Engagement Delivery Guide
Table of Contents
1Introduction
2Initiating the Engagement
2.1Verifying Readiness for Service
2.2Conducting Internal Pre-Kickoff Meeting
2.3Customizing the Service and Creating a Baseline Agenda
3Engagement Phases
3.1Envision Phase (Kickoff and Scope)
3.1.1Pre-engagement Information-Gathering Phase
3.1.2Kickoff Meeting
3.1.3Engagement Schedule
3.2Plan Phase (Inventory, Categorize, Analyze)
3.2.1Microsoft Assessment and Planning Toolkit (MAP)
3.2.2Reviewing Other Inventory Resources
3.2.3Information Gathering Interviews
3.2.4Data Analysis
3.2.5Define Migration Options
3.3Build Phase
3.3.1Compile Final Migration Report
3.3.2Deploying SQL Server infrastructure in Microsoft Azure Virtual Machines
3.4Closeout Meeting
4References
Table 1 - Kick-Off Agenda
Table 2 - Migration Activities
1
1 Introduction
The goal of this document is to provide you, the delivery consultant, specific guidance about what is required of you and your customer through the course of the engagement.Successful delivery of these requirements helps verify a successful engagement and value delivered to the customer.
The scope of the engagement is limited to a fixed set of activities with variations to thetimeline based on complexity and number of workloads defined as in scope during the initial negotiations.
2 Initiating the Engagement
Prior to engagement kick-off, the delivery consultant should gain familiarity with the state of customer by gathering information from available <Partner> Services.
2.1Verifying Readiness for Service
Use the documents included as part of this solution to help you deliver the engagement successfully. List the documents here with descriptions and review them as appropriate:
- Statement of Work (SOW) template
- Used to define the scope of the engagement and specify the anticipated activities
- Kickoff and closeout presentation templates
- Microsoft Office PowerPoint® templates to support you in conducting effective workshops
- Vision and Scope template
- Template for a <Partner> Services Delivery Methodology (MSDM) Vision and Scope document that you will adapt to the requirements of the specific customer environment
- Migration Report template
- The ultimate deliverable of this Offering, highlighting inventory information and migration options as part of a tactical migration plan
- Conducting Internal Pre-Kickoff Meeting
Prior to meeting the customer, the delivery team should meet to review the customer’s needs and expectations, and the goals of both Microsoft and partners. This meeting is an opportunity for the delivery consultants (technical, business, and operations) to review and discuss existing knowledge and documentation about the customer.
Typically, the delivery consultants discuss each others’ skills and suitability for the project. It is essential that these matters are addressed prior to starting the on-site work. The consultants should determine the project agenda and agree on roles and responsibilities for this specific engagement.
Additionally, one of the team members must take ownership for arranging the logistics with the customer, including reserving rooms, obtaining audio/visual equipment, setting up building access, providing meals, and securing access to the right staff and information.
If the customer is a Premier Services customer, consult with the customer’s Technical Account Manager (TAM) to determine any salient facts that may present risks or opportunities in the implementation of the engagement. If Premier has conducted any recent risk assessments (RAPs) for the customer, those may also provide relevant information.
If the Account Technical Strategist or Technical Account Manager has completed an Infrastructure Optimization assessment for the customer, review the results of that assessment and survey.
2.3Customizing the Service and Creating a Baseline Agenda
The pre-kickoff meeting is the time to agree on the final agenda of the service. Delivery of the engagement depends on the existing customer environment.
Once you’ve established the overall engagement flow, you can fill in the baseline agenda with specific activities like workshop sessions, project management meetings, and report authoring.
The engagement provides a baseline schedule that must be customized to suit specific customer needs.
Important:Allocate yourself ample time on the schedule for authoring the customer deliverable document. It is the main deliverable of the engagement and should reflect high quality.
Based on the pre-kickoff meeting, the delivery consultant will have enough knowledge to select tools and interviewers when engaging with the customer.
The delivery consultant will also have enough knowledge to customize the schedule to suit a specific customer’s needs. This schedule should be confirmed and amended as needed after the kickoff meeting.
3 Engagement Phases
Use the information in this section to guide you through the engagement.
3.1Envision Phase (Kickoff and Scope)
3.1.1 Pre-engagement Information-Gathering Phase
For this engagement to be successful, it is vitally important that it is delivered within the context of a specific customer situation and environment and it is essential to find out as much as you can before being on site for the first time.
