<<Project Name>>

Pilot Plan

 

Customer Name

 

 

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Read the Guidance (Arial blue font in brackets) to understand the information that should be placed in each section of this template. Then delete the Guidance and replace the placeholder within <<Begin text here>> with your response. There may be additional Guidance in the Appendix of some documents, which should also be deleted once it has been used.

 

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Version: 1.0

 

 


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ó 2002 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

The information contained in this document represents the current view of Microsoft Corporation on the issues discussed as of the date of publication. Because Microsoft must respond to changing market conditions, it should not be interpreted to be a commitment on the part of Microsoft, and Microsoft cannot guarantee the accuracy of any information presented after the date of publication.

This document is for informational purposes only. MICROSOFT MAKES NO WARRANTIES, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, IN THIS DOCUMENT.

Microsoft and Visual Basic are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft in the United States and/or other countries.

 


 

Revision & Sign-off Sheet

Change Record

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Document Properties

Item

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Document Title

Pilot Plan

Author

 

Creation Date

 

Last Updated

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 


 

Table of Contents

Summary

Objectives

Pilot Description

Pilot(s)Selection Criteria

Pilot Scope

Site Selection

Target User Profile

User Subset for Pilot

Incremental Milestones

Success Criteria and Metrics

User Preparation

User Marketing or Evangelism Plan

User Training Plan

Transition Plans

Transition Strategy

Add Additional Users

Rollback Pilot

Cancellation

Freeze

Completion

Pilot Evaluation

Risks

Glossary of Terms

Appendix


 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

[Introduction to the Template

 

[Description: The Pilot Plan describes what aspect of the solution will be delivered as a pilot and provides the details necessary to conduct the pilot successfully. This includes details on how to evaluate the pilot, the results of which will facilitate a decision whether or not to move the solution to production. Projects often create one or more “pilot” solutions for the purpose of proving the feasibility of solution approaches, experimenting with different solutions, and obtaining user feedback and acceptance on proposed solutions. Pilot solutions usually implement only those subsets or segments of requirements or functional specifications necessary to validate a solution.

 

Justification: The Pilot Plan provides the means to validate business requirements and technical specifications prior to deploying the solution into production. Planning the details of the pilot ensures that the participating project teams identify their roles and responsibilities and resource requirements specific to pilot development, testing, and deployment activities.

 

A pilot can provide key information on development processes, end-user validation, and production environment usage. It also provides feedback to stakeholders regarding the success of the solution once it is formally released.

 

{Team Role Primary: Program Management determines the scope of the pilot and incorporates the pilot plan details into the master project plan and schedule. Because they are responsible for the project as a whole, they are also responsible for the pilot deployment, which is a key milestone toward the solution's success. Program Management utilizes the business requirements and designs documents to determine the pilot scope.

 

Team Role Secondary: Development will provide input to the plan as their resources will be instrumental in creating the pilot components and verifying that those components are ready for deployment. User Experience will provide input to the plan regarding the appropriate end-user audience and the activities that will ensure that end-users are properly prepared for the pilot. Release Management will provide input to the plan regarding the deployment and the verification procedure to ensure the infrastructure works properly during the pilot phase.}]

 

 


 

Summary

[Description: Provide an overall summary of the contents of this document.

 

Justification: Some readers may need to know only the plan’s highlights, and summarizing creates that user view. It also enables the full reader to know the essence of the document before they look at the details.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Objectives

[Description: The Objectives section describes the business and technical drivers that led to the decision that a pilot is necessary. It also identifies the pilot’s key strategic objectives.

 

Justification: The identification of the drivers and objectives signals to the customer that Microsoft has carefully considered the situation and solution and created an appropriate pilot approach.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Pilot Description

[Description: The Pilot Description section provides an overview of the pilot, including the selection criteria, scope, and success factors for each pilot.]

 

Pilot(s)Selection Criteria

[Description: The Pilot(s) Selection Criteria section identifies the criteria used to select which aspects of the solution will be demonstrated via a pilot. The following criteria are suggestions that can be expanded or contracted based on the specific project. Use the criteria and customize it to the specific project. 

 

·         Company goals: Ensure that the pilot aligns with and supports the business’ mission.

·         Compelling need: Select a pilot where users will see a tangible benefit.

·         Technology fit: Be sure that there is a need to maintain unstructured data, provide data replication, and take advantage of a short development cycle.

·         Critical mass/scalability: Ensure that the pilot can be successful without having to implement the entire solution for the entire business.

·         Deployment verification and planning: Ensure that the pilot can verify the architecture and rollout plans in a production environment.

