Multiple project launch coordination
Snapshot
Kalles Group is engaged to coordinate a large number of projects in a rapid timeframe, creating a framework for large-scale program management.
Challenge
Our client sought to implement a large number of policy, process and system changes through several standalone projects that would launch in rapid sequence. This initiative provided the following challenges:
- Each project must be completed and released on schedule
- Each project must be properly tested for value and efficiency
- Release iterations, upgrades and changes must be tracked in both development and test environments
- Each project must be initialized, developed, tested and implemented in concert with one another to avoid productivity loss in our client’s IT system as a whole
With any systemic change, challenges often arise in the coordination and management of multiple teams with diverse goals and timelines across several different departments. Our client approached Kalles Group to help bring these projects to fruition and navigate pitfalls.
Approach
Kalles Group was tasked to provide release and environment management across the entire initiative
- Kalles Group’s experienced Change Managers and Release Managers worked closely with our client’s development and management teams to create and employ key metrics for individual project deployment lifecycles, and to mitigate risk as projects were delivered
- Simultaneously, Kalles Group worked with our client’s Project Managers and Architects to understand each project’s release plans and to unify the disparate development, test and implementation requirements into a streamlined implementation for the systemic change
- Additionally, Kalles Group reviewed all major deployments post-implementation to ensure success
During the course of the engagement, Kalles Group professionals:
- Provided a structured approach for deployment of system changes throughout the entire project lifecycle
- Built a set of metrics to provide senior leadership with visibility into actual end-to-end deployment time
- Conducted monthly business reviews of deployments in-flight, analyzing key metrics to determine which projects need increased support
- Drove comprehensive risk management analysis across teams to identify technical and scheduling risks
- Identified the need for monitoring across SQL Server, Active Directory Federation Services, and .Net/Windows 8
- Performed post-implementation reviews across all major deployments and incorporated feedback and lessons-learned into planning of upcoming releases
Results
Kalles Group professionals have been integral in ensuring quality releases that are delivered on schedule and effectively in concert with other projects, setting a framework for the client to continue their ongoing initiative. Within each project:
- Risks are identified and communicated prior to implementation, resulting in increased efficiency and reduced costs in development lifecycles
- Releases and changes are tracked and catalogued
- Metrics to define and measure success are implemented
- Areas of technology requiring further monitoring, and the metrics necessary to identify their successful use or weaknesses, are identified and implemented