Also be aware that the customer might not be able to answer specific questions for all workloads appropriately, because the owners of these workloads have long since left the company and these workloads have been left as a legacy. Be prepared to challenge the answers you are given with regard to these workloads.
To gather as much insight as you can for the workloads to be migrated and for the customer’s environment in general, an Environmental Assessment Questionnaire has been prepared to collect this feedback in a structured way.
Important:This questionnaire should be sent out to the customer by you or the Engagement Manager (EM) at least two weeks before the engagement’s planned start.
Before sending out this questionnaire to the customer, get in touch with the account team or some of your fellow consultants with specific customer experience to discuss the questions (possibly adding or deleting some of them) and prepopulate some answers with the feedback provided by the account team. Even if answers are provided by the account team, leave the question together with the account team’s answer in the questionnaire for the customer to be able to comment on that. Be prepared to challenge the account team’s answers as well.
As indicated earlier, make sure that the questionnaire is ready to be sent out at least two weeks before the engagement’s start. Discuss with your EM who is going to send out this questionnaire and who is going to be the contact person for follow-up questions the customer might have with regard to that. Also be sure that you have identified the right person within the customer’s organization for this questionnaire to be sent to; when in doubt, ask.
When sending out this questionnaire, consider adding the following pieces of information:
- A short “How To” in terms of the kind and depth of answers you expect (best highlighted by an example)
- A concise time table for next steps highlighting when you expect the answers back (allowing you also to assess the answers and incorporate them into the kick off workshop agenda)
- A contact person for the customer to follow up with in case questions should arise (from a technical and organizational point of view)
- Proactive suggestion of a checkpoint conference call to the customer at a specified point in time (for example, one week before project start) to make sure this questionnaire does not slip thru the cracks
Avoid drowning the customer in additional information or organizational and technical questions that you may have at this point of time. That is what the kickoff meeting is meant for. Doing so might generate a negative perception within the customer’s project team.
Keep in mind, though, that you as the primary delivery consultant are responsible for the contents of this questionnaire and for getting meaningful answers from the customer. Be aware of superficial or no answers at all from the customer. This indicates that the team or person involved from the customer’s side either doesn't have enough time to answer properly or is not competent to answer those questions. Escalate issues to the EM as soon as feasible.
If you anticipate this happening, consider suggesting an intermediary milestone to the customer for them to deliver a draft answer document (for example, after one week). This document could then be discussed as part of a conference call together with the customer to avoid surprises happening to you if you just agree on a delivery date for the answers (for example, two days before the kickoff meeting).
File the answers you receive from the customer on a team site approved by your EM, because this is a relevant engagement deliverable.
3.1.2 Kickoff Meeting
The kickoff meeting is an important part of the engagement because it helps both Microsoft and the customer understand what the goals and the scope of the engagement are and what is required to successfully deliver the engagement within the given constraints. You will also discuss logistics for the time you will be on site, specifically regarding what inventory activities will be taking place and what is required to perform these activities.
Make use of the PowerPoint template provided as part of the Offering materials to guide you through the kickoff meeting. Depending on the size of the engagement, two to four hours will be needed for this workshop.
The agenda for this kickoff meeting (as contained in the PowerPoint template) is:
- Introductions
- Meeting Objectives
- Problem Definition
- Current Environment
- Business Requirements
- Engagement Overview and Objectives
- Project Scope
- Activities and Timeline
- Schedule and Milestones
- Communications Plan
- Roles and Resources
- Deliverables
- Next Steps and Action Items
- Questions and Answers
When preparing for this meeting, adapt the following slides to the specific customer situation and engagement:
Table 1 - Kick-Off Agenda
No. / Slide Title / Description1 / Kickoff Presentation / Add date of presentation.
Consider adding your name and job description.
2 / Engagement Overview / If necessary, modify the focus areas for this engagement and add specific items that you will address as part of this engagement (customer pain points).
3 / Scope / As described in the Statement of Work, add specific activities that you want to highlight as being in or out of scope (to reduce doubt). Because this reflects the Statement of Work, there should be no surprises for the customer on this slide.
4 / Offering Activities and Timeline / Adjust the timeline (number of weeks) for the various phases. This is a time boxed 4 week delivery.
5 / Schedule and Milestone / Using the table provided in the template, indicate a rough schedule with milestones to the customer. It is important for the timetable to highlight customer interaction points and milestones for deliverables.
6 / Communication Plan / Add specific details to the communications plan, also indicating who will be the primary point of contact for this engagement (you or the EM).
