
  • The order and structure of the Envisioning Workshop modules are designed to help you to work through the customer technology issues in a logical order. While the structure is significant, several of the modules may be removed or reduced to reflect the customer’s interests and the agreed agenda topics.
  • Use the Deployment Plan Template and Planning Worksheets.

Document the customer environment in these templates, dependent on the engagement length, when you prepare. Follow the presenter guidance in the PowerPoint presentations. Copy the appropriate information into the template from the Pre-Engagement Questionnaire. During the final session of the engagement, finalize as much as possible of the information that is described in the agenda.

  • Emphasize discussions, whiteboard diagramming demonstrations (Three Day and Five Day).

The core portion of each presentation can be used to guide the conversation on a specific S&EDPS topic. Use the slide decks to discuss individual topics in detail. Experienced presenters generally feel that fewer slides and more interaction with the audience results in a higher value engagement.

  • Maintain visual consistency.

The presentations are all formatted with a customized template. If you modify existing slides or add slides from other presentations, be sure to follow the template design and use graphical elements that complement the existing slides. Maintain overall consistency among presentation content to deliver a seamless, convincing presentation. Apply the same principles to the Word template documents.

  • Switch to Notes Page view.

The PowerPoint presentations include presenter notes that help you to prepare and deliver each slide. Switch to the “Notes Page” view (by clicking “View” and then clicking “Notes Page”) to read the notes before you deliver the presentation. You may also want to print the notes pages as a quick reference guide. (Some Notes pages are extensive. You can use the “Publish” feature of Office Word to see the content in handout format.)

  • Unhide supporting slides. Additional slides are included in a hidden state by default.

When you move slides into the main section of the deck, be sure to unhide each slide. To do this quickly, switch to “Slide Sorter” view (click the “View” menu, then click “Slide Sorter”) and review all slides where the slide number appears inside a crossed-out box. Right-click a slide and select “Hide Slide” to toggle the Hide property on and off.

  • Plan for presentation flexibility.

Do not delete slides that you do not plan to present. If you hide them or move them to the end, you maintain flexibility to deal with unplanned topics. By using the slide navigation capabilities built into PowerPoint, you can easily jump to unplanned slides and continue a dynamic conversation.

To navigate quickly through a deck, in presentation mode, point to the bottom-left corner of the screen and right-click the third button from the left. On the menu that appears, point to “Go to Slide” and click the slide to which you want to navigate. Each slide is represented by the title of the slide. The slide number in parentheses indicates hidden slides.

Delivery Planning

Delivery planning content is divided by engagement duration. For quick access, required and recommended deliverable templates are provided as links in the appropriate section.

One-Day engagement Strategy Briefing

The One-Day S&EDPS engagement can be provided, in part, remotely, if desired. The Strategy Briefing Session can be provided remotely, whereas the high-level Envisioning Workshop should be conducted in-person with your customer.

For quick reference, the templates used for the deployment planning sessions are listed below.

  • Requirements gathering
  • Pre-Engagement Questionnaire
  • Exchange- Work order template

Mandatory Deliverable Templates

  • Engagement Findings and Recommendations – Exchange
  • Planning Services Completion Report (Partner Completed)

Strategy Briefing Session

Before the first conference call or the on-site meeting, ensure that you are ready to deliver the following elements:

  • Introduction. Using the Introductions slide, Requirements gathering, introduce yourself and then ask everyone to introduce themselves, state their role, and what they expect to get out of the session. Make a record of the attendees, their roles, and their expectations, and add these to the Recommendations document. Ensure that the key stakeholders and decision makers are present.
  • Exchange Kickoff Presentation. Use the Exchange feature slide deck Kickoff presentation for presentation and discussion points. The purpose of this section is to brief the customer on the typical business value that each of the solutions presented can achieve. Record any additional key business value features that are required from the engagement.
  • Problem Statement Development. This section reviews the findings of the Pre-Engagement Questionnaire. A facilitated group discussion results in identifying a business problem statement that will become the focus of the Envisioning Workshop.
  • Solution Statement Development. Based on the problem statement, this section includes the development of a solution statement using Skype for Business capabilities to address the identified business problem.
  • Identify Business Services Required. Based on the solution statement and information you have gathered from the customer, identify Skype for Business business services required to create the solution.
  • Identify Products Required. This session is not delivered in front of a customer. After the high-level Envisioning Workshop, consultants will map the Microsoft Information Worker products required to build the solution. This activity will become the starting point for a Three-Day S&EDPS engagement.

Summary Deployment Strategy and Roadmap Delivery Session

Before the final conference call or the on-site meeting, ensure that you are ready to deliver the Summary Deployment Strategy and Roadmap Delivery Session. During this session, overall findings are finalized and delivered, including:

  • Business Goals
  • Business Problem Statement
  • Business Solution Statement
  • Business User Identification
  • Exchange Business Services Required
  • Products Required
Three-Day Engagement Deployment Planning

The Three-Day offering builds on the One-Day offering and includes two days of technical presentations. You can modify the agenda that is used for the customer-facing pre-engagement conference call. Be sure to review the presentations and select the supporting slides that best suit the particular engagement based on customer knowledge and interest. The daily schedule for the Three-Day S&EDPS is in the sample agenda provided in the section below.

Five-Day Engagement Deployment Planning

The Five-Day offering builds on the one and three-day offerings and includes technical presentations, demonstrations, labs and planning. You can modify the agenda that is used for the customer-facing pre-engagement conference call. Be sure to review the presentations and select the supporting slides that best suit the particular engagement based on customer knowledge and interest. The daily schedule for the Five-Day S&EDPS is in the sample agenda provided in the section below.

Ten-Day and Fifteen-Day Engagement Deployment Planning

This offering is an extensive engagement aimed at larger organizations by building on the five-day engagement. It provides time for deeper dives into Exchange architecture, planning, and deployment. It is composed mainly of planning activities that can include tasks such as envisioning, requirements gathering, project planning, current state assessment, technical presentations, and labs. The primary focus and objectives of the deployment planning activities can be defined with the customer to better address their specific needs.

The ten-day and fifteen-day engagements are specifically designed to be customized and does not provide default predefined activities to fill each day. The specific planning activities and objectives for the remaining time are defined jointly between the consultant and the customer.

The final deliverable is a customized document that consists of the problem and solution statements, any identified requirements, identified risks, an expanded high-level solution concept, documentation of custom objectives and results, and next steps.

The engagement includes the following:

Strategy Briefing Session–includes delivery of the Skype for Business Overview presentation and creation of the problem statement.

Skype for Business Technical Presentations–Technical sessions covering a range of topics. These sessions introduce customers to the features and functionality of Skype for Business Server and attempt to show how those features could be deployed to help meet the customers’ requirements. See the Construct Agenda section for more details.

Creation of an Expanded Solution Concept–This is a description of the high-level solution ideas that were derived from the various Architectural Design Sessions. It should describe how product features could work together to solve the problem statement and meet the identified requirements. The solution concept is the initial step towards a solution design and is the starting point for future detailed design discussions. This solution concept is not a full design and may not meet all of the customer’s requirements. The ten-day engagement allows time for expansion of the solution concept to include other items discussed as part of the additional technical presentations.