·         Champion: Identify an effective business unit champion who will evangelize the pilot effort.

·         Profile: Select a group that is not averse to technology. These users should be able to provide valuable feedback and tolerate some initial challenges. It is generally better to select a power user group than the senior executive staff.

·         Dynamics: If the plan is to implement discussion groups, make sure that the pilot users will communicate with one another.

·         Resources: Ensure that the group participating in the pilot fully intends to be active in the process and provide feedback.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Pilot Scope

[Description: The Pilot Scope section describes the scope of the pilot. It includes descriptions of the following:

 

 

This scope may include desktop installation, data migration activities, and connectivity with existing systems.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Site Selection

[Description: The Site Selection section defines site selection criteria and selected sites. This may be depicted graphically with a diagram or by using a table to summarize the numbers of users, communication links, etc. Site selection criteria may include:

 

<<Begin text here>>

 

Target User Profile

[Description: The Target User Profile section provides a summary of the user profile. This is information that can be transferred from the Usage Scenario document.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

User Subset for Pilot

[Description: The User Subset for Pilot section identifies the subset of the target users that will participate in the pilot. It also describes how these users will be identified within the customer’s operational environment in order to engage them in the pilot.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Incremental Milestones

[Description: The Incremental Milestones section describes how the pilot will expand by increasing the class and number of users. This information can be placed in a table, as shown below:]

 

Milestone or Interval

Criteria for Attaining Milestone

Incremental Users (Number of Users, Classes of Users)

Comments

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

<<Begin text here>>

 

Success Criteria and Metrics

[Description: The Success Criteria and Metrics section defines the pilot’s success criteria and the specific measurements that will be taken to determine the level of success. A pilot can be declared “complete” or be graded in terms such as "partially successful" or "unsuccessful." Each measurement description should include a target metric and an acceptable range of values. The success criteria may fall into the following categories:

 

 

Identify the criteria for the overall pilot, incremental milestones, and the final completion.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

User Preparation

[Description: The User Preparation section outlines how users will become aware of the pilot and understand their involvement. It also addresses any special training requirements and necessary resources to ensure that the users can participate effectively in the pilot.]

 

User Marketing or Evangelism Plan

[Description: The User Marketing or Evangelism Plan section describes how users will become aware of the pilot and the value to them of the solution. This is often called the Marketing or Evangelism Plan. This plan should describe the key messages that will be delivered to the users and any incentives intended to promote participation in the pilot. You may include this information in the Communication Plan or create a reference to it.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

User Training Plan

[Description: The User Training Plan section describes the plans for training users during the pilot. This may be different than the deployment phase plan for training users. You may include this information in the End-User Support Plan or create a reference to it.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Transition Plans

[Description: The Transition Plans section describes the strategy and criteria that will be used to guide transitions between phases of the pilot.]

 

Transition Strategy

[Description: The Transition Strategy section describes the factors that will be used to determine whether to transition to add more users or to rollback, cancel or freeze the pilot. These factors may include the estimated impact on business and the attainment of metrics. Describe contingency plans for failures and the thresholds for rollback, cancellation, freeze, or completion.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Add Additional Users

[Description: The Add Additional Users section describes the procedures for adding additional groups of users.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Rollback Pilot

[Description: The Rollback Pilot section ddescribes the procedures for rolling back a pilot to the pre-deployment state.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Cancellation

[Description: The Cancellation section describes the procedures for canceling the pilot.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Freeze

[Description: The Freeze section describes the procedures for freezing the pilot deployment.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Completion

[Description: The Completion section describes the procedures for completing a pilot.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Pilot Evaluation

[Description: The Pilot Evaluation section ddescribes how the results of the pilot will be evaluated. It includes the process by which lessons learned will be incorporated into the final solution deployment. It describes the method(s) for assessing the quality of the pilot deployment process (e.g. user surveys, peer reviews, user interviews, etc.). It also describes the process for identifying, assigning, and following up on action items related to deployment or product issues identified during the pilot.

 

Justification: Up front planning about the evaluation process ensures that all evaluation tools will be prepared before the pilot begins and that the participating project teams plan for communicating lessons learned.]

<<Begin text here>>

 

Risks

[Description: The Risks section llists all known risks for conducting the pilot. These risks should be associated with the development of the pilot components as well as the deployment. These risks should be transferred to the master project risk document.

 

Justification: Early identification of risk enables the team(s) to begin managing them.]

<<Begin text here>>

 


 

Glossary of Terms

Abbreviation

Meaning

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


 

Appendix