7 / Roles and Resources / Specify all the resources (from Microsoft and from the customer’s side) that will be part of the engagement. It is advisable to add some contact details for later reference.
8 / Next Steps and Action Items / Add some specific action items or next steps you want to highlight to the customer. These action items might be related to the Envision phase deliverables of the answers provided to the questionnaire.
3.1.2.1 Environment Assessment Review
Before the Vision and Scope is finalized and documented, you should review the Environment Assessment Questionnaire that should have been completed by the customer. This document will be helpful as you define what will be included in the engagement and what is considered most critical.
Consider separating the kickoff meeting from the questionnaire review meeting, because it is likely that the audience from the customer might be different for both meetings. You also thus avoid scheduling a meeting that is probably longer than four hours, which might be difficult for the customer to attend and organize. If the questionnaire review meeting does not take place immediately after the kickoff meeting (or at least on the same day), make sure to agree on a date for this as part of the kickoff workshops action items for next steps.
It is important to determine if the customer has a current technology road map. Such a map might be implied or explicitly written. The relationship of the customer’s road map to the Microsoft road map should be considered by the delivering consultant. This is particularly true when preparing recommendations as a result of the engagement.
There is no separate PowerPoint template for this environment assessment review meeting, because these meetings tend to be highly dynamic and interactive workshops with no clear-cut agenda. As the primary delivery consultant, you are expected to facilitate this workshop.
Consider asking the EM or a fellow consultant to take over the role of a moderator and to take notes to come up with minutes after the meeting so that you are free to lead the discussion and concentrate on the customer’s feedback.
The consultant should use key findings of this exercise as inputs to the customer deliverable document delivered at the end of the engagement.
The minutes of this meeting together with the completed questionnaire from the customer are important inputs for the Vision and Scope creation process. Be sure to share all of these documents with the customer after the meeting. Expect this meeting to take two to four hours (once again, depending on the size of the engagement).
There are no mandatory deliverables as a result of this exercise, but the consultant’s notes are used as inputs to the customer deliverable document.
3.1.2.2 Verifying Customer Benefits from Engagement
Engage all project stakeholders to confirm that expectations have been correctly set. The whole project team should have an understanding and buy in to the Vision and Scope for this engagement. They should understand the importance of the engagement, as well as how the engagement fits into an overarching program.
This discussion should include tangible customer benefits that will be identified by the engagement. Focus on technical, business, and operations aspects as appropriate. Sample items include:
- Help me understand my environment.
- Help me count the number and size of my databases.
- Help me know if I am following latest best practices.
- Help me know if my IT environment is configured appropriately.
When preparing for the engagement, you should consider:
- What are the key decisions that the customer needs assistance to make?
- What are the show stoppers that we can resolve?
- Are there any fundamental knowledge gaps?
- How can we bring the customer to a solution faster?
- Assembling the Core Delivery Team
The engagement is created to be delivered by a virtual team with collective knowledge in, potentially, three disciplines: business value, technical, and operations.
The technical part of the engagement can be delivered by one or more consultants skilled enough to perform an audit of the environment by implementing a number of Microsoft and third-party tools, as well as conducting interviews with all relevant stakeholders. This means the customer must provide relevant resources — architect, administrators, and managers — that work with the consultant to achieve these goals.
3.1.2.4 Roles and Responsibilities
During the project kickoff meeting, it is critical that the roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and agreed to. This is especially important because of the tight timeline and rigid engagement model. At a minimum, the Microsoft consultant should know who the primary point of contact will be while on site to verify the customer is constantly engaged and providing the required information. You must make it clear that the customer’s staff will be asked for assistance during the inventory activities as well as any interviews that may be required.
Similarly, make it clear to the customer who the points of contact will be for this engagement from the Microsoft side and who is responsible for delivering what, as part of the engagement. This should be closely tied to the communication plan that is also agreed as part of the kickoff process.
3.1.2.5 Vision, Scope, and Risks
It is important that the scope of work is reviewed based on the signed work order (WO) and associated statement of work (SOW). A Vision and Scope template has been provided in the offering materials. Use this template to document the scope details.
You will need to discuss, agree on, and document what is considered in scope (servers, domains, locations, workloads, applications, operating systems, and hardware) and out of scope for the time that you will be there, because this level of detail is not specified in the SOW.
As part of the discussion, make sure that time is spent on identifying potential risks and how those risks can be mitigated. This initial risk assessment should also be documented in the Vision and Scope document.